The Cuban Legation to the Department of State.
Washington , January 12, 1905 .
IN RE ARESTUCHE AND MAZA IBARRA.
The Cuban minister has the honor to call the attention of the honorable Secretary of State of the United States to two cases in which two citizens of Cuba received injuries at the hands of American soldiers during the military government of the island.
The first case, of Luciano Arestuche, who lost a finger and the use of another of the right hand, was presented to the Department of State of the United States on March 19, 1903, and on the 13th of July of the same year the Department, in a memorandum, inclosed a copy of a letter from the honorable Secretary of War embodying the conclusions of that Department, as well as his own, that there is no legal liability of the Government of the United States in the premises.
The second case, of Felipe Maza é Ibarra, is a similar one, but, the injury is in the forehead, forcing him to use an apparatus for protection.
The minister of Cuba would earnestly request the honorable Secretary of State, not as a legal question nor as establishing a precedent, but from motives of humanity, to recommend to the Congress of the United States that a small appropriation be granted to alleviate the sufferings of these two unfortunate Cubans.