837.00/4348: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:20 p.m.]
434. My 364, October 14, 5 p.m. The letters which Seigle was able to obtain are published this morning in the student paper Alma Mater on the front page. Four of the letters are signed. One of the officers [Page 516] states that he believes that the “condition which existed in the National Hotel was due to the hopes of the attitude which the Ambassador of the United States might assume as mediator in the problem of the Army and Navy officers.”
Another one states that he believes that the attitude of the American Ambassador contributed to encourage a great number of officers “without being able to specify upon what the opinions of those officers was based”. Two other letters state in general terms that they believe the attitude of the officers was due to their encouragement by me. The fifth letter and the only one in which any definite charge is made alleges that I made Colonel Sanguily move to the hotel as well as all the other officers through the offer of protection and assistance. It is significant that this letter is unsigned and the newspaper states that the signature is omitted “for reasons of high policy”.
In any discussion of this matter with the press I shall limit myself to referring to the statement issued by the Department on this matter and to the previous statements which I have made here at the Embassy.