837.00/4577a: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Personal Representative of the President ( Caffery )

5. For Caffery from Welles.2 Márquez Sterling has been in to see me repeatedly during the past 10 days. He has four times fixed a definite date of departure for Habana, where he intended to take up his duties as Secretary of State. This morning, he came to see me to advise me that last night he had sent his irrevocable resignation to Dr. Grau.3 The reasons for this, from what he told me, were the refusal of his Government to adjust the indebtedness incurred by Cuban army officers in American military schools and the persistence of Grau in utilizing the services of American confidential agents in the United States who alleged that recognition by this Government could be obtained through their connections.

Márquez Sterling spoke, however, in a very open manner of the situation in Habana and of letters he had recently received from his friends there. The impression he gave me was that he had reached the conclusion that no peaceful adjustment of the problem was now possible. [Welles.]

Phillips
  1. Sumner Welles, Assistant Secretary of State.
  2. Dr. Ramón Grau San Martin, Provisional President of Cuba.