Conflict over the Swan Islands
The conflict over the Swan Islands between Honduras and the USA over the Guanean Swan Islands, also known as Islas del Cisne , lasted from 1920 to 1971.
The USA based its claim to ownership on the Guano Islands Act , while Honduras, as the successor to the Spanish colonial empire , saw itself as the true owner, although there was never an official claim to ownership.
At first the guano deposits on the island were exploited by various American companies, after which the island was used as a telegraph station. During the Cuban conflict , the United States maintained a radio station on the island, and it is also the headquarters of the Cubans in exile during the Bay of Pigs invasion .
After the end of the First World War , doubts arose as to the legality of American activity in the Swan Islands, so that, at the request of the Attorney General, the US Department of Justice found that the USA had never exercised verifiable sovereignty over the islands, but neither did any other state claim sovereignty because US citizens had permanently settled the islands since the mid-19th century. But this did not prevent the government of Honduras from making a claim to sovereignty in 1920 and sending a commissioner to officially take possession of it. Both sides stuck to their respective claims, but did not allow any step towards clarification. In the following years there were diplomatic conflicts, for example in 1935 when Honduras complained through its ambassador that the Swan Islands were listed on maps as American territory. At the beginning of the 1970s, negotiations came to an end, and the USA ceded the now uneconomical islands to Honduras. The Swan Islands have belonged to Honduras since November 23, 1971.
A similar conflict broke out over the island of Cayo Sur .
literature
- Adg 1971, 16698C; Henderson Wells, Thomas: The Swan Islands Dispute . In: Journal of Interamerican Studies 6.1 (1964), pp. 57-68
- 1991 R. Pfetsch, Frank: Conflicts since 1945 America . ISBN 3-87640-359-6 , pp. 12-13