297. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom) to the Acting Secretary of State 1
SUBJECT
- Mr. Wieland’s Conversation with ex-President Prio
Mr. Wieland gave me a rather detailed account of his conversation with ex-President Prio of Cuba who called on him Friday afternoon at 3:30. The meeting was at Dr. Prio’s request and was concurred in by me after careful consideration of the various factors involved. I reported at the Secretary’s Staff Meeting on Friday morning that Mr. Wieland would receive ex-President Prio that day.2
My decision that Mr. Wieland receive Dr. Prio was in accord with the policy which we have traditionally carried out in ARA to receive and listen without comment to the views of callers representing the political opposition in the countries of Latin America. They normally have been received by the desk officer or the Office Director and by no higher ranking official. In the past few months [Page 851] we have had callers from the opposition in Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, and other Cubans, to mention a few.
According to Mr. Wieland, he, in accordance with a previously arranged plan seized the first opening to make clear to Dr. Prio that the United States had been greatly concerned with reports and allegations of certain of his activities in this country which seemed to violate the immigration regulations and to have abused the hospitality which this country had extended since 1952. Dr. Prio denied having acted in any way contrary to the norms required of the person living in the United States as a political exile, stating that he was “afraid” to take any chances whatsoever due to the fact that his Cuban passport would soon expire and his need to remain in our good graces so as to be able to stay in the United States. Here he referred to his being able to obtain a passport, presumably Costa Rican, from his friend, President Figueres of Costa Rica.
Mr. Wieland clearly set forth the Department’s preference that there should be no publicity attendant to the meeting and Dr. Prio expressed his full concurrence on this point. He stated that he had gone to New York in the expectation of seeing Secretary Dulles which appointment was supposed to have been arranged through an American intermediary, one Mr. Wallace Rouse3 (who had spoken to Mr. Wieland on Thursday and to whom Mr. Wieland had expressed a willingness to see Dr. Prio if he came to the Department while specifically avoiding making an appointment). Dr. Prio said that he intended to go back to Miami Friday evening.
The ex-President provided Mr. Wieland with his own views of the Cuban political situation which Mr. Wieland will be reporting on in detail later. Mr. Wieland said that he carefully avoided any expression of opinion or any comment while listening to Dr. Prio.
Having in mind the problem which has arisen with the Cuban Government due to our decision to postpone further delivery of the eight tanks which they had sought to purchase under the reimbursable military aid program, and to lessen the impact on the Cuban authorities in the event Prio should make public his call at the Department, the Cuban Embassy was informed prior to the time of Prio’s call that the latter was going to be received at the Department at his request. We informed the Embassy that we would warn Dr. Prio not to abuse the hospitality of the United States and expressed concern over certain reports of his activities. On Dr. Prio’s departure the Cuban Embassy was further informed that Dr. Prio had stated he did not intend to publicize his call at the Department.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/9–2157. Confidential. Dulles was in New York to address the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly on September 19; Murphy was acting.↩
- At the Secretary’s Staff meeting on September 20, 1957, Rubottom reported that an ARA officer would receive Prío at the request of a U.S. businessman. He said this officer “would listen to Prío and then crack down on him (Prío) for his abuse of American hospitality by inciting trouble while in Florida.” (Ibid., Secretary’s Staff Meetings: Lot 63 D 75)↩
- A writer and private U.S. citizen, Rouse had been requested by a group of Cubans to ask for a confidential meeting between Dulles and Prío.↩