738.39/276
The Minister in the Dominican Republic (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that when I called this morning to pay my respects to President Trujillo he confirmed with considerable emphasis the opinions expressed to Secretary Hull on January 11 by the Counselor of the Dominican Legation at Washington, Lcdo. Cruz Ayala.
President Trujillo began the interview by reading me an extensive letter from Lcdo. Cruz Ayala reporting his recent conversation with Secretary Hull. According to this communication, the Secretary had [Page 191] indicated his confidence that President Trujillo in common with other American statesmen, saw the imperative necessity for all the American nations to work loyally together to insure the observance of the treaties for the preservation of peace in the Western Hemisphere. Cruz Ayala wrote that he had in the name of the President expressed his complete agreement with this view and pledged that the Dominican Government would at all times conform its international policies to the provisions of the treaties to which it was a party.
President Trujillo told me that he ratified in every particular the statement of Lcdo. Cruz Ayala to Mr. Hull and that in the settlement of the present difficulty with Haiti he could give me full assurance that Dominican obligations under the treaties of conciliation would be observed.
The President told me that he was hopeful that a solution to the difficulty would soon be forthcoming and said that he thought the negotiations were progressing favorably in Washington. He added, however, that the Haitian problem was a fundamental one for his Government but doubted if any permanently satisfactory solution of it could be found in view of the factors of population, race and territory which make for continual irritation of feeling between the two countries.
For my part I expressed my gratification that the President through his emissary in Washington had indicated his sincere intention to cooperate with the other American nations for the observance of the peace treaties and my pleasure that according to his statement the negotiations within the scope of the conciliation treaties were progressing satisfactorily.
As the Department is aware from Despatch no. 35 of January 11, 1938 from the Legation at Port-au-Prince,18 conversations between Haitian and Dominican spokesmen are not only being conducted at Washington, but locally the Papal Nuncio is seeking to be the intermediary between the two Governments for a direct settlement. The Nuncio arrived here on January 12 by the same airplane which brought Lcdo. Arturo Despradel, the Legal Adviser to the Executive Power, who last month was sent to Haiti in an attempt to secure the re-opening of direct negotiations between the two Governments. As indicated by the Legation in Port-au-Prince, the Nuncio brought with him the very comprehensive draft of a proposed agreement for the settlement of the controversy.
In examining the text of this draft the Legation has noted that the Haitian Government seeks an indemnity of $750,000 payable in the period 1938–1942. From a banking source close to President Trujillo [Page 192] it is learned that the President has apparently agreed to the payment of such a figure. The same informant said that the President could, if he desired, pay that amount in one lump sum from his own personal funds; a statement more an indication of the President’s wealth than that payment will be made in such a manner.
I am not yet in a position definitely to report to the Department the Dominican reaction to the Haitian draft as proposed by the Nuncio. Conversations have gone ahead since his arrival, and he is returning by air to Port-au-Prince tomorrow, presumably with the counter-proposals of the Dominican Government. The Foreign Secretary told me on the 15th that all channels which might lead to a settlement were being actively explored and that none which conduced to agreement would be ignored. There is a possibility, therefore, that the Legation will be able to report definite developments resulting from the Nuncio’s visit within a few days.
Whatever the agency of settlement employed, there does appear to be ground for the hope that a solution of the present difficulty will presently be found, although it is realized, as President Trujillo said, that the fundamental problem with Haiti is of a more basic and enduring character, founded upon economic and sociological factors which can not be exorcised by the payment of indemnities or promises of good behavior. So long as two-thirds of the population of this island inhabit one-third of the territory there will be pressure upon the Dominican-Haitian frontier and with such pressure, trouble.
Respectfully yours,
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