352.1121 Fernandez, Antonio/193: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France, to the Secretary of State
[Received October 27—11:15 a.m.]
548. Have just received a reply from Burgos in the case of Antonio Villa and wife submitting alliance [sic] report to the “Chief of the Juridical Legal Body of the Headquarters of His Excellency the Generalissimo” from the military commander general of the Balearics. It goes into a detailed account of the processes of the trial to show defendants were accorded every legal right of defense. It shows that for 10 years before the war defendants conducted themselves as Spanish citizens, following the requirements of the recruiting law and resorting to the amnesty decreed on March 24, 1926, and paying the fine prescribed. On February 17, 1932, a new pardon [amnesty?] given him. Both defendants voted in the election of 1936 and thus exercised all rights of a Spanish citizen including the purchase of property without asking consent of War Department as prescribed for people of other than Spanish nationality.
The Minister concludes at the end of this report that defendants “have practiced the rights which Spanish nationality conveys until [Page 330] the year 1936 inclusive and if they have shown American nationality there is no doubt that they used a double nationality choosing one or the other according as the circumstances dictated”.
We had not questioned the trial at all and had based the request solely on their American citizenship and the mildness of their offense. Would be glad to receive instructions.2 Full report leaves in pouch on Saturday.3
- The Department’s telegram No. B–470, November 19, 2 p.m., in reply, authorized the Ambassador to press for a pardon along the lines of this paragraph and on grounds of clemency. However, it Was not until October 25, 1940, that the Chargé in Spain reported that Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Fernandez Villa had been liberated and had departed for Barcelona. (352.1121 Fernandez, Antonio/196, 245)↩
- Not printed.↩