839.00/3091
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Morgan) of a Conversation with Señor Federico Velasquez y Hernandez, Vice President of the Dominican Republic
The Vice President said that he desired to discuss with me briefly the question of the prolongation of the President’s term and the [Page 552] political situation in Santo Domingo. He went on to say that there was some resentment over the fact that President Vasquez had extended his term for two years, which was contrary to the Constitution and to the Agreement of Evacuation with the United States. This was an arbitrary infringement of the rights of the Dominican people and the Vice President wondered why the United States had not protested against it. Moreover, since he feared that the President’s action would lead to political disturbances in the country he wanted to ascertain what attitude the Department of State would take in case of such eventualities.
I replied by explaining that the President’s action appeared to have been based on an interpretation of the circumstances of his election, which declared that the Constitution of 1924 was not in effect at the time, and that President Vasquez was therefore elected under the previous Constitution and thus for a term of six years. It did not involve any change in the present Constitution, that of 1924, which was unquestionably now in effect. This action appeared to have been taken with the full consent of the Dominican people as manifested by their representatives in Congress, and therefore the Department had not seen any sound reason for protesting. I said that the Department had informed President Vasquez, through the American Minister, that if the prolongation was decided upon he must himself bear the full responsibility for whatever results might follow, especially in the event that there should be any disturbances; that the Department had neither recommended this action nor protested against it.
I went on to say that the Department did not desire to interfere any more than was absolutely necessary in the affairs of Santo Domingo. This question of the interpretation of the term for which the President was elected, i. e. whether for four or six years, seemed to us a matter of purely domestic concern which could and should be decided by the Dominican people themselves. I felt that many of those who from dissatisfaction with the result arrived at pretended to feel that the Department of State should have taken some steps in the matter would be the first to protest if the Department did go out of its way to interfere or to try to decide such questions for the Dominican people. I pointed out that during the military government from 1916 until the Evacuation the Department had of course been compelled to manage the internal affairs of the Dominican Republic and assume responsibility therefor, but after we had, to our great satisfaction, been able to turn the Government over again to the Dominican people we had not desired to dictate or even suggest the manner in which they should regulate their internal affairs and had no intention of assuming any responsibility therefor. In some financial matters, I added, we felt obliged, as Mr. Velasquez understood, to continue to exercise a slight control.
[Page 553]The Vice President went on to say that he quite understood our attitude, which was highly laudable. Nevertheless, President Vasquez’ action in prolonging his term had been both high-handed and illegal and Mr. Velasquez was convinced that the Dominican people would be justified in taking the remedy in their own hands and he felt sure that political disturbances, with possibly a revolution, would follow. In that case he said he thought that the Department of State should make its position clear. If the Department were not prepared to interfere in the internal affairs of the Republic it should not interfere if the Dominican people found it necessary, in order to prevent abuses by the party in power, to take the remedy into their own hands. That is, the Department should not by abstaining from action permit the rights of the people to be infringed, and then by forceful intervention prevent the people from asserting their rights.
I informed the Vice President that the Department would view with the greatest regret any political disturbances in the Dominican Republic. There seemed to be no just reason or grounds for it; certainly the fact that President Vasquez’ term had been extended for two years, with the consent of Congress, would not justify a resort to revolution, with all the horrors and disasters to the country which would undoubtedly follow. This regardless of whether the act was strictly legal or constitutional. Certainly there were arguments both ways. In answer to Mr. Velasquez question as to what I personally thought of these arguments I replied that I had studied the arguments which had been advanced in favor of interpreting the President’s election as being based on the Constitution of 1908 rather than of 1924, and I must say, speaking personally and quite frankly, that in my opinion these arguments were weak; nevertheless, this was not a question upon which the Department had felt called upon to give an opinion. These arguments had been acceptable to the Dominican Congress, and the Department was prepared to accept that decision as showing the opinion and desire of the Dominican people. There had been no question of altering the term as provided in the Constitution of 1924. The President elected in 1930 would of course be elected for a term of four years.
The Vice President said there was no reason why President Vasquez should not continue to prolong his term, or why the next President should not prolong his term to six or eight years. To this I replied that they would have to find some new argument for doing so; I could not say what they might possibly try to do, and therefore could not give an opinion on that.
In conclusion, in answer to the Vice President’s question as to what the attitude of the Department would be in case the Dominican people, as he expressed it, “took the remedy in their own hands” by [Page 554] causing political disturbances in an effort to overthrow the Government, I said the Department would view this with the greatest regret, and did not consider that the present situation justified such action. What attitude the Department would assume, or what action it would take in such a case would obviously depend upon the circumstances at the time and neither I nor anybody else could forecast what the Department would or would not do. I asked the Vice President whether he expected any difficulties in the immediate future, to which he replied that he did not; that the Dominican people were quite prepared to let President Vasquez finish his four years term; but that when he attempted to continue in office for two years more there would be serious trouble.