§ 7. Mr. Allan Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government intend to send observers to the Nicaraguan elections in November.
§ Mr. WhitneyWe have not received an invitation to send observers. If we did, we would of course consider it carefully, taking account of all the circumstances at the time.
§ 37. Mr. Maxtonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why her Majesty's Government did not vote against the American mining of Nicaraguan ports in the debate in the United Nations.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe United Kingdom abstained because the resolution lacked balance in that it failed to match the scope of the debate or the breadth of the problems of Central America. But we made it clear in the debate that we upheld the principle of freedom of navigation and deplore the mining, which has since stopped.