752.5/7–2751: Despatch
The Ambassador in Spain (Griffis) to the Department of State
No. 104
Subject: C.I.C. Protests United States Aid to the Franco Regime
As reported in the above-mentioned telegram,1 the Secretary of the Coordination Committee of the Interior (Comité Interior de Coordinación usually referred to as the C.I.C.) called at the Embassy on July 20, 1951 to present a formal protest, on behalf of his organization, against the granting by the United States of military and economic aid to the Franco Regime. A copy of the C.I.C’s note of protest and the covering letter, as well as the translations of both, are enclosed in this despatch.2
The basic thesis of the note is that the United States has broken faith with the Spanish people and has abandoned its role as champion of freedom. It also reiterates a previous C.I.C. statement that [Page 836] its U.G.T. and C.N.T. components represent more than 6,000,000 Spanish workers who are determined not to cooperate in any military or economic program while General Franco remains in power. (Embassy Despatch No. 865 of January 31, 19513)
On the occasion of presenting this note at the Embassy, the Secretary of the C.I.C., obviously very much upset, talked for nearly an hour on what he and his organization consider to be the basic errors in the new American policy toward the Franco Regime, as they interpret that policy in the light of the recent visits of the senatorial group and of the late Admiral Sherman and the recent official statements from Washington. The Secretary alleged that, by providing aid to Franco, the United States was sacrificing fundamental moral and political principles to military expediency and, in so doing, was losing the respect of not only the Spanish people but of all the democratically minded people of free Europe. Further, he asserted that this sacrifice will prove to have been made in vain because the great popular opposition to Franco within Spain will limit his effectiveness as an ally to a minimum and because such small benefits in the way of bases, etc., which the United States may obtain from Franco will be more than offset by the great moral loss to the Western cause.
The C.I.C. Secretary stated that the Spanish people are bordering on desperation and, considering themselves abandoned by the United States, will now grasp at any aid offered them for use against the Franco tyranny. He asserted that there are armed communist nucleus groups in Spain and that the communists will now be able greatly to strengthen and expand their organization. He mentioned that the United States radio propaganda to Spain is as nothing compared to the volume of communist propaganda reaching the Spanish people through the radio medium.
There is little new in the arguments presented by the C.I.C. Secretary. He is an intelligent and well informed individual who appears to be sincerely opposed to communism and friendly to the United States; however, his dedication to and great preoccupation with the Opposition cause prevent him from viewing either the Franco Regime or the communist threat in anything like world perspective. Undoubtedly, there are a great many Spaniards who feel much as he and his organization do. It is not improbable that extending aid to the Franco Government will cost the United States, at least temporarily, the respect and goodwill of a great [Page 837] many of those Spaniards who have been our friends during the past fifteen years.
First Secretary of Embassy