Telegram from Polish Embassy in Havana (Jeleń), 21 November 1962

Dispatched from Havana on 11.21.1962 at 19:00 and received at 11.22 at 12:55

Came to the Decoding Department at 11.21 at 16:30

To: Krajewski

From: Ambassador JELEN

Here is the supplement to our dispatch no. 481

[First Deputy Chairman of USSR Council of Ministers Anastas] Mikoyan did not mention the issue of Soviet-Cuban differences. He also did not mention the objectives of bringing the missiles to Cuba. He suggested, however, that a situation emerged in which one could compensate for the recognition of Cuba as a socialist country. Ipso facto, the Monroe Doctrine and the Rio Treaty had been struck. [Mikoyan] pointed out that the US will not give up on its anti-Cuban policy, and he emphasized within this context that the current balance of power [was] favorable to Cuba. He also added that although the United States may have much space to maneuver in the Caribbean region, the situation is looking differently in other parts of the world.

In a casual conversation, he mentioned his visit to Hungary in 1956; in this moment he turned to the Chinese [ambassador and said]: “at that time we were in constant consultations with the government of the PRC.”

He made a remark regarding the Poles from the time of the [October?] [R]evolution and the leaders of the Polish Communist Party [KPP].¹ He emphasized his appreciation on several occasions to [the Polish leader Władysław] Gomulka.

[1] This party was established in 1918, but it was dissolved the Comintern in 1938 as part of Stalin’s Great Purges.