837.00/4193: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:15 p.m.]
359. The Secretary of Gobernación announced officially this morning that an arrangement had been made with the Government of Mexico for the services of a military mission composed of Mexican officers to be used in the training of officers in the present Cuban Army.
I learned last night that this suggestion had been made to Batista by the Mexican Chargé d’Affaires 3 days previously. In view of the existing situation here and particularly in view of the fact that since the independence of the Republic of Cuba the training of Cuban officers has been undertaken solely in the United States or under the direction of American officers this step can only be construed as a deliberate effort by the present government to show its intention of minimizing any form of American influence in Cuba.
Carlos Saladrigas, the Secretary of State in the Céspedes Cabinet, upon whose conversations with the Mexican Chargé I have reported, advised me today that Spindola has within the past 10 days obtained further interviews with the directors of the ABC in order to urge them to unite with the elements supporting the present government as a means of lessening American influence in Cuba, in which effort, Spindola alleged he was acting by full instruction of his Government. This plea has been repeatedly and most emphatically turned down by that party. He has again offered the present government the sending from Mexico of delegates of the National Revolutionary Party to assist in the creation of the revolutionary party in Cuba which Carbo is sponsoring.