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Mexico-Guatemala Conflict
Part of Guatemala–Mexico relations Military history of Mexico and Guatemala
Mexican fishing vessel San Diego takes a direct hit from Guatemalan fire.
Date 30 December 1958 – 15 September 1959 (8 months, 2 days) Location Mexican and Guatemalan waters off the Pacific coast of Mexico, Guatemala-Mexico border Result Relations between the two nations are frozen for several months
Belligerents
Mexico	Guatemala
Commanders and leaders
Adolfo López Mateos Alfonso Cruz Rivera	Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes Luis de Leon Urrutia
Strength
None	2 P-51 Mustang fighter planes
Casualties and losses
3 civilian fishermen dead, 14 wounded	None

The Mexico–Guatemala conflict was an armed conflict between the Latin American countries of Mexico and Guatemala, in which civilian fishing boats were fired upon by the Guatemalan Air Force. Hostilities were set in motion by the installation of Miguel Ydígoras as President of Guatemala on March 2, 1958.

Background

Since November 1956 the Guatemalan and Mexican governments had quarreled over the crossing of the Guatemalan border by Mexican citizens. On November 8, 1957, the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Adolfo Orantes, sent a diplomatic letter to the Mexican government which detailed the complaints of the Guatemalan government. Orantes said that illegal deforestation was being done by Mexican workers in the northernmost Guatemalan province of Petén. He also reported that Mexican shrimping boats were frequently crossing the nautical border into Guatemala to fish. Guatemala's president, Manuel Ydígoras, and his administration capitalized on the complaints filed by the Foreign Minister for several months, and voiced concerns regarding illegal Mexican forays into Guatemala to the Mexican government.

Such concerns were met with a diplomatic note from the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, which stated that it could simply do nothing to identify the crews of fishing vessels that crossed the border, despite the strong presence of the Mexican Navy in the region. This created additional tensions between the two nations, as Ydígoras indicated that these vessels did not contain proper identification nor they did sail under Guatemala's national flag and therefore the Guatemalan government had the right to attack what they considered pirates in Guatemalan waters, and would use force in order to preserve the integrity of the border and the natural resources of Guatemala.

On November 12, 1958, the Merchant Marine in Mexico issued warnings to the Port Director, urging vessels to stop crossing into Guatemalan waters, which were ignored again by Mexican vessels. On December 28, a C-47 aircraft of the Guatemalan Air Force conducted a reconnaissance mission to confirm reports of small boats in Mexican waters of Guatemala. On the morning of December 29, Jesus Unda Murillo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, contacted the Mexican government to take appropriate measures to prevent Mexican vessels from fishing in Guatemalan waters or from repeatedly landing on the Guatemalan coast. On December 30, the Mexican press published an open letter written by Guatemalan President Miguel Ydígoras, in which he threatened to "shoot, bomb, and sink every pirate ship day and night, until we get rid of those robbers, pirates and bandits. "

The conflict

The commander of the Guatemalan Air Force, Luis de Leon Urrutia, was ordered to develop a plan to locate and destroy foreign ships in Guatemalan territory. Less than 24 hours proceeding the order, a team formed by Urrutia had come up with Operation Drake, which, on December 30, was both approved and called to action by Ydígoras. On the afternoon of December 30, 1958, a group of Guatemalan AT-6 Texan aircraft surveyed the scene of the reported fishing to ensure the Mexican vessels were still there. The following morning, December 31, 1958 at 6:15AM, the Guatemalan Air Force dispatched a Cessna 180 and a C-47 aircraft to the scene, taking Gregorio López Moraga, a reporter and photographer for “El Imparcial”, as a witness. The aircraft flew over the Guatemalan coast off the Pacific Ocean, locating at 7:27AM eight small shrimp boats, with five of the eight fishing only 1.5-2 miles off the coast of Champerico, Guatemala. The C-47 aircraft flew in a circle 4000 feet above the fishing boats, serving as the command center of the operation, while the pilot of the Cessna 180 flew closer above the boats and noticed the vessels were not sailing under the Guatemalan flag. Once this information was relayed, a Cessna 182 aircraft was sent with four speakers and hovered above the fishing boats to issue the following order:

"Attention fishing vessels, you are currently illegally in Guatemalan waters. You are hereby ordered by the Army to immediately sail towards Champerico. Any ship that disobeys will be shoot."

The journalist reported that fishermen responded with jeers and obscene gestures, and after half an hour of repeatedly transmitting the command, the command aboard the C-47 Cessna aircraft ordered for the aircraft to retreat. Afterwards, at 8:40AM, two P-51 Mustang fighter jets sent by the Guatemalan Air Force arrived at the scene. One of the five ships, the Elizabeth, began moving toward the Mexican border and in response, a Mustang fired warning shots into the water in front of the boat. When the boat did not respond by stopping, the pilot fired onto the bow of the boat, causing 14 holes. Elizabeth then headed for Champerico as it waved a white flag signaling its surrender; there were no casualties on this vessel.

The other boats put their engines into overdrive and went stampeding toward the Mexican border. Both Mustangs once again fired warning shots at the vessels, but the ships continued their flight. The Mustangs then shot at the stern, in an attempt to damage the ship’s engine, propeller, or rudder. The ships however, escaped to the Mexican border, and the aircrafts were ordered to abandon them and return to the scene. The captain of the vessel however, was killed and several fishermen on board were injured.

