[Enclosure]
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador in
Cuba (Wright)
The Cuban Ambassador to Washington called upon me today. He stated
that yesterday he had had a long and spirited conversation with
Colonel Batista, at which he was accompanied by Señor Amadeo López
Castro.53 In the course of this conversation, Dr.
Martínez Fraga stated that he had given a resume of the entire
situation, together with an expression of his opinion as to the
inevitable results. He himself had set the date of September 7th as
the earliest date upon which his Government could safely count on
the necessary two thirds majority for the passage of the
“Obligaciones”: it is therefore pursuant to his recommendation that
the Senate has been convened for that date. He said that one of the
reasons for the selection of this date was that Senator Pujol had
only left last night in order to get into touch with Senator Font
wherever he may be and to bring him back with him to Cuba (giving
him the necessary assurances in connection with the incident which
caused his sudden departure from Cuba).
The Ambassador said that he considered this to be the very last
effort that he would make in this connection and then proceeded to
outline to me his present position. He said that he had inquired of
Colonel Batista whether it could be considered a fair return for his
ceaseless efforts to accomplish the passage of this legislation, to
request that he remain on as Ambassador to the United States when he
had every reason to believe that if he registered as a candidate
with the Constituent Assembly he could be elected (and if not to the
Constituent Assembly to the Senate). Today, however, is the last
date permitted for the registration of candidates for the
Constituent Assembly. He said that he was informed in reply that he
should not think of relinquishing his present post and therefore he
would not submit his name as a candidate—in the hope that the Senate
would on September 7th pass this legislation. He asked that Mr.
Welles be informed of all of the foregoing.
I then showed him the text of the announcement which we proposed to
make on the morning of September 1st (see the Department’s
instruction No. 1089 of August 23,54 and telegram No. 100 of August
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2955): I did not give him a
copy but I said that I proposed to communicate it to the Secretary
of State tomorrow (August 31). The Ambassador asked whether I
thought it might be possible to postpone this announcement in order
to await the developments on September 7th. I said that I would
refer his inquiry to Mr. Welles, but that I felt absolutely certain
that we could no longer postpone the date of this announcement—which
had already been postponed in the hope that the bill might be
passed. The Ambassador then said that it would be wise to make a
similar announcement here at the same time, which would closely
follow the announcement to be made by the Department: I read to him,
in reply, the last paragraph of the Department’s instruction No.
1089 of August 23, and stated that he would observe that my
Government had foreseen such a desire on the part of the Cuban
Government and had stated that it would be desirable that such
action be taken simultaneously. The Ambassador then stated that the
phraseology of the last sentence of the proposed statement for the
press left the door open for the resumption of negotiations which he
earnestly hoped might be the case, as it was the intention of his
Government to continue its pressure for the passage of the bill: I
replied that I have every reason to believe that such was the idea
of the Department in adopting that phraseology.
The Ambassador said that, in such case, he assumed that facilities
would be afforded for the proposal of items, etc., that had not been
advanced before: I replied that I had no knowledge as to what forms
such negotiations might take, but that he was doubtless aware that
it would entail the reopening of the entire procedure before the
Committee on Reciprocity Information. He replied that he did.
I then mentioned to him the matter of the statement to the press to
which the Secretary of State had referred in his conversation with
me yesterday: the Ambassador replied that he greatly regretted that
he had not been able to be present at that meeting because he
considered the proposal to be inopportune and not founded upon
facts: in fact, he volunteered the information that the Secretary
knew very little about it! In order to make our position clear, I
stated that it would have been impossible for us to agree to any
notice which included reference to the United States’ contribution
toward the Stabilization Fund, or to any statement which specified
the sum of $50,000,000 as having been agreed upon: the Ambassador
replied that such was, of course, the case and that he very much
regretted the proposal. I stated that as the proposal had been
submitted to me, and by me to my Government, I had now received the
draft of a proposed notice to which my Government would interpose no
objection, provided it were clearly understood that the reference to
the Supplementary Trade Agreement is, of course, contingent on
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whether or not these
negotiations are suspended as of September 1st. He said that he
believed that no further attention should be paid to the proposal: I
replied that I was under obligation to the Secretary of State to
make some reply: therefore I requested him to inform the Secretary
of State to the above effect (he stated that he was on his way to
the Department of State after leaving the Embassy) and further to
inform Dr. Campa that I would communicate with him tomorrow.
I communicated the foregoing by telephone to Mr. Welles who confirmed
our position in the matter. I therefore intend to hand to the
Secretary of State tomorrow (August 31st) a copy of the statement to
be released on the morning of September 1st for publication in the
papers of the afternoon of that date.
At 5 o’clock Mr. Welles telephoned me stating that Martínez Fraga had
sent a message by telephone to him through the Cuban Embassy stating
that the situation was of great delicacy and danger and of great
importance to him, assuring him that final and favorable action
would be taken on September 7th and asking him to postpone the
announcement of the suspension of negotiations until after that
date. Mr. Welles stated that he had requested the Embassy in reply
to inform the Ambassador that while he greatly regretted the
circumstances to which the Ambassador had alluded, he found it
impossible to consent to a further postponement of this announcement
which had already been postponed: he ventured to believe that the
announcement might strengthen the Ambassador’s hand. Mr. Welles
requested that I get into immediate touch with the Ambassador and
give him the same message.
At 6:10 I succeeded in finding the Ambassador and conveyed the
foregoing message to him: it apparently reached him before the
message through the Embassy in Washington, for he seemed surprised.
He said that he hoped that the decision would strengthen his hand
but he very much doubted it.
