S. Kudryavtsev to A.F. Dobrynin, 'Record of Conversation with Raúl Roa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 14 September 1960'

to A. F. Dobrynin

Secret Copy Nº 1
7 November 1960
Outgoing Nº 97

The Soviet Embassy
in the Republic of Cuba
Havana

RECORD OF A CONVERSATION

with Raul Roa, Minister of Foreign Affairs

14 September 1960

In accordance with instructions [I] had I visited Raul Roa and informed him that N. S. Khrushchev had departed for New York on the steamship Baltika on 9 September and would arrive in the US on 19 September.

I told R. Roa that Cde. N. S. Khrushchev will of course be glad to meet with him in New York and to discuss any questions which are of interest to R. Roa.

Then I said that the Soviet delegation will be in constant contact with the Cuban delegation on all the questions of the General Assembly agenda and [will] inform it of our position.

Thanking me, Roa said that he would immediately inform Fidel Castro, who is outside Havana right now, of what [I] had said. R. Roa continued, F. Castro and the entire Cuban delegation intend to arrive in New York on 18 September. F. Castro will not delay in meeting N. S. Khrushchev as soon as this is possible for the head of the Soviet government. The Cuban delegation will maintain the closest contact with the Soviet delegation on all the questions and he, Raul Roa, would like to meet A. A. Gromyko as soon as he arrives in New York.

In reply to this I said that, of course, this could be done both through our UN Mission as well as through the Soviet delegation at the General Assembly.

I further told Raul Roa that our position on the question of disarmament is based on the same positions which were presented by N. S. Khrushchev in speeches at the UN General Assembly in 1959, and those proposals which were submitted by the Soviet government at the Committee of 10 Countries in Geneva.

R. Roa said in reply that the information I had reported to him about the position of the Soviet delegation on disarmament would help the Cuban government develop its own position on this question. Right now, continued R. Roa, we are preparing a draft of a speech for F. Castro and therefore your information will give us substantial assistance.

R. Roa continued, F. Castro intends to limit his stay in New York as much as possible. He prefers to leave New York immediately after he makes his speech there. It seems to me, R. Roa stressed, that the speech is not the main thing, although an important place. In my view, it would be important if F. Castro did not limit himself to just making the speech and used his stay in New York to establish contacts with the heads of government of other countries, and to inform them in more detail about the development of the Cuban revolution and the problems which Cuba encounters today. We have tried to convince F. Castro of this, but it seems to me that this was not exactly successful. R. Roa stressed, I personally think that F. Castro’s stay and his establishment of contacts with the heads of government of other countries would help us obtain the support of a number of countries in your [SIC] struggle against the US. In any event, F. Castro’s trip to the General Assembly will be important in all respects, not only for him personally, but also for Cuba as a whole. For F. Castro this trip will be a unique experience [shkola] for the formation of an important state figure. R. Roa noted, F. Castro is very hot-tempered and mercurial, like all Cubans, and it is often necessary to give him advice so that he acts more discreetly and cautiously.

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[the rest of the conversations concerned other topics, such as the Dominican question; the restoration of relations with Venezuela; and Tito’s trip to the UN General Assembly and the cooling of Yugoslav-Cuban relations--trans.]

SOVIET AMBASSADOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA          S. KUDRYAVTSEV