837.00/4260: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:35 p.m.]
390. The Student Directorate yesterday passed a resolution with only three opposing votes declaring that Grau San Martín must determine within a period of 24 hours from the delivery this ultimatum whether he will undertake to govern the country as President or whether he will continue to be subservient to Batista. I am informed that the ultimatum will be delivered this afternoon.
The issue has been raised by the continued refusal of Batista to permit Grau San Martín to remove Guiteras, the Secretary of Gobernación, and by his refusal to permit the students to remove Captain [Page 497] Franco, present Chief of Police of Habana. As already reported there are many further causes of disagreement between the students and Batista.
On Saturday the A.B.C. Radical, the largest of the secret organizations supporting the government, formally announced its withdrawal of such support and made overtures to the A.B.C. of which it originally formed a part for reincorporation in that party.
A significant indication of present conditions is the fact that the government on Saturday issued a regulation prohibiting all radio stations from permitting addresses to be broadcast in opposition to the government. In view of this regulation, at most of the theatres in Habana Saturday night and yesterday members of the A.B.C, surrounded by armed bodyguards, forced themselves upon the stages of the theatres and made addresses in which they attacked the government violently. In every instance the audiences received them with tremendous applause.
In view of the crisis with which he is now confronted within the government, Grau San Martín has made no progress in his negotiations with the opposition sectors.