837.00/3750: Telegram

The Ambassador in Cuba ( Welles ) to the Secretary of State

193. Sergeant Batista accompanied by Sergeant Santana called to see me at the Embassy.… Neither of them seems to have any clear conception of what the movement of the soldiers and non-commissioned officers is responsive to. The purport of their visit was to ascertain what my attitude was towards the so-called revolutionary group and whether the installation of a government headed by this group would be favorably regarded by the Government of the United States. I replied that I had no comment to make.

I inquired what steps they had taken to preserve the maintenance of public order in Habana and while in their reply they proffered most ample assurances it was made quite plain that no measures whatever had been taken in that sense beyond the stationing of soldiers outside of the foreign embassies and legations and the foreign banks. I concluded by stating that I would be glad to see them at any time they wished to call here.

Welles