Office of the Historian

342. Memorandum of a Conversation, President López Mateos’ Residence, Mexico City, September 16, 1960, 6 p.m.1

Mexico City, September 16, 1960, 6 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • The Seventh Meeting of Foreign Ministers at San José, Costa Rica

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Secretary
  • Dr. Milton Eisenhower
  • Ambassador Hill
  • Mr. Montllor, First Secretary, Embassy Mexico City
  • President Adolfo Lopez Mateos
  • Foreign Minister Manuel Tello
  • Juan Gallardo, Minister, Mexico Embassy in Washington

The Secretary referred to the recent Seventh Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics at San José, Costa Rica, and stated that the courtesies and behavior that usually prevail at international gatherings were overlooked by some. Foreign Minister Tello said that when the USSR joined the League of Nations its representatives, [Page 900] being used to dealing with workers’ groups at home, followed the same discourteous tactics and methods in international gatherings. The Secretary recalled the personal insults which Prime Minister Khrushchev heaped upon President Eisenhower in Paris prior to the cancellation of the Summit Conference. The Secretary said he was angered by the Soviet Prime Minister’s behavior and that President Eisenhower was to be admired for not having lost his self-composure in the face of this provocation.

With respect to the San José Declaration, the Secretary said that he and Foreign Minister Tello seemed to have different interpretations as to the applicability of the Declaration to the Cuban situation, since the Foreign Minister appeared to think that it was not directed against Cuba. Foreign Minister Tello told the Secretary that he had not said that the Declaration of San José was not aimed at Cuba. He explained that he had described the Declaration as one of general applicability to any situation of extra-continental interference in continental affairs, but he had never mentioned Cuba or its revolution. The Secretary said that the Cuban Government certainly seemed to interpret the Declaration as aimed at Cuba; Foreign Minister Tello readily agreed with the Secretary.

President Lopez Mateos explained that Mexico always distinguished between a people and their government and did so in the case of Cuba as well. The Secretary replied that the United States also did; in fact, the United States differentiated between the Cuban Revolution and the present government of Cuba. He said that the Cuban Revolution and its announced early aims were viewed with deep sympathy by the American people, but that the trend and tactics followed by the Cuban Government were condemned.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 712.00/9–1660. Secret. Drafted by Montllor and approved in S on September 26.↩