Office of the Historian

737.39/11–1748

Memorandum by Mr. Charles C. Hauch of the Division of Caribbean Affairs to the Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs (Daniels)

confidential
[Washington,] November 23, 1948.

According to the Cuban Chargé in Ciudad Trujillo, the Cuban Foreign Office feels the Dominican government has adopted a completely untenable position by suggesting that the direct negotiations recommended by the “Committee of Five” be carried out by missions appointed by the two governments. He stated his government believes the negotiations should be conducted only by diplomatic notes between the two Foreign Offices. The Chargé added that the Dominicans are evidently not inclined to follow literally the recommendation of the “Committee of Five”, the exact text of which, according to the Chargé, had suggested, “direct negotiations, Foreign Office to Foreign Office, through the usual official channels.”

The Chargé also stated his government’s view that the Dominican Republic really was not in a position to refer the matter to the “Committee of Five” at all, since it is not a full party to the Habana 1928 Convention on the Rights and Duties of States in the Event of Civil Strife, which he said the Dominican government ratified with reservations. The Cuban Chargé appears to be confused, since the procedure invoked by the Dominicans in appealing to the “Committee of Five” was set up by a resolution of the 1940 Habana Meeting of Foreign Ministers, to which the Dominicans did enter a reservation, and not by the 1928 Habana Convention, which they ratified without reservations.

In another despatch, the Embassy reports that the recent lull in editorial attacks in [on] Cuba in the controlled Dominican press continues, although reprints of anti-Prío articles from the Cuban press have appeared in Dominican papers.

Attachments:1

1.
From Ciudad Trujillo, D.R., Despatch No. 638, November 17, 1948.
2.
From Ciudad Trujillo, D.R., Despatch No. 637, November 17, 1948.

  1. Not printed.↩