I think that you would have been indignant at such a step on our part. And this would have been understandable to us. In presenting us with these conditions, you, Mr. President, have flung a challenge at us. Our ties with the Republic of Cuba, like our relations with other states, regardless of what kind of states they may be, concern only the two countries between which these relations exist. And if we now speak of the quarantine to which your letter refers, a quarantine may be established, according to accepted international practice, only by agreement of states between themselves, and not by some third party.
Quarantines exist, for example, on agricultural goods and products.
But in this case the question is in no way one of quarantine, but rather of far more serious things, and you yourself understand this. You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force. It would mean guiding oneself in one's relations with other countries not by reason, but by submitting to arbitrariness. You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us. No, Mr. President, I cannot agree to this, and I think that in your own heart you recognize that I am correct.