Telegram from Polish Embassy in Havana (Jeleń), 28 September 1962

Ciphergram No. 14427

Dispatched from Havana on 09.28.1962 at 19:00 and received at 09.29.1962 at 14:30

Came to the Decoding Department at 09.29.1962 at 16:30

To: [Director General Jerzy] MICHALOWSKI

From: [Ambassador Boleslaw] JELEN¹

[Foreign Minister Raúl] Roa [García] called me in today and informed me about the following:

[President Osvaldo] Dorticós [Torrado] will leave on Wednesday for the UN Session in order to make a statement during the general debate. R. will assist him. The pronouncement of Dorticós is expected for 8 October. The communiqué, which is to announce the participation of Dorticós in the [UN] Session, will be published on 1 October. D. wants to conduct talks in New York with the chairman of the delegation of the socialist countries. R. asked that we relay this information to Comrade [Foreign Minister Adam] Rapacki. They are predicting that meetings with some Afro-Asian and Latin American delegations will also take place. They are also predicting that a meeting with the chairman of the Yugoslav delegation will take place. While taking this opportunity, R. also remarked that their relations with Yugoslavia have improved. [Soviet official Leonid Ilyich] Brezhnev’s trip [to Yugoslavia in late September and early October, 1962]² is making the whole process easier and they will further continue to improve their relations [with Yugoslavia]. (B. trip was covered in a special commentary in “Hoy” [major Cuban newspaper and the organ of the Communist Party of Cuba] which reminds one of the visit of [President] Dorticós in Yugoslavia last year on the occasion of the Belgrade Conference.³ [The commentary also] points to the positive composition of the Yugoslav delegation “headed by President Tito” during the conference and its great participation in pushing through the resolution supporting, among other things, the rights of Cuba.

The departure of Dorticós is justified by the hitherto process of the general debate in which, thanks to [Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei] Gromyko’s pronouncement, the Cuban question has gained much attention. They are assessing that the proper understanding of the Cuban question is deeper than last year. The pronouncement of the delegations of Latin American nations, with whom they maintained contacts, were taking into account defending the principle of non-intervention, something that corresponds with Cuba’s wishes. As far as this aspect, they are positively assessing the pronouncements of Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, even though it was only Brazil which mentioned Cuba. Cuba did not make any special efforts, however, [to see] that their name be mentioned. They think that Bolivia’s approach was good. They are now awaiting the statements of Mexico. There are serious chances that the United Arab Republic [Egypt] and the countries belonging to the Casablanca group will introduce a resolution, calling on the United States and Cuba to begin bilateral talks in order to solve their contentious issues. Cuba is supporting these tendencies and it will aspire to achieve wider support among Afro-Asian nations, especially among the participants of the Belgrade Conference.

The government is currently discussing the draft of the response to the resolution in the US Congress regarding Cuba. The declaration regarding this issue will be published on the 30th of this month.

As to my question regarding the overall situation, R. assessed that currently there was no danger of [US] military aggression against Cuba. (C.R. Rodriguez, with whom I had a lengthy talk today, assessed the situation in a similar manner. [I will send the report from this conversation] separately.

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

[2] Brezhnev met with President Josip Tito of Yugoslavia and became an honorary citizen of Belgrade.

[3] Reference here to the conference of Afro-Asian nations held in Belgrade in 1961, a conference which led to the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War.