Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-18
AMERICANS GET WARNING.
U. s. TO Protect Lives Only In Ports,
Leaving Interior TO Guardia.

U. s. 70 Protect Lives Only in Ports.
Leaving Interior TO Guardia.
BY the Associated Press.
United States citizens In Nicaragua
had to choose today between fleeing TO
coast towns or depending upon native
troops for protection.
This alternative was placed before
them by Secretary of State Stimson in
an official warning dispatched yester-
day to Minister Hanna at Managua and
Consul Rowe at Blueflelds.
In view of the outbreak OF banditry
In portions Of Nicaragua hitherto free
from such violence" the statement said,
You will advise American citizens that
this Government cannot undertake gen.
eral protection of Americans throughout
that country with American forces.
Urged to Leave Danger Zone.
ITO do SO would lead to difficulties
and commitments this Government does
not propose to undertake. Therefore the
department recommends to all Amer
leans who do not feel secure under the
protection afforded them by the Mica
ragusn government through the Mica
raguan National Guard to withdraw
from the country, or at least to the
coast towns, whence they can be pro-
teeted or evacuated in case Of necessity.
Those who remain do so at their own
risk and must not expect American
forces to be sent inland to their aid"
Although in some quarters this an
nouncement was interpreted as some
what changing previous policy, the
State Department held 1t was In accord
with precedent. Similar warnings have
been issued numerous times in the past.
Authoritative sources emphasized the
absence of intention to jeopardize
American lives. A high official said the
announcement merely was warning
that the decision to leave interior
| Nicaragua to the Native Guardia would
be carried out as Marines were with
drawn.
The official attitude is that the trouble
is not national disaster and that ma
tive troops are better qualified than
Americans to cope with insurgents.
To carry out the policy, the Navy IN
structed four vessels in the troubled
area to limit their defensive efforts to
seaports. The gunboat Asheville was at
Cape Gracias DioS, the Sacramento
at Bluefields and the cruiser Rochester
on her way there, while the cruiser
| Memphis was at Puerto CabezaS.
Bandit Activities Lessening.
Instructions to these ships were to
! offer asylum to Americans and to use
| all force necessary to protect life and
! property in the ports under guard. The
commanders, however, were warned not
| to extend their operations into the in
terror or beyond the limits of the towns
to which they were assigned.
| Official dispatches to the State and
| Navy Departments indicated a lesseninR
of insurgent activity, patrols having
| failed to contact raiders on the Wawa
River near Puerto Cabe2as. Only small
bands of insurgents had been noticed
near Rama, IS miles northwest of Blue
| fields, after reports that an attack on
! the former was imminent. Consul Rowe
sent a denial that Rama already had
| been raided.
The State Department reiterated that
only 500 Marines viii be left in Mica
ragua after June 3. Before they finally
] are brought home toward the end OF
| 1882. they will train a like number OF
| natives to bring the total Guardia
strength to 1900. In the meanwhile,
the last 500 Marines are not to be
employed in combatant duty.
FRUIT BUSINESS IN DANGER.