From the Diary of O. T. Darusenkov, Record of a Conversation with the Secretary of the National Leadership of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba, Ernesto Guevara, 8 December 1964

[Stamp]: Declassified

from the diary of

Darusenkov, O. T.

Secret Copy No 2

10 December 1964

No 445

RECORD OF A CONVERSATION

with Secretary of the National Leadership of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba and Minister of Industry of the Republic of Cuba

Ernesto GUEVARA SERNA

8 December 1964

I met with Guevara and had a conversation with him in the course of which the latter informed me that tomorrow, 9 December, he will fly to New York to lay out the Cuban position at the UN General Assembly on the main foreign policy issues in the name of the government.

In this speech, said Guevara, I will touch particularly on the question of peaceful coexistence in the context that the principle of peaceful coexistence should operate not only in relations between the great powers but in relations between large and small countries. Besides this, Guevara continued, I will describe our attitude toward the problem of disarmament and expose and condemn the imperialist intervention in the Congo. An important place in my speech will also be an accusation against the United States of their constant aggressive acts against Cuba. (In this regard, Guevara showed me a thick folder containing a selection of materials, including photographs, which expose the aggressive actions of the US against Cuba, mainly in the area of Guantanamo).

Further in the conversation Guevara, commenting on today’s attempted suicide of Minister of Labor Augusto Martinez Sanchez, said that it was caused by a decision to relieve him of his government post for mistakes he had committed, in particular for an overexpenditure of 20 million pesos in the social insurance fund. Martinez Sanchez, Guevara noted, is of such a character that he could endure this. Now, even if he lives, his political career is over – a person who has tried to commit suicide cannot remain in the leadership.

Then, replying to my question about rumors which connect the “Ordoka affair” with the suicide of President O. Dorticos’ driver, Guevara said that there is no connection and the suicide in this case occurred because of the driver’s mental illness.

First Secretary of the USSR Embassy in Cuba

[signature]

O. Darusenkov

[Handwritten note at the bottom of the first page]: “To the archive. The material is informative; used for a dossier. Chief of a CC CPSU sector. [signature] A. Kalinin. 26.3.65.“ [To the left, “archive”, an illegible word, and “29.3.65”]

[Distribution:]

4-lsh/OD

1-OLAS

2-CC CPSU (to Cde. Andropov)

3-UVI

4-to file

No. 608

9.12.64