[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Cuba (Guggenheim)
On Thursday, May 28, I lunched with the President at his finca. He discussed everything but the
political situation for about an hour before lunch. During lunch, at
which two of his Aides and Senator Fernández were present, the
President touched casually on some recent political events. In
regard to the press, he mentioned that he had come to the conclusion
that the only thing to do with the press was to let it enjoy the
same freedom as it did in the United States, regardless of what it
might say; at the present moment in Cuba the press is completely
free.
After lunch, when alone with the President, I asked him what decision
he had reached following my last conference with him. He said, “I
have decided to carry out the constitutional reforms. During those
days in which I am the quietest, I am working the hardest. In the
past few days I have had several meetings for the purpose of
carrying out these Reforms. There have been innumerable reform plans
proposed and a ‘ponente’, Juan Rodriguez Ramirez, has been
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appointed to consider the
different plans. He, together with Hernández Cartaya and Averhof,
has been considering the various proposals and I hope to have a plan
following very closely the Cortina ideas.” I asked him whether his
plan would include the four year term for Senators. He said that he
was still working on this question; that he had been unable to get
the support of the Senators for this curtailment, but would continue
his endeavors. I reiterated my plea that the only way he could hope
to get the support of the country and the newspapers, even if not
the opposition, to a reform plan would be to carry it out in a
thoroughly sincere and unselfish manner; I thought that the public
would require adequate sacrifices on the part of the Senate, in
addition to a national cabinet. The President referred to the
various proposals for a modified parliamentary form of government
and said that he felt sure that the United States would not be in
favor of Cuba’s adoption of such a measure. I told him that my
Government felt that this was a question for the Cubans to work out
in their own way; that my personal opinion, as expressed to Cortina,
was that it would seem to be the part of wisdom to place such
safeguards on their parliamentary system so that the Government
would not fall more than a few times—say, during a four year period.
I made to the President the same suggestion that I gave to Cortina
several weeks ago—that when the President’s reform plan is finished,
which I assumed would be in the form of a message to Congress, he
call together representative elements of the Cuban people including
the press and the opposition as well, and request them to cooperate
with him in putting through the reform plan, those elements which
would cooperate to be represented in the national cabinet. However,
I pointed out that unless the plan were aboveboard and politically
generous, such an appeal to public opinion would probably be
useless.
I told the President that I would be very glad to hear more about his
proposed plan as soon as completed, which he promised would be
within a few days.
