738.39/285
The Minister in the Dominican Republic (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 24.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that in the course of my regular weekly call on the Foreign Minister this morning, he had occasion to speak for the first time of the efforts of the Papal Nuncio towards a settlement of the Dominican-Haitian controversy. It seemed to be Mr. Ortega Frier’s purpose to make it clear that these exchanges were complementary to the discussions now taking place in Washington; that while the Nuncio was acting as intermediary between the two Presidents, the Gondra Treaty procedure was still the cornerstone for the negotiations between the two Governments and every phase of the Nuncio’s participation was being reported to the Special Representatives of the two countries in Washington. He again expressed confidence that satisfactory progress was being made and indicated that if the Haitians were willing to accept “a transactional settlement” based on the payment of an indemnity to be distributed among the victims he felt that this would not be difficult to reach. However, should the Haitian Government insist on the question of responsibility, the Dominican representatives have no instructions to discuss this phase pending the termination of the juridical investigation. In concluding the Minister again assured me that the discussions in Washington and the Nuncio’s activities were all related; that there [Page 194] was no danger of working at cross purposes and that should it seem desirable for him to go to Washington, he was authorized by the President to make the trip if in doing so he could expedite a satisfactory settlement.
Respectfully yours,