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Documents
Message to Chairman Khrushchev Concerning the
Meaning of Events in Cuba.
April 18, 1961
Mr. Chairman:
You are under a serious misapprehension in regard to events in Cuba. For
months there has been evident and growing resistance to the Castro
dictatorship. More than 100,000 refugees have recently fled from Cuba
into neighboring countries. Their urgent hope is naturally to assist
their fellow Cubans in their struggle for freedom. Many of these
refugees fought along side Dr. Castro against the Batista dictatorship;
among them are prominent leaders of his own original movement and
government.
These are unmistakable signs that Cubans find intolerable the denial of
democratic liberties and the subversion of the 26th of July Movement by
an alien-dominated regime. It cannot be surprising that, as resistance
within Cuba grows, refugees have been using whatever means are available
to return and support their countrymen in the continuing struggle for
freedom. Where people are denied the right of choice, recourse to such
struggle is the only means of achieving their liberties.
I have previously stated, and I repeat now, that the United States
intends no military intervention in Cuba. In the event of any
military intervention by outside force we will immediately honor our
obligations under the inter-American system to protect this hemisphere
against external aggression. While refraining from military
intervention in Cuba, the people of the United States do not
conceal their admiration for Cuban patriots who wish to see a democratic
system in an independent Cuba. The United States government can take no
action to stifle the spirit of liberty.
I have taken careful note of your statement that the events in Cuba
might affect peace in all parts of the world. I trust that this does not
mean that the Soviet government, using the situation in Cuba as a
pretext, is planning to inflame other areas of the world. I would like
to think that your government has too great a sense of responsibility to
embark upon any enterprise so dangerous to general peace.
I agree with you as to the desirability of steps to improve the
international atmosphere. I continue to hope that you will cooperate in
opportunities now available to this end. A prompt cease-fire and
peaceful settlement of the dangerous situation in Laos, cooperation with
the United Nations in the Congo and a speedy conclusion of an acceptable
treaty for the banning of nuclear tests would be constructive steps in
this direction. The regime in Cuba could make a similar contribution by
permitting the Cuban people freely to determine their own future by
democratic processes and freely to cooperate with their Latin American
neighbors.
I believe, Mr. Chairman, that you should recognize that free peoples in
all parts of the world do not accept the claim of historical
inevitability for the Communist revolution. What your government
believes is its own business; what it does in the world is the world's
business. The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and
future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.
John F. Kennedy
[N. S. Khrushchev, Chairman, Council of Ministers, Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics]
Source: JFK Documents - Congress
Library
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