837.00/4343: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:55 p.m.]
430. The student paper Alma Mater yesterday morning carried a front page editorial demanding my immediate withdrawal from Cuba on the ground that I was “an envoy of Wall Street”; that I was conspiring to establish a government in Cuba which would obey orders from Washington; and that I was engaged in preventing “a Cuban delegation from reaching Montevideo to unmask the shameful conduct of the Yankees”. This tendency was repeated yesterday afternoon at a meeting in the university in which the members of the former Student Directorate joined forces with the Left or Communist wing of the student groups. A speech was made by Eddie Chibas, author of the cables sent to Latin America last September 9th accusing me of having taken the Cuban Army officers to the National Hotel, in which [Page 514] he urged a student parade in support of my leaving Cuba and claimed that I was “working for the interests of my own Government”.
The public recognizes, judging by the press, that the student groups are now effectually divided and with the dissolution of the Student Directorate and as the result of the referendum demanding the withdrawal of students from governmental activities the influence of the students in so far as their support of the present government is concerned is practically null.
I was visited last night by the two foremost leaders of the groups in Oriente Province which had been organized against the Machado Government. They told me that these groups were now consolidated with the old political parties and that complete and comprehensive preparations had been made for an immediate revolution in Oriente against the Habana government. They stated that they were supported by all of the soldiers in the province with the exception of the 250 men recently sent to Santiago from Habana; that the old officers were ready to take charge of the troops at a moment’s notice and that approximately 11,000 men were under orders. They told me that whether the government in Habana was overturned or not the revolution in Oriente would break out; that the situation there was absolutely intolerable and that it had only been with the utmost difficulty that the movement had been so far controlled and then only because of their belief that the Habana government was to be replaced last week by a government headed by Mendieta. I did my utmost to persuade them [to] hold back. I told them that in the condition in which Cuba now was that civil war would have almost fatal effects and in any event make infinitely more difficult the process of economic rehabilitation which was the prime necessity of the moment. They assured me that they would make one last effort with the Habana leaders for a pacific settlement but they warned me that any unexpected spark in Oriente might start a conflagration which they themselves could not control.
Negotiations proceeded yesterday in Habana for the purpose of consolidating opinion of the political parties in favor of Gómez. He has now definitely determined to accept the Provisional Presidency without any more hesitation. In the course of the day it will be ascertained whether Batista feels that he has sufficient control of the troops in Habana to make a move successful. Batista’s own violent animosity to Grau San Martín which is now growing due to his knowledge of a plot favored by Grau Saturday to seize Batista and replace him with another sergeant makes it inevitable that Batista will move against Grau provided he can be reasonably confident of the loyalty of the soldiers in the various Habana barracks.
The newspapers continue to clamor for Grau’s withdrawal and the general feeling regarding Grau’s position is reflected in a cartoon in [Page 515] La Manana this morning which supported Grau until last week in which those individuals who still support Grau are referred to as “one or two corporals”.