HARRY TRUMAN LIBRARY Papers of NATHANIEL DAVIS EXTRACT FROM MY DIARY March 5, 1948.
This morning Roger Stone came in and asked if he could talk to me very privately. He was in touch with the people in whose house Mr. Ulate is hiding. He said Ulate had returned the night before from the Valverde funeral in a highly excited and furious mood. He announced his determination to call a general strike forthwith and even wrote and signed the announcement which he planned to make on the radio. His friends.
had dissuaded him but did not believe they could hold the line much longer. He asked my views. said had no message for Mr. Ulate as could not intervene in local affairs or give any advice. said as see the picture, and it must be clear that this is in no sense an expression of opinion, advice, or recommendation, but merely the comment of an observer, an impasse has been reached which can be resolved only by a compromise or by bloodshed. strike call would inevitably lead to bloodshed and kill all chances of a negotiated settlement in the immediate future. In the event of further attempts at negotiation, it seemed clear to me that a formula must be found which would save face all around if it were to.
be acceptable.
During this conversation, word came that the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps was summoning the corps to hear an important statement from the Archbishop, told Mr.
Stone would attend the meeting and after it would be prepared, if Mr. Ulate friends from whom he had come desired me to, to repeat my observations as an observer and only if repeating them might contribute to the avoidance of bloodshed.
As the Dean of the Corps had asked me to pick up the Archbishop and bring him. to the meeting in my car, went around a few minutes early. Monseigneur Sanabria was in a very pessimistic mood. He said icular desire to meet with the Corps and did not see what useful service could be performed. He had told the Dean of his negotiations of the previous night with the two parties and expressed a desire that he give the same information to the whole Corps. He was willing to do so if invited by the Corps and assured that it would hold his statement in strictest confidence. He preferred not to accompany me to the mecting but to remain in his house prepared to go if, after learning the conditions under which