Telegram from Polish Embassy in Havana (Jeleń), 25 January 1962

Ciphergram No. 1155

Dispatched from Havana on 01.25.1962 at 21:

00 and received at 01.26.1962 at 13:42

Came to the Decoding Department at 01.26 at 17:30

To: [Aleksander] KRAJEWSKI,¹

From: [Ambassador Boleslaw] JELEN²

The information we are getting here from Punta [del Este] is fragmentary. We have noted disappointment here caused by the position assumed by Mexico, which has been far removed from the one they have assumed until now. In [Blas] Roca’s article (see our claris 15), one can sense the allusion to Mexico’s new position. [Carlos] Olivares, with whom I had talked today, sees this change as the expression of the complexity and inconsistency of the Mexican policy, but at the same time he allows for the possibility that Mexico is trying to create more space to maneuver at the negotiating table. According to Olivares, looking from the practical point of view, positive elements are predominant in the Brazilian position presented at Punta [del Este].

[This information has been compiled based on my] conversation with [Aleksei I.] Adzhubei³ and [Soviet Ambassador to Cuba Sergei Mikhailovich] Kudryavtsev on the 24th of this month. Adzhubei pointed out that in his conversation with [Fidel Castro], Fidel decisively rejected the concept of “Finlandization”⁴ of Cuba. On his part, Kudryavtsev emphasized that the Cuban delegation left [for Punta del Este] with a clear directive of exploiting the Brazilian concept in order to obtain a negotiating opportunity. A.[dzhubei] and K.[udryavtsev] think that neutralism of a Finnish type, although with some reservations, is an acceptable option. They are both in agreement that in Fidel’s thinking the idea has not yet emerged as to reconciling his actual position as the people’s leader on the [Latin American] continent with that of a national leader.

[1] Official in the Polish Foreign Ministry. In 1950-1951, he served as the Vice-Chair of the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the UN General Assembly. In 1965-1970, he served as Poland’s ambassador to Brazil.[2] Poland’s Ambassador to Cuba (1961-1965).

[2] Poland’s Ambassador to Cuba (1961-1965).

[3] Aleksei I. Adzhubei (1924 – 1993), Soviet journalist (editor of the newspaper Izvestia) and the son-in-law of Nikita Khrushchev; a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; political insider, speechwriter, and advisor to Khrushchev.

[4] Commonly used in reference to Finland’s policies of not challenging the Soviet Union during the Cold War; the term is also used when referring to a country’s policies of not challenging the policies of its greater neighbor (e.g. Cuba and the United States) while maintaining its national sovereignty.