November 2, 1962
Cable from Dutch Embassy, Washington (Van Roijen), 2 November 1962
This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation
REFERENCE No. 10499
DATE OF DISPATCH: 2 November 1962
DATE OF RECEIPT: 3 November 1962
TO: Min[ister]. o[f]. F[oreign].A[ffairs].
FROM: Washington
SECRET
r u c [unknown abbreviation, presumably “reference your cable” - trans.] 593
Matter of the thirteen Cuban instructions sent in currie [unknown term/name - trans.] was taken up with [Ward P.] Allen, Director [of] Inter-American Regional Political Affairs [at the State Department]. He stated that the notice in question had come from Venezuela where a message had been intercepted by the government. In order to obtain more insight into the content of the instructions and in order to ascertain on the basis of the text whether the instruction was clearly intended for all pro-Castro organizations in Latin America they had asked for the text through the US embassy in Caracas, yet so far without avail. Although [the Department of] State therefore possesses nothing but the report from Caracas, Allen assumed it virtually certain that this was indeed an attempt by Castro to stir all Latino countries.
The reports from the various Latin American posts received so far did not yet enable State to infer whether a “pattern” of agitation and sabotage had in fact begun to emerge. They did establish that in the week of the 22nd of October, so immediately after the announcement of the quarantine, the size of the protests that occurred had been limited. It was not clear to what extent these demonstrations which antedate the abovementioned Cuban instructions, should be ascribed to the independent initiative of local communist and other pro-Castro groups, or to instructions from Havana or from Moscow. In any case informant was inclined to draw the conclusion that the communist following in Latin America was less sizeable, or at least less active, than is often thought. Incidentally he did not exclude the possibility of a significant role being played by the fact that in the various countries the police had been warned after the US embassies in the various capitals had prepared the governments for the possibility of troubles.
Van Roijen 935 ++
The cable is centered around Cuba and the Organization of American States (OAS). Van Roijen and Ward P. Allen discuss a cable intercepted from Venezuela about possible attempts of sabotage by pro-Castro organizations in Caracas. However, there is no report from the U.S. Embassy Caracas to confirm this. There are, however, protests being reported in the American-aligned Latin American countries, which is seen as an attempt by Cuba to stir revolutionary sentiment in these countries. The size and frequency of these protests by pro-Castro and communist groups is very limited.
Author(s):
Associated Places
Associated Topics
Subjects Discussed
Document Information
Source
Original Archive
Rights
The History and Public Policy Program welcomes reuse of Digital Archive materials for research and educational purposes. Some documents may be subject to copyright, which is retained by the rights holders in accordance with US and international copyright laws. When possible, rights holders have been contacted for permission to reproduce their materials.
To enquire about this document's rights status or request permission for commercial use, please contact the History and Public Policy Program at [email protected].
Original Uploaded Date
Type
Language
Record ID
Original Classification
Secret