Office of the Historian

88. Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State0

New York, April 10, 1961, 8 p.m.

2803. Cuba. Padilla Nervo1 (Mexico) came to see me Sunday to report that he had been asked to join in co-sponsoring an African-Asian resolution on Cuba along with Morocco, UAR and Indonesia. He told me his FonMin had approved Mexican sponsorship if US did not object. He [Page 206] did not seem to be very much involved in the matter, but advanced several arguments as to why a res like the Chile-Ecuador res of 4 Jan 19612 would be desirable.

In first place, he insists that OAS does not exclude in any way access by an American state to UN before OAS consideration. He said this view is universally shared. He said also that if any res called for peaceful solution they would have to vote for it even if they did not cosponsor. The idea that such a res admitted the existence of a dispute which we denied, he said, would appeal to few in view of recent newspaper reports of American encouragement for counter revolutionary activities.

Finally, he made the point that if the res is not adopted by UN, Cuba can come back over and over again as they already have done, and if a res were adopted, the next step would be in the OAS.

He handed me a draft of a res which we are transmitting by separate telegram.3 When I demurred to operative para 1, he suggested that perhaps it would be more acceptable if UN merely expressed the hope our difficulties with Cuba would be resolved by peaceful means.

Finally, he suggested for our consideration the appointment of a GOC4 of Latin American states either named by the Pres of GA or including same ones named by Costa Rican conference, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Chile.5

At our meeting today I told him that we were still strongly opposed to any res for the familiar reasons, and he assured me he would talk to his FonMin tonight and implied in circumstances they would not co-sponsor an ASAF6 res but if one were submitted anyway, they would probably have to vote in favor. He added while he still believed in validity of his arguments, he would state forcibly to FonMin Tello US was strongly opposed to any res and said he would let us know the result of his conversation.

Stevenson
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/4-1061. Confidential; Priority.↩
  2. Luis Padilla Nervo, Permanent Representative of Mexico at the United Nations.↩
  3. See Document 10.↩

  4. The Mexican draft resolution was transmitted to the Department in telegram 2804, April 10. The operative paragraphs of the resolution read as follows:

    • “1. Recommends to the Governments of the Republic of Cuba and of the USA that they make every effort to resolve their differences by peaceful means;
    • “2. Urges member states to refrain from any action which might aggravate the present tension between the two countries.” (Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/4-1061)

    ↩
  5. Good Offices Committee.↩
  6. See footnote 5, Document 52.↩
  7. Asian-African.↩