Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, General, Volume I

881.00/1667

The Spanish Embassy to the Department of State

[Translation]

No. 134/15

Memorandum

It has come to the knowledge of the legitimate Government of the Spanish Republic that elements of Tangier in the service of the Spanish rebels have proceeded to open a public service of communication between the said city and Tetuan using the telephone wires from Tangier to Cuesta Colorada where they have made a connection with the telegraph lines from the latter city to Tetuan. Thus telegrams are being transmitted from Tetuan with destination not only to the Spanish Protectorate Zone in Morocco but also to the regions of Spain accidentally in the power of the rebels.

The acts mentioned constitute an attack on the interests of the Spanish Republic and an evident violation of Articles 3 and 14 of the Agreement relative to the organization of the Statute of the Zone of Tangier,⁷⁰ for they enable a rebel group to exercise rights which solely and exclusively belong to the Spanish State and therefore to its legitimate government.

The said acts likewise do violence to the Agreement of Arbana of June 26, 1930,⁷¹ the purpose of which was to improve the telegraph and telephone services in Morocco.

Lastly, not only the toleration of this Office but the simple maintenance of communications with other offices established in the rebel zone constitutes a transgression of the right granted by the International Telecommunications Convention⁷² to the Governments signatory thereto, to close offices enclaved in zones where their authority is disregarded even if it be accidentally.

The appropriate protest having been presented to the Administrator of the International Zone of Tangier by the Consul of Spain at the said point, the Embassy of Spain requests His Excellency the Secretary of State, respectfully, that the appropriate instructions be given to the North American delegate on the Assembly to support the said protest for the purpose of putting an end to the action of the insurgents who endeavor to convert Tangier into a center of illegal activities.⁷³

Washington , April 26, 1937.

70. League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. xxviii, p. 541.
71. See J. López Oliván, Repertorio Diplomático Español (Madrid, 1944), p. 417.
72. Signed at Madrid, December 9, 1932, Foreign Relations, 1932, Vol. i, p. 873.
73. The Secretary of State, in his reply dated May 10, 1937, stated: “Inasmuch as the Government of the United States did not adhere to the Statute of the Zone of Tangier, the Ambassador will appreciate that it is not in a position to take the action requested.”