February 13, 1964

POLICY STATEMENT ON CUBA

The time has long since come when the Democratic Administration should take clear, decisive and purposeful action to meet the critical problem of imperialistic Communism in Cuba.

The island of Cuba is today an avowed Communist state protected by Soviet troops ninety miles off America's shores.

This is the result of the fiasco of the policies of the Democratic Administration. Every failure has led to an increase of Soviet influence. Every missed opportunity has made the task that much harder. At the Bay of Pigs US aircover could probably have accomplished Castro's overthrow. Insistence on the demand for inspection during the missile crisis in 1962 could have achieved at least the neutralization of Cuba.

Today these tasks are far more difficult. But at the very least we should face facts.

The people of Cuba are being brutally deprived of freedom and the right of self-determination. Cuba itself is a base for subversion against every country in the Western Hemisphere. Unanswered Venezuelan charges of Cuban aggression are before the CAS right now.

Cuba's impact extends far beyond the Western Hemisphere. Cuban arms have been shipped to Algeria and it is reported that they have been sent from there to foment revolutions in other parts of Africa. Some of the guerrillas of the Zanzibar revolt

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were trained in Cuba.

As US policy vacillates some of our allies are breaching our trade embargo -- action which would be unlikely in the face of a strong American policy. On January 7th, Great Britain permitted a multi-million dollar sale of 450 buses to Cuba. On February 7th, the French government approved and gave financial support to the sale of 300 heavy trucks and tractors to Cuba for $10,000,000. The Netherlands is expected to purchase 100,000 tons of Cuban sugar in 1964.

Most recently Castro has shut off the supply of water to the 10,000 Americans at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay -- thus giving us another example of the lack of respect the world has for the determination and purpose and will of the present Administration in Washington.

The most serious consequence of Cuba may well be symbolic. The fact that a regime threatening the interests of freedom can maintain itself 90 miles off the coast of America is taken everywhere as a reflection on America's strength and resolve. Our failure at the Bay of Pigs and the vacillation following the missile crisis in 1962 have disheartened our friends and emboldened our enemies. Cuba is a living proof to many that hostility to the US is safe.

This situation presents a grave challenge. We must face the fact that many of the opportunities which existed three years ago and at the time of the missile crisis are now irretrievably lost.

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Nevertheless, the United States government must clearly
and firmly enunciate the following policy objectives:

1. The removal of <u>all</u> Soviet troops and weapons from Cuba;

2. The stopping of all Cuban-sponsored Communist subversion, sabotage and guerrilla warfare against other Latin American peoples;

3. The opportunity for the people of Cuba to exercise freely the right of self-determination.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the United
States must seek and secure the cooperation of the other member
nations of the Organization of American States. The United
States must move vigorously to reestablish the principle of
<u>multilateralism</u>, which flourished in the early 1940's, in order
to develop a truly hemispheric solution to a hemispheric problem.

The United States should call an emergency meeting of
the Council of the Organization of American States to consider
the threat to the peace posed by the provocative policies of
Castro. The meeting should consider both the recent Cuban
decision to cut off water from the Guantanamo base and the out-
standing Venezuelan charges of aggression against Castro.

The United States should urge the following steps, all
of which are consistent with the Rio Treaty, the Act of Bogota
and the Punta del Este Resolution:

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1. A complete OAS quarantine on all shipments of weapons to Cuba, with OAS inspection teams to assure the complete effectiveness of the quarantine by inspection of every vessel bound for the island.

2. The use of such a quarantine to prohibit the shipment from Cuba of any weapons to any country, except for the return of Soviet troops with their arms to the USSR.

3. A complete OAS embargo against trade, communications and travel between member states and Cuba.

4. A comprehensive system of sanctions by OAS members against all shipping lines which continue to trade with Cuba and use ports in any OAS country.

5. An OAS policy to direct member states, particularly the United States, to institute a system of pre-emptive buying to prevent trade with the Cuban government.

