Office of the Historian

611.3731/970: Telegram

The Ambassador in Cuba (Caffery) to the Secretary of State

Habana, August 21, 1934—2 p.m.
[Received 2:45 p.m.]

426. Please rush reply to Embassy’s despatch 1163, August 18,69 regarding scope and effective date of prior decree law which is now [Page 168] being prepared. Cubans have now decided to omit preferences and United States rates from decree law as these are not necessary since they are all provided for in the agreement. This will simplify the work and should enable them to have the decree law printed and ready for promulgation simultaneously with the signing of the agreement.

It is our understanding that the decree law should be promulgated simultaneously with the signature of the agreement but that it should become effective immediately prior to effective date of agreement. The Cubans agree with us that the decree law should become effective at midnight September 1 instead of Sunday, September 2. Will the trade agreement be made public immediately after the signing on Friday?

Caffery
  1. Despatch not printed; but see memorandum of August 18, 1934, by the American Technical Adviser, Nufer, p. 165.↩