Cable from the Chinese Embassy, Havana, 'Report on Conversation with Cuban Official Joaquín Ordoqui'

Foreign Ministry:

This morning [27 October 1962], Ordoqui told us:

The US continues to clamor for war. Yesterday in particular, they proposed to carry out an invasion; Cuba estimated, it could get underway early this morning. Cuba has everything prepared, with 500 thousand people mobilized. The US was estimated to have gathered in Florida 500 thousand people; this number might well have been exaggerated. But [the US] urgently built up a series of rocket launch platforms in Florida. Over 100 aircrafts were deployed nearby. American aircraft carriers were operating in an area 14 nautical miles off Cuban territorial waters.

Yesterday the US demanded the removal of Cuban missile bases, which seemingly indicates an increasing American appetite: they wish to push the Soviet Union aside and start to deal with Cuba with no holds barred. Someone in the US clamored that the US’s military base in Turkey was built up openly, yet the Soviet Union set up [their base in Cuba] in a sneaky way. “What sort of policy is it?” they asked. [They] even insisted that the Cuban-Soviet agreement should be published, and added that Artemisa base was again reinforced. It appears the US is plotting an invasion.

Soviet ships that arrived recently were, in fact, not hindered, nor investigated [by the US]. [The rumor of Soviet ships being stopped or inspected] might have been propaganda on the radio. It is reported that [US warships] only asked by signals about the nature of cargoes. Ships replied that these are cargoes of oil, and nothing [serious] ensued.

[Fidel] Castro is firm. Even if Cuba were be wiped out by a possible nuclear war, as Castro said, imperialism would be closer to facing its demise and global socialism would arrive sooner. Ordoqui said to Castro that [earlier] they didn’t expect to see the victory of the revolution, but they do now; therefore, [they] were convinced that they could even see imperialism being toppled. Castro replied, “both of us will see the arrival of this moment.”

Chinese Embassy in Cuba

27 October 1962