November 6, 1962
Report on Visit to Prague by Cuban Communist Party Leader Blas Roca Calderio
This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation
Information regarding Blas Roca’s stay in Prague
1. During his stay in Prague (1. – 4.11 [1-4 November]), Blas Roca met with Cuban ambassadors stationed in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and China, with whom he held talks; nothing of their content is known. While saying farewell to the Cuban ambassador in China, [Oscar] Pino [Santos], Blas Roca twice reminded him to convey his personal greetings to Mao Tse-tung [Zedong]. To comrade Petrov of the Bulgarian embassy in Prague, Roca said that of the socialist countries he likes Poland and Bulgaria the most. While he did not comment further on Poland, the comment regarding Bulgaria came in connection with the fact that he knew [Georgi] Dimitrov well and worked with him.
Blas Roca also spoke about solving the Cuban crisis with comrades Rumjancev and Sobolev of the OMS. The contents of theirs talks are in line with what he told us. However, with the Soviet comrades he did not speak with such sharpness and openness.
On Sunday at 10:00 am, therefore 4 hours before his scheduled flight to Cuba, Roca received a phone call at the villa from Havana, telling him to attend the meeting of the Bulgarian Communist Party. According to Roca, he will attend the Congress in Hungary and if there are no extraordinary changes, he will also be at the 12th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
2. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Paraguay, Oscar Creydt, told comrade Koernan: Via Cuba, the Paraguayan Party received a letter from the Communist Party of China in which the Chinese—on the basis of requests from the Communist Parties of Great Britain, New Zealand, Korea, and Indonesia—express the opinion that a council of representatives of communist parties should be elected for the purpose of discussing certain problems of the international communist movement. Creydt expressed the opinion that such a meeting will likely take place during the Bulgarian Congress.
[Handwritten addition]: (I think that this is a matter of the past. It will be necessary to ask comrade Creydt for precise details). [end of handwritten addition].
(Note: According to comrade Havlíček’s information, a few days ago a Xinhua [Chinese state news agency] writer visited the editorial offices of the magazine Questions of Peace and Socialism in Prague, and asked a representative of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Gibons, what sort of response would likely be raised within the Communist Party of Great Britain if the Chinese Communist Party were to release an independent statement regarding international questions).
6.11.1962 [6 November 1962]
Calderio's visit to Prague in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis served to solidify the ties between Cuba and Czechoslovakia, relations that would persist until the end of the Cold War. Among the activities of Calderio's visit included attendance of 12th Party Congress of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, meeting with Cuban ambassadors to China, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and a promise to attend the meeting of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
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