6. Creation, under the OAS, of an Inter-American Subversion Control Board to assist member governments in identifying the sources of Communist propaganda and subversive activities, to provide a system for the exchange of information on known Communist agents and subversives who travel to Cuba, and to direct the activities of our own security agents in a cooperative effort to arrest, resist, and prevent subversive activities throughout the Hemisphere.

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At the same time the United States must urge its NATO allies to adopt economic policies consistent with the policies of the OAS which will make a positive contribution to eliminating international communism from the hemisphere. The United States should immediately urge upon its NATO allies the following measures:

1. A complete NATO embargo against trade, communications and travel between member states and Cuba.

2. A system of sanctions by NATO members against all shipping lines which continue to trade with Cuba and use ports in any NATO country.

3. A NATO policy to direct member states to institute a system of pre-emptive buying to prevent trade with the Cuban government.

4. A NATO policy to direct member states to curtail the sale of any goods to Communist countries which have shipped similar goods to Cuba.

The continued existence of a Soviet Communist outpost in the Western Hemisphere, only ninety miles from the United States, is a grave threat to US security.

With determined United States leadership, working through the Organization of American States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it can be eliminated.

The time for decisive action is now.

February 13, 1964

DRAFT POLICY STATEMENT ON CUBA

It seems almost incomprehensible to me that after nearly four years of Communist rule in Cuba, after eighteen months of the presence of Soviet troops in Cuba, after repeated instances of attempted Cuban subversion in other Latin governments and that after two unfortunate lessons on how not to get the Communists out of Cuba, this Administration apparently has no policy at all on Cuba.

Cuba, even with Russian troops, is not a severe military threat to the United States.

Cuban Communism is a threat to the existence of, and the prospects for, democratic government throughout Latin America. The Castro regime is a base for agents spreading the seeds of dissension and revolt to all quarters of the continent. The Communist propaganda barrage says, Look what Castro did! He humiliated the colossus of the North! And he did this with our assistance." It can be an impressive argument, and it is manipulated in the hands of well-trained organizers.

Castro thus has become the symbol of inept leadership by the United States. First we sponsored an invasion of the island but did not have enough confidence to give the effort a real chance. Then, though we secured the withdrawal of Soviet missiles, we failed to take advantage of our opportunity to bring about the removal of Soviet troops. And today we seem not to know what to do, so we are doing nothing.

Every failure has led to an increase of Soviet influence. Every missed opportunity has made the task that much harder. At the Bay of Pigs U.S. aircover could probably have accomplished Castro's overthrow. If we had insisted on the demand for inspection during the missile crisis in 1962, we could have achieved at least the removal of Soviet troops.

Today these tasks are far more difficult. The Soviet Union has now formally and publicly committed itself to the defense of Cuba.

At the very least we should face facts.

The people of Cuba are being brutally deprived of freedom and the right of self-determination. Cuba itself is a base for subversion against every country in the Western Hemisphere. Venezuelan charges of Cuban aggression are before the OAS right now.

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they have been sent from there to foment revolutions in
other parts of Africa. Some of the guerrillas of the Zanzibar
revolt were trained in Cuba.

As U.S. policy vacillates some of our allies are
breaching our trade embargo. On January 7th, Great Britain
permitted a multi-million dollar sale of 450 buses to Cuba
on five year, liberal credit terms. On February 7th, the
French government approved and gave financial support to the
sale of 300 heavy trucks and tractors to Cuba for $10,000,000.
The Netherlands is expected to purchase 100,000 tons of Cuban
sugar in 1964.

Most recently Castro has shut off the supply of water
to the 10,000 Americans at the U.S. naval Base at Guantanamo
Bay -- thus giving us another example of the lack of respect
the world has for the determination and purpose and will of
the present Administration in Washington.

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In order to accomplish these objectives, the United States must seek and secure the cooperation of the other member nations of the Organization of American States. The United States must move vigorously to reestablish the principle of multilateralism, which flourished in the early 1940's in order to develop a truly hemispheric solution to a hemispheric problem.

