837.00/1826a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Cuba (Long)
207. The statement made public August 30 by the Legation in Cuba as well as President Menocal’s proclamation on August 29th45 have effectively relieved the tension in the United States as well as in Cuba which had existed from fear that the Government would resort to unfair methods in the election. In both countries confidence is felt that the approaching contest will be a true test of the strength of the two parties. An evidence of this sentiment is the certainty with which each party looks to a triumph in the forthcoming election.
The President’s proclamation and the statement issued by the Legation had to do principally with electoral registration. It is to be regretted that the pre-election period has been marked by disturbances and breaches of the public order, as well as crimes of the most serious nature, and that these have taken place both before and after the issuance of the proclamation and the statement, but in number and significance they have not been such, it is believed, as to indicate as great a proportion of unfairness in electoral methods as has existed hitherto at election periods.
The Department is informed that Military Supervisors have been appointed in larger numbers for this election than for any preceding. No public statement from President Menocal, as far as is known to the Department, has made it clear to the Cuban people why this large number is necessary, nor has the Department any information to show that precautionary instructions emanating from high authority have been issued to safeguard the proper exercise by the supervisors of the exceptional jurisdiction vested in them for emergencies; [Page 31] guarantees for the discharge of their duties with a perfect fairness appear to be lacking. If the President has placed himself and his administration on record by issuing a proclamation instructing the supervisors in the most explicit and definite manner that their authority can be, and has been invoked as readily and confidently by the one as by the other party, the Department would be less apprehensive; for the same reason there should not be the slightest doubt left that the military forces of Cuba engage upon this role of assistants to the civil authorities committed to an attitude of complete neutrality as regards the two parties, and that their instructions will be fearlessly executed. It should also be made clear that any departure from this attitude will result in the prompt suspension from duty of the offending supervisor. Such a proclamation by the President, the Department trusts, has been made following the representations you were instructed to make to him following the receipt of the Department’s telegram of October 22, 7 p.m.
A further proclamation should, in the Department’s opinion, be issued promptly by the President in regard to electoral administration in future. You are instructed so to inform the President with the urgent recommendation of this Government of the desirability of such a proclamation, but will not attempt to dictate its phraseology to him, although its more essential provisions, in the Department’s judgment, should include: (1) A message of congratulation to the Cuban people in carefully expressed terms for the orderly manner in which they have approached election day, sufficient evidence of which is the effort made by each party to bring out its full strength in the belief that their ballots honestly cast will be counted as received; mention should be made, however, of the disorderly incidents which have in certain localities tarnished the electoral administration, and are to be regretted. Whatever corrective public action in this connection has been taken should be included in the statement. (2) The most important acts of the electoral administration yet to be accomplished should next be set forth, for example, the manner of composing and constituting the Colleges and College Boards, the designation of the polling places, the method of conducting the vote, the count, and the canvass, together with the way in which the Electoral Law safeguards each of these acts. (3) Obviously prominent notice should be given Chapter XIII of the Electoral Code which makes provision for the corrective action of the courts in deciding cases arising out of elections. Emphasis should be laid on the fact that the courts have not only the authority but the duty to declare null elections in which the provisions of article 242 have been disregarded; and may also nullify elections wherein illegal restriction or obstruction of the ballot has taken place, or where fraud or [Page 32] serious irregularity has prevented a correct and accurate count. As many of these powers are an innovation in the Electoral Code, it is vitally important to insist upon a courageous exercise of this new jurisdiction. (4) It is the duty of the Presidents of the College Boards at the end of every two hours to announce the number of electors who have voted, which number must be inscribed by the Secretary. The public should be reminded of this fact, as well as of the right possessed by the watchers of either political party to protest the number announced and to have a record made of their protests. (5) The Presidential proclamation should likewise remind the public that the polls close at 3 p.m., and that a complete scrutiny shall be made at as early an hour as practicable; midnight is the dead line in all cases, but in the smaller colleges the scrutiny could be over by 6 o’clock. (6) An item of the greatest importance for the proclamation to impress on the public is that the post, telegraph, and telephone services should be kept open, and equipped to provide for an adequate transmission of the election returns, and for a prompt and continuous publication of the returns as they are received. This procedure was indicated by the Department in its instruction No. 212, October 20. There must be no doubt that the Government will use its powers to the utmost to maintain this service efficiently and that there be no interruption in transmitting the returns and making them public. (7) The President should make it clear beyond any question that the provisions of the Electoral Code, in everything relating to the military and police forces, have been faithfully observed and will be maintained with the same fidelity.
It is not unlikely that you will meet with some opposition from the President when you urge him to issue this proclamation. He may allege that it could more properly come either wholly or in part from the Central Electoral Board. The Department holds that it is highly important that the President should issue the proclamation in toto in order that the Executive power may thereby become publicly responsible to the Cuban people for the operation of the Electoral Code. If, however, you meet with determined opposition, you will make every possible effort to have the Central Electoral Board, acting on the President’s instruction, issue such portions of the foregoing points as are not embraced in the President’s proclamation, in a supplementary statement. In the latter case, the President’s proclamation and the Board’s statement should not appear later than October 28, and should be disseminated immediately for the widest possible public information.