837.01/30: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9 p.m.]
354. The Spanish Ambassador has just informed me that the new Spanish Cabinet has instructed him to recognize the Grau San Martín government tomorrow “the day of the Spanish race”. The Ambassador is deeply chagrined at this instruction and has protested against it although without hope that it will be modified. The entire Spanish colony is opposed to the present regime because of the decrees it has issued in prejudice of the Spanish regional and benevolent associations and because of the bad business conditions for which the powerful Spanish commercial groups hold the government responsible.
The Ambassador can only suppose that recognition is being extended by the new Spanish Cabinet for sentimental reasons in view of tomorrow’s holiday and because the new Secretary of State is unfamiliar with the reports the Ambassador has sent on conditions here.