Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume X, Cuba, January 1961–September 1962

67. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Argentina⁰

Washington, March 18, 1961, 11:57 a.m.

1295. Verbatim Text. Proposed reply from Secretary to FonMin: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellencyʼs telegram of March 4¹ concerning your reply of that date to the note of February 23 from the Minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba.²

The United States is pleased always to have the views of the Government of the Argentine Republic not only because of the attachment of our two governments to common principles of freedom but also because of the forthright and constructive stand which Your Excellencyʼs Government has consistently taken in defense of constitutional democracy and spiritual and material progress of the peoples of the Americas.

I know that Your Excellencyʼs Government shares fully with the Government of the United States the desire to see the people of Cuba advancing side by side with the peoples of all of the Americas under the banner of human dignity in a great hemisphere movement of economic development and social progress. I venture to express the belief also that Your Excellencyʼs Government recognizes the reality of the capture of the Cuban revolution by the Sino-Soviet bloc and that its concern with respect to this development motivated Your Excellencyʼs telegram of March 4 to me.

If the Government of Cuba should decide to separate itself, in fact as well as in theory, from the imperialistic ambitions of the Sino-Soviet bloc; if it should decide to honor, by its deeds as well as its words, its inter-American commitments and to make it possible for Cuba to regain its historic place within the inter-American family, this would indeed be a cause for deep satisfaction on the part of the Government and people of the United States. If the Government of the Argentine Republic should find it possible to determine whether the Government of Cuba is disposed to take effective steps to achieve these results, the Government of the United States, after such a determination, would be pleased to have the opportunity to discuss with Your Excellencyʼs Government this hemisphere problem.³

Accept, etc.”

Rusk

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/3-1861. Official Use Only. Drafted on March 17 in ARA by C.A. Boonstra and Mann. Cleared in CMA, RPA, in substance with Berle, and by Rusk.
1. Document 53.
2. See footnote 1, Document 52.
3. The Embassy reported in telegram 1136 from Buenos Aires, March 22, that Ambassador Rubottom delivered the message transmitted in telegram 1295 to Foreign Minister Taboada. Taboada made no direct response to the Secretaryʼs message, but stated that Argentina had not changed its attitude toward Cuba, and continued to align itself with the United States on major issues. (Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/3-2261) The Embassy had reported earlier, in telegram 1043 from Buenos Aires, March 9, that Cuba had accepted the Argentine offer of good offices, and that the Argentine Government had released the text of the Cuban response to the press. (Ibid., 737.00/3-961)