File No. No. 763.72113/664
The Minister in Guatemala ( Leavell) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 22, 2.10 p.m.]
Your August 16, 5 p.m. Taking Custodian Hodgsdon with me I had an interview with President Cabrera this afternoon, and the three of us were closeted together for an hour going over as far as possible every aspect of the situation. Without giving the President’s exact words I will try to put the Department of State into possession of his mind as to the question under consideration:
- 1.
- He takes the same attitude as that of the Government of the United States towards the property owned by alien enemies.
- 2.
- In the matter of taking it over and disposing of it he will go as far as is both wise and practicable for him to go.
- 3.
- That the situations of the two countries are entirely dissimilar because in Guatemala a very large fraction of the productive property is owned by Germans, and it would not be feasible to find purchases for such large amounts of valuable properties when once they had been taken over.
- 4.
- That such a situation of affairs might lead to both present and future embarrassment for his Government besides doing injustice to other interests that may be involved with those of the Germans.
- 5.
- The only safe and wise course of action for his Government is to scrutinize carefully these several properties, determine What can be and ought to be done, and then do it.
- 6.
- Therefore, it is not practicable this stage to fix a day upon which to begin taking over these properties owned by alien enemies.
- 7.
- But in view of the fact that the Government of the United States and that of Guatemala are cobelligerents in the same great war and each is anxious to do what lies in its power to win the war, the Government of Guatemala will be glad to have the cooperation of the Government of the United States especially in sub matters where the experience of the latter is so much greater. So if the Government of the United States will send to Guatemala a special representative of the War Trade Board and the Alien Property Custodian to consider this whole matter, the Government of Guatemala will welcome his cooperation, assistance, and advice.
President Cabrera with great earnestness, withal in diplomatic phraseology, emphasized the very great importance of sending a man of great-probity as well as a man of experience, more judge than appealer, a man able to look upon every side of the question and reach his conclusions in view of all the facts in the case; that is to say, a man who is both capable and fair. Not his words but his whole manner lead me to judge that he will want the representative [Page 370] to be a man of recognized responsibility and reputation. Such a representative would receive attention and get active cooperation, and anyone less well qualified would be politely neglected …