Office of the Historian

138. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Ecuador1

Washington, January 24, 1962, 8:10 p.m.

389. Please deliver soonest following message2 from President Kennedy to President Arosemena:

“Dear Mr. President:

My latest information from Punta del Este is that the governments of the hemisphere are moving rapidly toward agreement on what the Conference of Foreign Ministers should do with regard to the Cuban question. Among the elements of such an agreement are (a) procedures to suspend the present Government of Cuba from participation in the various organs of the inter-American system, and (b) the application of economic sanctions using the same formula that was applied in the case of the Dominican Republic, that is, immediate suspension of trade in arms with other items to be added only by further decision of the Council of the OAS.

I am sure that you are well aware of the intense preoccupation of the people and Congress of the United States with the Cuban problem and [Page 299] that we are most concerned not to leave other and smaller countries in the Caribbean area under the impression that we are indifferent to what they consider to be a genuine threat to their national security. I am confident that you would not wish Ecuador to be isolated from the large majority of the OAS who are concerned to deal with this threat to the hemisphere in order that they might release their attention and energy to the great promise of the Alliance for Progress and other efforts which all of us are making to advance the welfare of the people of the hemisphere.

I do hope you will find it possible to give your distinguished Foreign Minister broad authority to join with the very substantial majority which is rapidly forming at Punta del Este. Solidarity with the United States at this critical time in world affairs would be especially appreciated.

Please accept my very best wishes for your personal well-being and for the prosperity and progress of the Ecuadorean people.

Sincerely, John F. Kennedy.”

FYI. Department hopes publicity can be avoided. End FYI.

Ball
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 711.11-KE/1-2462. Confidential; Niact; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Deputy Director of the Office of Inter-American Regional Political Affairs John M. Cates, Jr., cleared by Deputy Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Carl Kaysen, and approved by Walter Collopy.↩
  2. The message was drafted in Punta del Este and transmitted in Secto 19, January 24, from Rusk to Kennedy, recommending that he send a message along these lines to Arosemena. (Ibid., 371.04/1-2462) Telegram 375 from Quito, January 25, reported that the message had been delivered. (Ibid., 711.11-KE/1-2562)↩