837.30/96

The Ambassador in Cuba (Braden) to the Secretary of State

No. 7064

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s airgram No. 2193 of October 30, 10:25 p.m., 194314 and to previous correspondence with the Department concerning the desire of the War Department to abrogate Article XII of the Agreement for Military Cooperation signed at Habana June 14 [19], 1942.15

The Department may be interested to know that military claims continue to be handled by the Claims Officer at Batista Airport without any objection having been raised up to the present time by the Cuban Government. Recently a United States naval plane crashed in one of the suburbs of Habana and partially destroyed two Cuban homes. The Claims Officer from Batista Airport immediately took over negotiation of this matter and now reports that both home owners have agreed to settlements within the $5,000 limit placed by [Page 896] the Act of June [January] 2, 1942, as amended.16 The United States military and naval representatives in Cuba cooperated fully and settlement was possible within two weeks of the time that the accident took place.

In view of this indication that the Cuban Government wiil probably not press for creation of the Joint Claims Commission provided by Article XII of the Agreement for Military Cooperation, it would appear that the Claims Officer at Batista Airport may continue to act in cases of this nature.

Respectfully yours,

For the Ambassador:
Garret G. Ackerson, Jr.

Second Secretary of Embassy
  1. Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. vi, p. 149.
  2. For previous correspondence on abrogation of article XII of this agreement, see ibid., pp. 143 ff.; for text of agreement, see ibid., 1942, vol. vi, p. 267.
  3. Public Law 393, 55 Stat. 880, amended by Public Law 39, 57 Stat 66.