837.00/3620: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:40 p.m.]
137. The Spanish Ambassador has complained to me of the treatment to which Spanish citizens have been subjected during the past 3 days by the authorities of the Government. Three Spaniards have been killed by the police, two of them without having given the slightest motive for such action, and some 60 in the city of Habana have been arrested on the pretext that they have refused to open the stores of which they are the owners. The Ambassador has protested vainly to the authorities and although he has succeeded in obtaining the release of some, many are still in prison. He wishes to cooperate with me in every possible manner but necessarily feels that the Spanish Government cannot permit such a state of affairs to continue indefinitely without taking very strong measures.
The British Minister has been to see me this morning. He spoke to me of damage done to British property in the interior and of a report which he had received through Reuters that a British cruiser was being sent to Cuba. He told me however that he did not believe the report as he had had no official word.