UN General Assembly
1965

144. On the other hand, Cuba has not participated, and cannot participate, in the plans for the denuclearization of Latin America. We consider it a laudable enterprise, but an incomplete one. The only nuclear Power in the hemisphere is the United States. Consequently, when this idea was put forward at the seventeenth session of the General Assembly, the Cuban delegation proposed that the draft resolution should include the United States and its military bases in Panama and Puerto Rico, and also the withdrawal of the naval base at Guantanamo in our territory. The only fair and effective way in which the denuclearization of Latin America can be achieved without leaving its peoples at the mercy of their traditional aggressor is by simultaneously denuclearizing the only nuclear Power in this part of the world. 145. As long as the United States Government retains the privilege of keeping and using its nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, Cuba reserves the right to insist on prior conditions which will guarantee its security, and to acquire the type of weapons needed for its defence.