Office of the Historian

37. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron) to President Carter1

Washington, October 30, 1978

SUBJECT

  • Private Meeting with the Cubans

The private meeting with the Cubans resulted in a complete impasse.2 The Cubans were on a very tight leash and spoke largely for the record. They said their presence in Africa was not negotiable, and explicitly held open the option of increasing their forces in Angola and elsewhere in Southern Africa because of what they termed adverse developments in Namibia and Rhodesia. They did not respond to the offer to reopen Coast Guard talks3 but said the prisoner release would continue and in all likelihood increase.

Because of the impasse on Africa no further meeting was scheduled.4 The Cubans pressed hard for a U.S. visit to Havana, but also said we would not find any change in the Cuban position, particularly on Africa, even if we did go to Havana. Over dinner they explained that they had exhausted their instructions and that any further clarification of their position (they cited parallel actions on Africa and the trade embargo) would require direct discussions in Havana.

Our assessment is that the Cubans are preparing to increase their presence in Southern Africa and that they have, therefore, decided that this channel should go dormant until the issue of Africa is no longer an obstacle to normalization. The suggestion that a Havana meeting might make it possible to discuss parallel actions appeared to be a final effort merely to encourage a meeting in Cuba and not an indication of serious interest in the parallel approach.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chron File, Box 60, Alpha Channel—Cuba, 9–11/78. Secret; Sensitive; Eyes Only.↩
  2. Aaron, Newsom, and Tarnoff met with the Cubans on October 28 in Cuernavaca, Mexico from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. A memorandum of conversation is ibid.↩
  3. In January 1978, Cuban and American officials began talks to come up with a plan in which the Cuban and U.S. Coast Guards would work together to prevent terrorism and hijackings. (Telegram 58 from Havana, January 10; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780015–0261)↩
  4. Carter underlined the phrase “no further meeting was scheduled” and wrote in the margin, “Do not plan another.”↩