210. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Cole) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1 2
Washington, September 25, 1969
In his news summary of September 24, the President noted an item on Cuba that quoted an official of the Castro government as saying a new situation is developing in Latin America that could lead to improved relations between Cuba and the U.S. The paper said that a minister in Fidel Castro’s government “was, in effect, inviting the U.S. to join in furthering such a development which would in fact be putting into practice a form of the alliance for progress suggested by JFK.”
The President wants you to tell State “absolutely not.”
Ken
Cole
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 780, Country Files, Latin America, Cuba, Vol. I. No classification marking. Cole signed “Ken” above his typed signature. Haig passed the instruction to Eliot by telephone and asked Vaky to do the same, but not to do so in writing. (Memorandum from Haig to Vaky, September 25; ibid.)↩
- Cole informed Kissinger that President Nixon had seen a press report indicating that developments in Latin America could lead to improved U.S.-Cuban relations. Nixon instructed that the Department of State be informed: “absolutely not.”↩