File No. 811.34537/119.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.1
Habana, January 23, 1913.
Sir: I have the honor to report that rumors for the past week or so have been current in Habana to the effect that there is a disposition in [Page 354] the Cuban Senate to defer action upon the recent agreement for the enlargement of the Guantánamo naval station. Some senators are said to pretend that they object to alienating such a large portion of the national territory. It is also said that one of their grounds for holding up this agreement is the failure of our own Senate to approve the treaty made several years ago recognizing Cuban sovereignty over the Isle of Pines; they will, it is said, claim this as a precedent for their own inaction.
I visited the Cuban Secretary of State yesterday morning and discussed these rumors with him. Mr. Sanguily assured me that, while a disposition was indeed apparent upon the part of the Senate to delay action upon the agreement, there was no actual opposition to its terms—the various objections stated being merely pretext for deferring action. He believes that it is the purpose of certain senators to avoid any responsibility in the matter by leaving the approval of the treaty to the next Senate, which will come into office on May 20th, or, in other words, those whose terms now expire (none of whom were reelected) may be looking forward to an opportunity of making political capital among their constituencies out of the fact that they were sufficiently courageous to oppose the approval of a treaty alienating to a foreign power a considerable portion of the national territory. Mr. Sanguily is of the opinion that it is possible that they may succeed.
I have [etc.]
- Continued from For. Rel. 1912, pp. 293–297.↩