Alexander Agreement (1897)

Contributions, limits, and silences in the technical definition of the San Juan

The The Alexander Agreement, issued in 1897 by U.S. engineer and diplomat Edward Porter Alexander, is one of the most influential – and yet least understood – technical documents in the history of the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. Tasked with applying the Cleveland Arbitration Award of 1888, Alexander traveled the San Juan River, studied its tributaries, and issued a series of technical interpretations on navigation, river landmarks, control rights, and territorial distribution.

Although presented in historiography as a purely engineering document, the Alexander Agreement had profound geopolitical implications: it set navigation parameters, defined criteria for shared use of the river, interpreted the boundaries established by Cañas–Jerez, and established principles that would continue to influence subsequent arbitrations. Its approach, however, reflected the American vision of the time: to prioritize regional stability that would facilitate interoceanic connection routes under North American influence.

The historical void: the Transit Campaign absent once again

Like the Cañas–Jerez Treaty (1858) and the Cleveland Award (1888), the Alexander Agreement maintained absolute silence on the Transit Campaign of 1856–1857 and on Costa Rica’s role in the capture of the filibuster steamers and the effective military control of the river.
At no time is it recognized:

The Costa Rican military occupation of the San Juan.
The seizure of the river route and its ports.
The Costa Rican logistical dominance during the conflict against Walker.
The decisive role of Major Máximo Blanco Rodríguez.

This silence was not accidental: it was part of a broader process of neutralizing the Costa Rican strategic memory, in favor of agreements that would reduce tensions and facilitate negotiations under U.S. mediation. The omission weakened the Costa Rican position in subsequent debates and consolidated a “narrative void” that persists into the 21st century.

Relevance to the trilogy

Puntos clave

The Alexander Agreement (1897) is a key technical document in the history of the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which establishes parameters for navigation and territorial control.
Although seen as an engineering document, it had significant geopolitical implications and reflected the U.S. vision of the time.
The Agreement is silent on the Transit Campaign of 1856-1857, omitting Costa Rica’s role in the control of the San Juan River.
This silence contributed to the neutralization of the Costa Rican strategic memory, affecting its position in subsequent debates.
In the trilogy, the Convention symbolizes the lack of historical recognition and the legal limitations imposed on Costa Rica by ancient interpretations.

In the trilogy, the Alexan Conventionder plays a key role:

In Las Aguas Amargas del San Juan, it represents one of the late documents that never recognized what happened on the river during the war of 1856.
In Aguas Silenciadas, it appears as a concrete example of how American diplomacy helped perpetuate a legal framework where Costa Rica negotiated from a mutilated historical terrain.
In La Frontera del Agua, it is part of the technical archive that explains why, even today, Costa Rica faces limitations derived from interpretations established more than a century ago without considering its own riverine domain of 1856–1857.

The Alexander Convention not only describes the river; it describes the kind of country the international mediators hoped to see: one with no military memory, no claims based on historical force, and limited to legal arguments based on an incomplete clean slate. The trilogy seeks to fill that absence.

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