FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1942, VOLUME VI



set the stage for inflation; unless some means of diverting some of
this income into other than consumption purchase channels is found.
This aspect should receive careful attention.
  I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
      Very sincerely yours,                   PHILIP W. BONSAL


837.61351/3290
  The Ambassador in Cuba (Braden) to the Secretary of State

No. 891                                HABANA, September 2, 1942.
                                         [Received September 10.]
  SIR: I have the honor to report that the past few days have wit-
nessed the inauguration of a local campaign for the apparent pur-
pose of establishing a conviction in the mind of the Cuban people
that Cuba has a vested right to a 1943 sugar crop of approximately
the same size (4,000,000 long tons) as the 1942 zafra. This cam-
paign has taken the form of numerous editorials arguing that the
wartime economy of the country demands a large crop, with the
implication that the United States Government has some moral obli-
gation to make such a crop possible, in order to maintain Cuban
economy.
  The hand of the Government in this campaign emerged yesterday
when the Prime Minister, Dr. Ramon Zaydin, made an address at
a luncheon at the Lions' Club. The pertinent clipping from this
morning's Diario de ta Marina is enclosed 14 and it will be observed
that Dr. Zaydin made the following statement:
  "The basic triangle, of urgent interest to the Government, consists
of maritime traffic, the sugar crop, and fuel. It is stated that the
amount of the zafra will be reduced, and in the name of the Govern-
ment I declare that this cannot and will not be. A reduction of the
sugar crop would bring about a civil war. With the misery existing
in the fields, with the national economy battered, workers and the en-
tire people would establish a protest based on reason .  15
  Also enclosed are clippings 14 from the DPario de la Marina of
August 30, 1942, containing an article written by Dr. Ramiro Guerra
(now in Habana) in which he speaks optimistically of next year's
prospects, and an editorial from the same paper, (September 1) prais-
ing Dr. Guerra's views. A few days earlier an editorial appeared in
El Avance, the general purport of which was that the United States is
in a position to purchase any amount of Cuban sugar that it decides to

  "Not reprinted.
  15 Omission indicated in the original despatch.



330