822.01/93

The Minister in Ecuador ( Gonzalez ) to the Secretary of State

No. 950

Sir: With relation to the Department’s cable No. 50 of November 2, 12 noon, 1937, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of the note13 presented to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in accordance with said cable and upon receipt of his acknowledgement same will be forwarded to the Department.

I am annexing two articles13a which appeared in the local newspapers, El Comercio and El Dia, this morning emanating from the Associated Press in the case of El Comercio and that from El Dia from an unknown source. It is quite significant that these newspapers apparently had information that the United States Government was going to recognize Ecuador before this Legation had an opportunity to even receive or decipher the cable, and it is surprising how the local [Page 481] newspapers were able to obtain this information before it was officially received here. You will note from the article attached and which appeared in El Dia that the wording is the same as the concluding statement of the cable. Whether or not said wording was obtained locally from the cable of the Department before receipt thereof by the Legation is not known but does seem strange. From information gathered it seems that everyone here knew of the contemplated action to be taken by our Government before knowledge thereof was brought to this Legation, and especially in view of the fact that in the Department’s cable No. 48 of October 27, 7 p.m., it was stated that pending authorization from the Department, which meant receipt, that no action should be taken which might be construed as constituting recognition.

Respectfully yours,

Antonio C. Gonzalez
  1. Not printed.
  2. Not reprinted.