837.00/3911: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:42 a.m.]
270. Colonel Mendieta and Dr. Martínez Saenz have just asked me in behalf of all the groups opposed to the present regime which now include every party except that of the students that they will inform Grau San Martín in their interview Sunday afternoon as follows:
They will accept as Provisional President any impartial Cuban of national reputation provided he is not under the domination of the Student Council; they will agree to recommend men of similar qualifications for Cabinet positions so that the Cabinet will have no political tinge; if a government can be formed in this manner they will support it consistently and actively until a new constitutional government can be inaugurated; they will under no conditions support Grau San Martín nor any government selected by and solely responsive to the Student Council.
I have arranged for an unofficial and private interview with Grau San Martín in the house of a friend early tomorrow morning. At my request Berle has seen him and outstanding members of the Student Council this evening to make entirely plain the fact that the [Page 443] Republic is on the brink of economic, financial and social disaster and that immediate action is imperative if the situation is to be saved.
The members of the original revolutionary junta of five have now come out against Grau San Martín and are insisting upon the necessity of the constitution of a national government to meet the existing grave emergency.