837.00/1876: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Cuba (Long)
239. Your November 11, 5 p.m.
The Department considers it highly important that the leaders of the Liberal party be fully advised of the policy of this Government as regards interference with the control by the properly constituted authorities in Cuba of the electoral machinery. It appears to be the desire of the Liberal party to present now to the Department reports of alleged frauds and outrages committed during the electoral period in the hope of inducing this Government to investigate immediately the manner in which the elections have been held and to review the conduct of the Central Electoral Board, basing their request on the ground that the statement of your Legation issued on August 30,54 promises such action. It is apparent that such an interpretation of the statement issued at that time is entirely unfounded, since this Government declared that while it would use all available means to observe the conduct of the electoral procedure and the spirit in which the electoral law was enforced, it stated most emphatically that the responsibility for the conduct of a fair election rested with the Government and people of Cuba.
A review of the present situation makes it apparent that no decision can as yet be reached regarding the outcome of the elections, since the official returns are not yet completed and there is no assurance as to which party has been victorious; and since neither party has as yet been able to avail itself of the recourses provided in the election law to bring its protests and complaints before the properly constituted authorities for review and decision, any effort at this time on the part of this Government to hear the complaints of the Liberal party, or of the Conservative party, would remove from the judiciary of Cuba the responsibility which legally and by right rests upon them to hear and decide such complaints. Any action taken by this Government at this time would constitute effectively an uncalled for and [Page 41] unwarranted intervention in the internal affairs of Cuba and could not but be regarded as a hurtful precedent which would tend to render more difficult in the future the determination by the Cuban people themselves of the problems which confront them in the development of a democratic and independent government. For these reasons, the Department is not at present willing to receive the protests of the Liberal Commission, nor is it willing to enter into any conversations at this time with the members of this Commission regarding the elections. The Department has availed itself of the excellent opportunities afforded to observe closely the manner in which the elections were conducted and the way in which the Central Electoral Board has functioned and will be able, therefore, to reach its own conclusions from an unbiased standpoint.
You should take occasion to communicate the above verbally to the leaders of the Liberal party and to impress upon them that the attitude so defined has been reached by the Department after careful consideration and that its attitude has changed in no way since the issuance by the Legation of the statement of August 30. You should likewise informally continue to use your best endeavors to prevent the departure for Washington of any commission of Liberals or any other attempt which may be made to transfer the center of Cuban political activity from Cuba to Washington, and explain that all resources provided for under electoral law should be exhausted before any appeal could properly be presented here.