Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, American Republics; Cuba 1961–1962; Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, Volumes X/XI/XII, Microfiche Supplement

689. Memorandum from McKesson to Bromley Smith, June 25¹

June 25, 1963

Per our conversation

Attachment

Diplomatic note from the Czech Ambassador to Rusk

June 24, 1963

The Ambassador of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic presents his compliments to His Excellency the Secretary of State of the United States of America and, at the behest of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba, has the honor to deliver the following note of protest:

“1. In the early morning of June 10, a group of mercenaries who had been sheltered in the United States, manning a pirate launch armed with machine guns and a 30 mm. gun and proceeding from United States territory, landed at Cayo Blanco, 15 kilometers from Cárdenas Bay, Province of Matansas, and later staged a surprise attack on a patrol of four seamen who were exploring the place, killing Jesús Fernández Ramírez and capturing Daniel Expósito Torres and Calimerio Ramírez Jérez, and leaving abandoned at the site numerous weapons of American manufacture, explosives, food, and various supplies from the same source.

“In their flight toward United States territory, the pirates took possession of the Cuban fishing boat Elvira, forcing the boat’s crew by threats to take them to Cayo Marathón, where they disembarked, taking the captured persons with them. This act is not consistent with the announcement of the United States Government that it would prevent such attacks against Cuba from United States territory.

“The Revolutionary Government of Cuba hereby registers its protest and at the same time demands appropriate punishment and the return of the kidnapped citizens and of the Cuban fishing boat Elvira.

“2. The statements made by Richard I. Phillips, [illegible in the original] officer of the Department of State of the United States, and sent out by the news agencies on June 19, are from all standpoints a clear incitement to sedition and subversion and represent a reiteration of the interventionist policy of the United States with respect to the internal affairs of the Republic of Cuba. The Government of Cuba protests against such manifestations, which signify only the continuation of a policy that has cost the United States countless reverses and risks.

“3. The Revolutionary Government of Cuba likewise protests the recent low-altitude flight over Cuban territory made by a military aircraft of the United States for purposes of spying, which the American press itself has made known, and it warns that Cuban gunners have orders to fire at any foreign military aircraft that makes low-altitude flights over our territory.

“4. On June 17, customs agents at Miami, Florida, announced the confiscation, at an abandoned airport in the Everglades area, of a twin-engined aircraft, Beechcraft Bonanza type, at the very time it was preparing to take off for Cuba for the purpose of bombing the oil refinery located in Habana Bay, a load of napalm bombs, explosives, grenades, small arms, and 300 sticks of TNT dynamite having been found in the cabin. The aircraft’s six crewmen, five counterrevolutionary Cubans and one American, identified as [illegible in the original] Alpicer, Carlos Hernández Sánchez, René Espinosa Hernández, Víctor Espinosa Hernández, Miguel Alvárez, and Sam Benton, were immediately released, notwithstanding the fact that they were guilty of a flagrant violation of both international and United States law.

“This act, as well as the attack [illegible in the original] late last April on [illegible in the original] Cuban refinery by a plane that took off from United States territory carrying powerful explosive charges, compels us to step up our defense preparations in order to be ready to intercept and shoot down any [illegible in the original] plane that violates our air space at any altitude.

“5. On June 21 the petty chiefs of the counterrevolution openly proclaimed, from United States territory, the accomplishment of infiltration activities and the introduction of arms into the country to carry on aggressive acts against the Cuban people. These arms and agents can only have come from the United States or from other countries than Cuba.

This is in violation of international rules. It creates a [illegible in the original] in the Hemisphere, that [illegible in the original] the law of other countries can [illegible in the original] nothing [illegible in the original] between the United States and Cuba or [illegible in the original] or the [illegible in the original] by the aggressions [illegible in the original] our country.

“It is regrettable that the [illegible in the original] have recourse [illegible in the original] to these rules [illegible in the original] that are in all ways [illegible in the original] story to world public [illegible in the original] with [illegible in the original] concern the [illegible in the original] Cuba that can [illegible in the original]”

Embassy of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

1. No classification marking. 4 pp. Kennedy Library, NSF, Countries Series, Cuba, General, Vol. X, 6/24/63 Cuban Protest Note, 6/63–8/63.