837.00/4265: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 12:35 p.m.]
392. As a result of the resolution passed by the directors of the A.B.C. Radical withdrawing their support from the government the group has broken up into two parts—one, a small fraction headed by Oscar de la Torre has remained with the government; the other, containing approximately 90% of the members, has organized as a political party and has come out in violent opposition. This latter group published this morning an inflammatory attack on Grau San Martín charging that his government was a worse dictatorship than that of Machado; claiming that he was plunging the country into anarchy; insisting that friendly relations with the United States were imperative for Cuba; and that a complete change of government was necessary immediately. This majority group had possession of most of the arms and ammunition distributed to the A.B.C. Radical by Batista in the early days after the mutiny. Although ordered by the government to turn back these arms to the Army some time ago they have retained possession of them and have now secretly conveyed them to the members of the A.B.C. itself. Fearing reprisals of this action four of the leading members of the opposition wing fled last night by air to Miami.
The speeches in the theaters attacking the government continued last night notwithstanding the efforts of the military to prevent them.