737.5–MSP/12–2751
The Ambassador in Cuba (Beaulac) to the Department of State
No. 1037
Subject: Bilateral Military Assistance Agreement
I have the honor to enclose a copy of the aide-mémoire1 that I left with the Minister of State2 this morning when I asked him whether the Cuban Government wished to enter into diplomatic-military conversations aimed at reaching a bilateral military assistance agreement under the terms of the United States Mutual Security Act of 1951,3 Section 401, as well as a separate military plan relative to the preparation of a unit or units of the Cuban Air Force for hemisphere defense purposes, and relative to the provision of grant aid by the Government of the United States in order to assist in such preparation.
As the Department has already been informed, the Minister of State said that he would take the matter up with the President but that he could anticipate a favorable response. He said that both he and the President held the view that Cuba should prepare itself to fight anywhere, within the hemisphere and outside the hemisphere, since it was clear that Cuba could not defend itself on its own doorstep.
The Minister said that he would take steps to see that two committees were formed, a civilian committee with military advisors to work on the military assistance agreement, and a military committee to work on the military plan.4
- Not printed.↩
- AureHano Sànchez Arango; he was appointed to the office on October 1, 1951.↩
- For text of the Mutual Security Act (Public Law 165), approved October 10, 1951, see 65 Stat. 373.↩
- In telegram 477, from Habana, January 7, 1952, not printed, Ambassador Beaulac informed the Secretary of State that the Cuban Government agreed to initiate diplomatic-military discussions on whatever date the United States desired (737.5-MSP/1–751). The discussions began on January 30, 1952.↩