100. "WE DID NOT EXPECT TO TOPPLE CASTRO IMMEDIATELY": Communiqué Issued by the Cuban Revolutionary Council, New York City, April 19, 1961 (Excerpt)

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The recent landings in Cuba have been constantly, though inaccurately, described as an invasion. It was, in fact, a landing mainly of supplies and support for our patriots who have been fighting in Cuba for months and was numbered in the hundreds, not the thousands.

Regretfully, we admit tragic losses in today's action among a small holding force, which courageously fought Soviet tanks and artillery while being attacked by Russian MIG aircraft-a gallantry which allowed the major portion of our landing party to reach the Escambray Mountains.

We did not expect to topple Castro immediately or without setbacks. And it is certainly true that we did not expect to face, unscathed, Soviet armaments directed by Communist "advisers". We did, and we survived!

The struggle for freedom of 6,000,000 Cubans continues.

101. "THE ENEMY HAS SUFFERED A CRUSHING DEFEAT": Communiqué Issued by the Government of Cuba, April 20, 1961 (Excerpts) 80

The militias of the revolutionary forces took by assault the last points held by the foreign mercenary invasion forces that had occupied the national territory. Playa Giron, which was the last mercenary stronghold, fell at 5:30 yesterday afternoon.

The revolution has emerged victorious, although it had to pay a high price in precious lives of revolutionary fighters, who faced the invaders and attacked them incessantly without a single pause.

. . . In this fashion, the army, which was organized in the space of many months by the imperialist Government of the United States, was destroyed in less than seventy-two hours. The enemy has suffered a crushing defeat.

102. "IF THE NATIONS OF THIS HEMISPHERE SHOULD FAIL TO MEET THEIR COMMITMENTS AGAINST OUTSIDE COMMUNIST PENETRATION-THEN... THIS GOVERNMENT WILL NOT HESITATE IN MEETING ITS PRIMARY OBLIGATIONS, WHICH ARE TO THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION": Address by the President (Kennedy) Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, April 20, 1961 81

The President of a great democracy such as ours, and the editors of great newspapers such as yours, owe a common obligation to the people: an obligation to present the facts, to present them with candor, and to present them in perspective. It is with that obligation in mind

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80

Text as printed in the New York Times, Apr. 20, 1961.

Text as printed ibid., Apr. 21, 1961.

"White House press release dated Apr. 20, 1961 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961, pp. 659–661).

that I have decided in the last 24 hours to discuss briefly at this time the recent events in Cuba.

On that unhappy island, as in so many other areas of the contest for freedom, the news has grown worse instead of better. I have emphasized before that this was a struggle of Cuban patriots against a Cuban dictator. While we could not be expected to hide our sympathies, we made it repeatedly clear that the armed forces of this country would not intervene in any way.

Any unilateral American intervention, in the absence of an external attack upon ourselves or an ally, would have been contrary to our traditions and to our international obligations. But let the record show that our restraint is not inexhaustible. Should it ever appear that the inter-American doctrine of noninterference merely conceals or excuses a policy of nonaction-if the nations of this hemisphere should fail to meet their commitments against outside Communist penetration-then I want it clearly understood that this Government will not hesitate in meeting its primary obligations, which are to the security of our Nation.

Should that time ever come, we do not intend to be lectured on "intervention" by those whose character was stamped for all time on the bloody streets of Budapest. Nor would we expect or accept the same outcome which this small band of gallant Cuban refugees must have known that they were chancing, determined as they were against heavy odds to pursue their courageous attempts to regain their island's freedom.

But Cuba is not an island unto itself; and our concern is not ended by mere expressions of nonintervention or regret. This is not the first time in either ancient or recent history that a small band of freedom fighters has engaged the armor of totalitarianism.

It is not the first time that Communist tanks have rolled over gallant men and women fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland. Nor is it by any means the final episode in the eternal struggle of liberty against tyranny, anywhere on the face of the globe, including Cuba itself.

Mr. Castro has said that these were mercenaries. According to press reports, the final message to be relayed from the refugee forces on the beach came from the rebel commander when asked if he wished to be evacuated. His answer was: "I will never leave this country." That is not the reply of a mercenary. He has gone now to join in the mountains countless other guerrilla fighters, who are equally determined that the dedication of those who gave their lives shall not be forgotten and that Cuba must not be abandoned to the Communists. And we do not intend to abandon it either.

The Cuban people have not yet spoken their final piece, and I have no doubt that they and their Revolutionary Council, led by Dr. Miró Cardona and members of the families of the Revolutionary Council, I am informed by the Doctor yesterday, are involved themselves in the islands-will continue to speak up for a free and independent Cuba.

Meanwhile we will not accept Mr. Castro's attempts to blame this Nation for the hatred with which his onetime supporters now regard his repression. But there are from this sobering episode useful lessons for all to learn. Some may be still obscure and await further information. Some are clear today.

First, it is clear that the forces of communism are not to be underestimated, in Cuba or anywhere else in the world. The advantages of a police state-its use of mass terror and arrests to prevent the spread of free dissent-cannot be overlooked by those who expect the fall of every fanatic tyrant. If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist-in economic, political, scientific, and all the other kinds of struggles as well as the military— then the peril to freedom will continue to rise.

