266. Memorandum of Discussion at the 400th Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, March 26, 19591
[Here follows discussion of matters unrelated to Cuba.]
Turning to the situation in Cuba, Mr. Allen Dulles described himself as disturbed over recent developments. The Castro regime is moving toward dictatorship and Castro already has practically all power in his own hands.2 Having no administrative experience whatever, Castro is compelled to resort consistently to demagoguery in order to whip up popular support. Cuban business interests are very concerned about his actions, his wild statements continue, and there is even some [Page 441] talk of a counter-coup. Nevertheless, Castro still has great popular support at the grass roots. He has adopted a strong anti-dictatorship attitude and has alienated more moderate Left-Wing rulers like Figueres who are likewise opposed to dictatorships in Latin America.
The President interrupted to say that he knew from personal experience that Figueres loved to hear himself talk. Admitting this was the case, Mr. Dulles nevertheless praised highly a speech recently delivered by Figueres3 attacking demagogues in Latin America.
Mr. Dulles went on to state that Communists were now operating openly and legally in Cuba. While the Castro regime could not be described as Communist-dominated, it was nevertheless true that the Communists have penetrated into various organizations such as labor unions, the armed forces, and others. They have a potential for even greater penetration in the future.
While Castro had given great encouragement to plots against the remaining dictators in Latin America, Mr. Dulles doubted whether he had available a capability for mounting invasions of Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic. He could, however, perhaps do something in the way of a small operation against Haiti.
The President inquired about the attitude of the Organization of American States (OAS). Could not the OAS take some action against Castro? Secretary Herter replied in the negative and pointed out that the Organization of American States must strictly avoid interference in the internal affairs of any member state. Mr. Herter also reminded the Council that Castro had accepted an invitation to make a speech to American newspaper editors. Indeed he had accepted the invitation without even informing the State Department. This was singularly bad behavior.
The President said that in that case could we not refuse to give Castro a visa? Mr. Herter indicated certain difficulties in such a course but Secretary Quarles said he thought that Castro had already behaved badly enough to provide us with very good reasons for refusing him admission to the U.S. After all, said Secretary Quarles, Castro is holding up so-called U.S. imperialism as the greatest enemy of Cuba and as the great obstacle to all the reforms which Castro desired to put into effect in Cuba. Secretary Quarles repeated that he could see no [Page 442] reason why we should invite him to this country. Mr. Allen Dulles warned that if Castro continued in his present courses, it was quite possible that the U.S. Congress would do something which would affect the sale of Cuban sugar in the U.S. If this happened Castro would indeed be in the soup. The President commented that the trouble in such a contingency would be that the Soviet Union would offer to take from Cuba all the sugar which the U.S. refused to buy.
Mr. Gray wondered whether there had been any suggestions to the newspaper editors that they should cancel their invitation to Castro to address them. Secretary Herter replied in the negative. Mr. George Allen then pointed out that contrary to Secretary Herter’s understanding, Castro’s speech was not to be delivered in New York but was to be made in Washington before the American Society of Newspaper Editors. This statement was confirmed by General Persons. Secretary Herter then indicated that he would look further into the matter. Mr. Allen Dulles said that in view of his belief that there was a slow-growing movement against Castro in Cuba, we must be careful not to do anything which would tend to discourage the growth of this movement. He inferred that cancellation of the Castro speech might be such an action.
[Here follows discussion of matters unrelated to Cuba.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records. Top Secret. Prepared by Boggs.↩
- This is probably the occasion recalled by President Eisenhower in his memoirs when he learned from the Central Intelligence Agency that Castro was moving toward “outright dictatorship.” (Waging Peace, p. 523)↩
- On March 22, while visiting Havana, former Costa Rican President José Figueres made a speech at a labor rally in which he discussed some of the problems facing the Cuban revolution, including the possibility that the leaders of the revolution, because of selfish and dishonest motives, might become demagogues and tyrants. When Figueres said that in the event of war Cuba should stand with the United States and the West, David Salvador interrupted to say that Cuba was now sovereign and there was no need to support the United States. Fidel Castro then followed with a lengthy address in which he sharply disagreed with many of the points made by Figueres. The various speeches at the rally were summarized in telegram 1096 from Havana, March 23. (Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/3–2359)↩