Attachment 1, Page 1

Enclosure No. 1 Airgram #______ Dated._________ Mexico, D.F. CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM Recommendations to the Presidents of the United States and of Mexico by the Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Relations for a Complete Solution of the Chamizal Problem A. The Chamizal tract is an area on the north bank of the Rio Grande, within the city limits of El Paso, Texas. When, at the end of the past century, the controversy between the Governments of the United States and of Mexico over the Chamizal began, the total area of this tract was approximate 598 acres. B. The principal factors relating to the controversy under reference are summarized as follows: 1) Each one of the two Governments claimed international title over the entire area of the Chamizal. 2) On June 15, 1911, the International Boundary Commission, United States-Mexico, increased by the appointment of a third member, the presiding Commissioner Eugene Lafleur of Canada, ruled, by a majority vote, that the United States had international title to that part of the Chamizal which, in 1864 before the floods of that year, was to the north of the center of the channel of the Rio Grande; and that Mexico had international title to that part of the Chamizal which was to the south of said center of the channel in 1864.* 3) The United States Commissioner to the International Boundary Commission challenged the validity of the majority ruling, on the grounds, among others, that according to the opinion of the United States, in 1911 it was impossible to determine the channel of the River in 1864. 4) In the award under reference, the Presiding Commissioner and the Commissioner of Mexico included the following statement: "They also conceive that it is not within their province to relocate that line, inasmuch as the parties have offered no evidence to enable the commissioners to do so." CONFIDENTIALEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 9,233,920 byte