For twenty years in public life I have counseled that the U.S. in its policies toward Latin America adopt the multilateral approach-- that we seek with our neighbors common solutions through the joint consideration of problems. But multilateralism is surely not inconsistent with the role of leadership. In defending the Western Hemisphere against the threat of Communism, the U.S. as the most powerful nation in the Hemisphere is by necessity in a leadership position.

The governments of Latin America must be confused. They have looked to us for decisive action and they have seen indecision. They have looked to us for clear lines of direction and they have seen only contradiction. They have, in short, looked to us for leadership and have seen only vacillation.

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1. An OAS quarantine on all shipments of weapons to Cuba, with OAS inspection teams to assure the complete effectiveness of the quarantine by inspection of every vessel bound for the island.

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7. The organization of Special Navy Squadrons of fast and efficient craft to patrol the Caribbean in constant communication with air surveillance teams. The purpose of these squadrons would be to protect innocent fishermen, refugees and others from harassment and to prevent the gun-running activities of small Cuban craft which are ideal vehicles for the delivery of subversive materials. These special Naval Squadrons could eventually lead to a full-fledged inter-American Coast Guard.

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At the same time the United States should urge its NATO allies to adopt economic policies consistent with the policies of the OAS which will make a positive contribution to eliminating international Communism from the hemisphere. The United States should immediately urge upon its NATO allies the following measures:

3. A NATO policy to direct member states to institute a system of .emptive buying to prevent trade with the Cuban Government.

The continued existence of a Soviet Communist outpost in the Western Hemisphere, only ninety miles from the United States, is grave threat to US security.

FOR RELEASE AT 6 P.M. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1964

ROBERT L. McMANUS, PRESS SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNOR

STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR ROCKEFELLER

The most ominous fact about the "leadership gap" in Washington
is that it is no secret.

The Communist world is aware of it. Our allies know of it.

The "leadership gap" has emboldened the enemies of freedom, and
discouraged the friends of freedom.

One of the tragic and dangerous consequences of the Democratic
administration -- failure of leadership in foreign affairs -- is the
situation in Cuba.

We've got to face the fact that Cuba today is:

A Communist bastion with Soviet troops only 90 miles off our
shores, and a base for subversion and sabotage against all Latin-
America. Arms have even been shipped from Cuba to Africa.

The disastrous failure of the Democratic administration at the
Bay of Pigs was followed by the establishment of Soviet missile bases
on Cuba -- bases which threaten the safety and security of the entire
western hemisphere.

The Democratic administration's indecisiveness at the Bay of
Pigs, in Laos and when the Berlin wall was built was not lost on the
Soviets.

The failure of the Democratic administration in the missile
crisis to insist upon adherence to our condition of on-site inspection
and the acceptance of the continued presence of Soviet troops in
Cuba was the second opportunity this administration failed to take
advantage of to rid the hemisphere of communism in Cuba.

We may be sure that this further example of indecisiveness was
not lost on the Soviets -- or on the world.

The weakness and vacillation of the present administration in
relation to Cuba has undermined the confidence of Latin-America --
indeed, of our allies around the world -- in our capacity to lead in
the free world.

Because of this vacillation in Washington, more and more of our
allies are ignoring the administration's policy regarding trade with
Cuba. On January 7th, Great Britain permitted a multi-million dollar
sale of 450 buses to Cuba on five-year liberal credit terms. On
February 7th the French government approved and gave financial
support to the sale of 300 heavy trucks and tractors to Cuba for
$10 million. The Netherlands is expected to purchase 100,000 tons of
Cuban sugar in 1964.

It is interesting that these sales to Communist Cuba by our
allies follow closely upon the Democratic administration's wheat deal
with the Soviet Union. Other nations are using this deal as a
justification of their own dealings with the Communist world.

Shutting off the water at Guantanamo was yet another indication
of a lack of respect for the determination, purpose and will of the
Democratic administration in Washington.

These developments constitute a gravely menacing situation.
The opportunities that existed in 1961 and 1962 have been lost. The
prestige of American leadership has declined, compounding the diffi-
culties of solution.

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