File No. 814.48/78
The Minister in Guatemala ( Leavell) to the Secretary of State
Your March 19, 9 [5] p.m. Alfred Clark reports a most satisfactory interview with the President who expressed his high appreciation of the very splendid service rendered by the American Red Cross to the people and Government of Guatemala in their calamity and declared that he realizes the impossibility of continuing this generous help indefinitely, as well as the fact that continuing much longer to provide free rations will prove hurtful to the labor of the country, and that immediately after Holy Week he will take up with his proper advisers the matter of setting a date for the withdrawal of the American Red Cross. The first of May as an approximate date to be fixed was discreetly suggested by Mr. Clark, who asks me to say also that formal acknowledgment will be made of everything that has been received and that soon after the departure of the American Red Cross contingent he will send up to headquarters an itemized statement covering all transactions. I will go [Page 486] over the situation with President Cabrera as soon as practicable, and in the meantime I have advised that preparations for an early departure be quietly begun.