Secondly, it is clear that this Nation, in concert with all the free nations of this hemisphere, must take an even closer and more realistic look at the menace of external Communist intervention and domination in Cuba. The American people are not complacent about Iron Curtain tanks and planes less than 90 miles from our shores. But a nation of Cuba's size is less a threat to our survival than it is a base for subverting the survival of other free nations throughout the hemisphere. It is not primarily our interest or our security but theirs which is now, today, in the greater peril. It is for their sake as well as our own that we must show our will.

The evidence is clear-and the hour is late. We and our Latin friends will have to face the fact that we cannot postpone any longer the real issue of the survival of freedom in this hemisphere itself. On that issue, unlike perhaps some others, there can be no middle ground. Together we must build a hemisphere where freedom can flourish and where any free nation under outside attack of any kind can be assured that all of our resources stand ready to respond to any request for assistance.

Third, and finally, it is clearer than ever that we face a relentless struggle in every corner of the globe that goes far beyond the clash of armies or even nuclear armaments. The armies are there, and in large number. The nuclear armaments are there. But they serve primarily as the shield behind which subversion, infiltration, and a host of other tactics steadily advance, picking off vulnerable areas one by one in situations which do not permit our own armed intervention.

Power is the hallmark of this offensive-power and discipline and deceit. The legitimate discontent of yearning peoples is exploited. The legitimate trappings of self-determination are employed. But once in power, all talk of discontent is repressed-all self-determination disappears and the promise of a revolution of hope is betrayed, as in Cuba, into a reign of terror. Those who staged automatic "riots" in the streets of free nations over the effort of a small group of young Cubans to regain their freedom should recall the long rollcall of refugees who cannot now go back-to Hungary, to north Korea, to north Viet-Nam, to East Germany, or to Poland, or to any of the other lands from which a steady stream of refugees pours forth, in eloquent testimony to the cruel oppression now holding sway in their homelands.

We dare not fail to see the insidious nature of this new and deeper struggle. We dare not fail to grasp the new concepts, the new tools, the new sense of urgency we will need to combat it-whether in Cuba or south Viet-Nam. And we dare not fail to realize that this struggle is taking place every day, without fanfare, in thousands of villages and markets-day and night-and in classrooms all over the globe.

The message of Cuba, of Laos, of the rising din of Communist voices in Asia and Latin America-these messages are all the same. The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history. Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive.

No greater task faces this Nation or this administration. No other challenge is more deserving of our every effort and energy. Too long we have fixed our eyes on traditional military needs, on armies prepared to cross borders or missiles poised for flight. Now it should be clear that this is no longer enough-that our security may be lost piece by piece, country by country, without the firing of a single missile or the crossing of a single border.

We intend to profit from this lesson. We intend to reexamine and reorient our forces of all kinds-our tactics and other institutions here in this community. We intend to intensify our efforts for a struggle in many ways more difficult than war, where disappointment will often accompany us.

For I am convinced that we in this country and in the free world possess the necessary resources, and all the skill, and the added strength that comes from a belief in the freedom of man. And I am equally convinced that history will record the fact that this bitter struggle reached its climax in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Let me then make clear as the President of the United States that I am determined upon our system's survival and success, regardless of the cost and regardless of the peril.

103. UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDATIONS RESPECTING THE COMPLAINT BY CUBA OF PLANS OF AGGRESSION AND ACTS OF INTERVENTION BY THE UNITED STATES AGAINST CUBA: Resolution 1616 (XV), Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, April 21, 1961 82

The General Assembly,

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Having heard the statements made by the Minister for External Relations of Cuba, the representative of the United States of America 84 and other representatives,

Deeply concerned over the situation disclosed therein, which is disturbing world public opinion and the continuation of which could endanger world peace,

Recalling the last two paragraphs of the Security Council resolution of 19 July 1960 85 and the peaceful means of settlement established at the Seventh Meeting of Consultation of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics,

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Considering that the States Members of the United Nations are under an obligation to settle their disputes by negotiation and other peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

[Exhorts those Member States which belong to the Organization of American States to lend their assistance with a view to achieving a settlement by peaceful means in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of the charter of the Organization of American States, and to report to the United Nations, as soon as possible, within the present year, the measures they have taken to achieve settlement by peaceful means;]87

Exhorts all Member States to take such peaceful action as is open to them to remove existing tension.

U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 16A (A/4684/Add. 1), p. 3. This resolution, sponsored by the Representatives of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela, was adopted by a vote of 59 (including the U.S.) to 13, with 24 abstentions. The U.S. Representative (Stevenson) stated in Committee I of the U.N. General Assembly on Apr. 20 that this draft resolution was "an appropriate decision of this matter" (U.S.-U.N. press release 3706; text in the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961, pp. 681-685).

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* U.N. docs. A/C.1/SR. 1149, 1152, 1154–1156, and 1159; and U.N. docs. A/PV. 984 and 985.

84 Ante, docs. 92, 95, and 99.

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Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pp. 217–218. See ibid., pp. 219–221.

The paragraph printed in brackets constituted operative par. 1 of the original draft resolution (U.N. doc. A/C.1/L.276), as amended, which failed of adoption in the U.N. General Assembly, Apr. 21, 1961.

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