The Department is in agreement with the conclusion set forth in the
memorandum48
enclosed with your despatch no. 2314 to the effect that this Government
should not accede to the suggestion for a joint statement contained in
the aforementioned note. There is enclosed herewith a draft of a note to
be presented to the Cuban Secretary of State setting forth the reasons
of this Government for rejecting this suggestion. You are authorized to
make such changes in the wording of this draft as, in your opinion,
appear desirable in the light of the local situation.
[Enclosure]
Draft of Note To Be Presented to the Cuban
Secretary of State (Angel
Campa)49
Excellency: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note of August 17, no.
1417, in reply to my note of August 15 in which I informed you that
the Government of the United States had fixed the 31st of August,
1939, as the date on which, in the absence of the developments
described in my note of July 20, a public announcement will be made
to the effect that negotiations for a supplementary trade agreement
between our two Governments have been indefinitely suspended.
Your Excellency’s note expresses the hope that recent conversations
between the Ambassador of Cuba in Washington and the Under Secretary
of State of the United States have cleared the way to a satisfactory
solution of all the problems cordially examined by both Governments
and refers to the situation created by this Government’s note of
August 15, at the same time reiterating the stand taken in Your
Excellency’s note of July 23.
Your Excellency’s note also contains a suggestion, made in
fulfillment of instructions from the President of the Republic of
Cuba, for the making of “simultaneous declarations on the part of
both Governments in which they would announce at once their cordial
intentions contained in the plan of economic cooperation already
agreed upon, which the Government of Cuba is prepared, as far as
concerns that part which devolves upon it, to carry out immediately
and in a formal manner”.
This suggestion implies that there is in existence an agreement for
economic cooperation between the two Governments involving mutual
obligations. I wish to reiterate what I have frequently stated to
Your Excellency and to other officials of the Cuban Government to
the effect that no agreement of this nature is in existence or could
be arrived at until the Cuban Government shall have taken steps to
restore its international credit, including the discharging of those
recognized obligations toward American citizens which have
frequently been discussed with Your Excellency and which were
described in my note of July 20.
It is only after these steps have been taken by the Government of
Cuba that my Government will be in a position to translate into
positive action its frequently expressed willingness to cooperate in
economic matters with Your Excellency’s Government, the first step
in such cooperation being a careful study of the possibilities of
the situation and of the specific proposals which Your Excellency’s
Government may wish to advance.
[Page 546]
With reference to the penultimate paragraph of your note, I wish to
point out that the obligations of the Cuban Government to which you
refer existed prior to the discussions last November of the
possibility of a plan of economic cooperation between the two
Governments and that the binding effect of these obligations upon
the Cuban Government could in no way have been strengthened by, or
much less made contingent upon, the implementation of the expressed
willingness of this Government to extend credits for a
self-liquidating program of public works in Cuba or to negotiate a
supplementary trade agreement.
Very truly yours,
