431. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Eliot) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1 2
Subject:
- Commonwealth Caribbean Relations with Cuba
Prime Minister Manley of Jamaica informed Ambassador de Roulet November 1 that his government along with the governments of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana would establish non-resident diplomatic relations with Cuba before the end of the month. Manley also assured the Ambassador that he would let him know in advance when action would be taken. Earlier, Guyana’s Foreign Minister Ramphal told Ambassador King that simultaneous recognition was set for November 12. Although not announced, the timing of the move to recognize was apparently taken at the October 9–14 Heads of Government Conference held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. That meeting and its decision regarding Cuba was the subject of my memorandum of October 17. You will also recall that in my memorandum I said we were drafting instructions to our missions in these four countries to express our strong concern over their quadripartite statement on Cuba and to remind their host governments of the sanctions attending renewed political/economic relations with Cuba. This was done on October 19 but it appears that our representations have not succeeded in deterring their decision to recognize.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 786, Country Files, Latin America, Jamaica, Vol. I. Confidential. Richard W. Mueller signed for Eliot above Eliot’s typed signature. An NSC routing slip indicates that Jorden forwarded the memorandum to Kissinger for information on November 9. On December 8, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana established diplomatic relations with Cuba. On January 17, 1973, Dick Campbell forwarded the memorandum back to Jorden, asking: “Is the attached memo OBE or should it be re-submitted for HAK’s info?” On January 19, Jorden noted in the routing slip that the memorandum was “OBE.”↩
- Executive Secretary Eliot reported that Prime Minister Manley told Ambassador de Roulet that the Jamaican Government, along with the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana, planned to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.↩