File No. No. 837.2222/9
The Minister in Cuba ( Gonzales) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 13.]
Sir: Referring to the Department’s telegraphic instruction of July 23, 6 p.m., suggesting that two provisions regarding the transfer [Page 359] and disposal of physical assets of German properties be included in the proposed Cuban espionage law, I have the honor to report that the bill was passed on the 23d ultimo, without these clauses having been embodied in it. A copy and translation of the law is enclosed, herewith.1 Among other things it provides for the arrest, search and internment or imprisonment of subjects of the enemy, or of an ally of the enemy. The Administration is given authority to compel enemy subjects to register, under penalty of imprisonment for the duration of the war.
The President, however, is empowered by the provisions of article 8 to proceed, with the advice of the Cabinet, “to issue adequate rules for the regulation, classification, determination and prosecution of commerce with the enemy.” This, the President told me in conversation, will be done, and special care taken to incorporate in the regulations so drawn up the points mentioned in the Department’s telegram.2
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I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- Art. 6 of Decree No. 1510 of the Cuban President dated Sept. 13, 1918, provided: “Whenever the arrest of an enemy alien or his agent is ordered, according to the provisions of the aforementioned laws, the Executive Power shall decree the care and custody of the property of such person, in the form, and by the officials that will shortly be named for that purpose.” (File No. 837.2222/11.)↩