837.61351/3860: Airgram
The Ambassador in Cuba ( Braden ) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 3—3 p.m.]
A–822. My despatch No. 2574 of March 25, 1943.48 The Cuban Congressional Committee investigating the Godoy sugar insurance deal has voted a 4 to 3 approval thereof. I am reliably informed that this favorable decision resulted from pressure applied by the President49 despite the unfavorable reports made by the expert witnesses. The matter remains much in the public eye.
Having in mind that only one month now remains before we are scheduled to advance approximately one hundred and thirty million dollars, I wish to reiterate the suggestion contained in the above-mentioned despatch that unless Commodity Credit Corporation is [Page 188] fully satisfied regarding the protection offered, we should lose no more time in sending an expert and disinterested sugar insurance investigator to Habana.
I am of the opinion that a competent man should be able to obtain and evaluate all the facts after a few days of intensive study and discussions with all the persons involved and interested. But a definite decision on the acceptability of the Godoy plan should not be further deferred, and in particular because of the afore-mentioned approval given by the Congressional Committee it might have an unfavorable effect were we only a few days before June 1 to announce that we did not consider satisfactory the Institute-Godoy arrangement (which was announced barely two months ago).