The Mustangs again flew over the coast of Champerico and used the same method on two more ships trying to escape to Mexico, the San Diego and the Port of Salina Cruz. The aircraft unloaded their guns first by firing warning shots at every ship, however when each vessel continued to flee, the Mustangs began to attempt to shot at the stern. Despite this, the observing reporter, reported that two boats did not stop. After two hours after orders with speakers and warning shots, the first successful impacts occurred near the village of Tilapa, about two miles offshore. The San Diego was fired on across the deck, killing one man while wounding several other men and a second round of firing disabled the engine. The second ship, the Port of Salina Cruz, was fired upon several times until the boat ran aground on the beach a quarter mile west of Tilapa, leaving a trail of oil and smoke. After all was done, the casualty count was three fishermen dead and fourteen wounded.

Aftermath

A Guatemalan Air Force aircraft shooting warning shots.

A Mustang aircraft flies over the fishing vessels while a second Mustang fires warning shots.

Rescue and captivity of sailors

After the fishing vessels had been stopped, one Mustang touched down at a landing strip near Champerico and sent some of the injured fishermen to a military hospital within Guatemala. The remaining fishermen, who had tried to escape the strafing planes by leaping and swimming away from the scene, were picked up by two Guatemalan tugboats, the Retalhuleu and the Quezaltenango, within six hours of the incident. Eventually, all fishermen were transported to a military base in Mazatenango and interrogated by Guatemalan military officials. On January 22, 1959, a Guatemalan court released the fishermen, imposing a fine of 55 quetzals on them.

Mexican response and Guatemalan Reaction

When news of the incident reached Mexico, Mexican Air Force Major General Alfonso Cruz Rivera commandeered 60 aircraft for Operation Seagull, a retaliatory mission against Guatemala that began with a reconnaissance flight over Guatemala City. Two hours following the aforementioned flight, several Mexican T-6 Texans and T-28 Trojans, armed with machine guns and napalm bombs, entered Guatemalan airspace intending to strike La Aurora International Airport. Just as the aircraft approached their target, urgent orders were received to abort the mission. The newly elected Mexican president, not wanting to endure any political repercussions from further escalating the situation, opted to mediate the issue diplomatically.

The Mexican government was stunned by the erratic actions of Guatemala and to show that the Mexican government was not intimidated by their actions, the Mexican Navy began escorting Mexican fishing vessels outside 3 miles from recognized Guatemala waters. Mexico also claimed that international law had not been complied with when Guatemala used violence against unarmed sailors, who had just “committed an administrative error”, and demanded that the conflict be resolved by the International Court of Justice in accordance to the "American Treaty on Pacific Settlement 1948". However, Guatemala noted that Mexico had previously used military force against American pirates, and rejected any foreign intervention in matters of police actions in their own territory. Furthermore, Guatemalan President Manuel Ydígoras declared that because Mexico did not cooperate in stopping its citizens from preforming illegal activities in Guatemalan territory despite multiple complaints, Guatemala was free to act upon the pirates with military action, with no intention of reaching Mexico’s boarder, as they were not the enemy. This however, prompted Mexican president Adolfo López Mateos to terminate diplomatic relations with the Republic of Guatemala on January 23, 1959, despite the release of the sailors on January 22, 1959, blaming Guatemala’s rejection of the International Court of Justice as a lack of cooperation.

In Mexico, students from high school and universities organized demonstrations backing Mateos’ decision to cut ties with Guatemala for using military action against the fishing vessels. The demonstration escalated when the students destroyed road signs along Guatemala Street in Mexico City, and publicly burning an effigy of President Ydígoras. Likewise, in Guatemala City, students marched through the city streets protesting Mexico’s reaction and for defending the illegal activities of their sailors.

Border tensions and escalation of conflict

Within days of the attack, both Mexican and Guatemalan troops were mobilized to the 541-mile (871 km) long Guatemala-Mexico border. On March 26, 1959, Guatemala officially broke off relations with Mexico and put its military on high alert, after Guatemalan protesters destroyed an international bridge linking Hildalgo City, Mexico and Ayutla, Guatemala, which provoked an armed group of Mexican citizens to cross the border into Guatemala and vandalize the town of Santa Ana. In the same month, diplomatic relations had already worsened when President Ydígoras accused Mexico of holding hostage Jose Gregorio Diaz and Rogalio Cruz Wer, two former Guatemalan officials. Furthermore, Ydígoras also accused Mexico of planning an invasion of Guatemala along with Belize in a secret military alliance between the two countries. These charges were denied and dismissed by Mexico, and only served to prolong diplomatic insecurity between the two nations.

Resolution

Ydígoras, growing increasingly paranoid about the communist takeover in Cuba, focused much of his attention on building up home defense in case of a Cuban invasion, as well as becoming more friendly with the United States. This perceived new threat led to the withdrawal of most Guatemalan forces from the border region within weeks of their arrival.

In his address to the Congress of the Union on September 1, 1959, Mexican President López retold the episode and expressed his desire to mend the broken link between Guatemala and Mexico. On September 15, 1959, during a speech regarding the 149th anniversary of the commencement of the Mexican War of Independence, Adolfo López Mateos announced that, through mediation on both sides, Guatemala and Mexico were reestablishing relations, noting the importance of Latin American solidarity and friendship.

As conflict resolution, Guatemala regretted having to use violence against the fishing boats. Mexico lamented that Mexican fishermen went into Guatemalan territory without the knowledge of the Mexican government and assured that such activities would no longer continue and that would Mexico would restrict such behavior through its Navy. Guatemala then agreed to compensate the fishermen that were injured and the families of those who were killed, and agreed to negotiate how they would prevent illegal fishing in its waters in the future. Both governments agreed to develop an agreement to prevent similar difficulties and accept mediation by the International Court of Justice if necessary in the future.

References

Category:Wars involving Mexico Category:Wars involving Guatemala Category:Guatemala–Mexico relations Category:Conflicts in 1958 Category:Conflicts in 1959