837.00/4142: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 7—2 a.m.]
345. It seems evident that the fear which the increasing power of Batista has caused the Student Council is creating a very salutatory desire for an immediate understanding with the opposition political groups and parties. Last night Batista held a meeting with the principal leaders of the Army and determined that the students should be immediately informed that they must withdraw from all contact with the government and refrain from any interference with the installation of a concentration government. This afternoon the Student Council passed a resolution appointing a committee of three professors of the university to act as mediators between the opposition sectors and the government in order to reach a solution as to a new government. The leaders of the opposition, from what they have stated to me today, will meet these advances halfway.
[Page 477]I had this afternoon an interview with Sergio Carbo. He stated his ignorance of any intention on the part of Gran San Martín to appoint a concentration Cabinet and expressed the opinion that such a step would be worse than futile unless it had the previous approval of the opposition. He is firmly convinced that the government as now constituted must fall, and since he is the strongest member of the present regime, his insistence upon the need for a compromise acceptable to all factions is significant.
Grau is speaking to the press of appointing new Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture but since both candidates he mentions are individuals who have supported him from the outset of his government and are completely unacceptable to any opposition faction, such changes could hardly be considered as bringing about a “concentration Cabinet”.
I am of the opinion that a change for the better in the attitude of all parties towards a fair compromise is rapidly impending.