837.00/4279: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:30 p.m.]
398. At 2 o’clock this morning a large bomb exploded with great force at the entrance to the house of Colonel Mendieta, Chief of the [Page 500] Unión Nacionalista. Considerable damage was done. Colonel Mendieta informs me that it was a time bomb and that the explosion took place only a few minutes after he had entered the house.
His conversation with Batista yesterday resulted in the latter agreeing to cooperate completely with Colonel Mendieta in solving the existing situation. He requested Mendieta to advise him at the earliest possible moment of his decision as to the best plan to pursue in the interest of the country but expressed the hope that the assumption of the Presidency by Mendieta now would not be indispensable since he believed that it would be more in the interest of the country if Mendieta were elected for the next constitutional term. Mendieta appears to be entirely satisfied with the conference. A meeting will be held this afternoon at 2 o’clock between Mendieta and his fellow directors of the Unión Nacionalista, the directors of the ABC and Miguel Mariano Gómez, to determine upon the reply to be given to Batista.
In the meantime Batista’s own position is rapidly weakening. I was confidentially informed yesterday that four out of the five commanders of barracks in Habana had agreed to take immediate action to oust Batista replacing him with Colonel Perdomo, in command of Camp Columbia during the Céspedes Government, and to force the immediate resignation of the Grau San Martín regime. One of the commanders involved is Major Rodriguez who now commands Camp Columbia where Batista’s headquarters are located. Gómez, who is involved in the plan, has urged postponement until the opposition leaders can reach a complete and detailed accord.
Grau San Martín yesterday held two Cabinet meetings to consider plans suggested for a concentration government. The parliamentary plan which he sent me word a week ago he would support was rejected by the students although he had previously advised me that the students were in favor of it. They are now going through the form of studying another plan similar to that outlined by Fernando Ortiz although with full knowledge that none of the opposition members will agree to it.
Innumerable arrests were made by the police last night, among them some 25 arrests for political motives including 3 women and over 200 labor leaders. All of those arrested were imprisoned. Some 33 soldiers and noncommissioned officers in various barracks were likewise arrested for conspiracy.
There is such hostility to the government in Habana today and such widespread resentment throughout the laboring classes as well as among the armed forces that disturbances in the city appear inevitable in the near future.