Mar. 31, 1964 - Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Minister of Industry in Cuba, welcomed today a declaration last week by U.S. Senator J.W. Fulbright to the effect that “Cuba is here to stay.” But he said that comment on Fulbright’s declaration by Secretary of State Dean Rusk indicated no change in U.S. policy.
Guevara said at a news conference in Geneva that the Government of Premier Fidel Castro “is completely disposed to engage in a dialogue with the United States.” But Washington, he added, demands “the nonexistence of our Government” as a condition for discussions.
Guevara is the chief Cuban delegate to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, now in its second week.
Dressed in the Castro forces’ green fatigue uniform and smoking a cigar, he was relaxed through 80 minutes of questions. Guevara asserted that the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba caused “more trouble for the U.S., fighting with its allies, than for us.” The suspension of U.S. purchases of Cuban sugar has been offset by sales to Communist countries, he added.
However, the end of tobacco purchases is “a nuisance,” Guevara said, because Cuba had prepared a special type of tobacco for the U.S. “and now we have to smoke those cigars, which we don’t like.”
Last week, Sen. Fulbright declared that the blockade had been a failure. He suggested that the U.S. accept the Castro Government as “a disagreeable reality and annoyance” that is not likely to disappear soon.
Secretary Rusk, two days later, disagreed. He said that Castro is “a threat” and that the effect of the blockade had been “substantial.”
Guevara said the important part of Fulbright’s speech was that the Senator “recognizes the stability of the Cuban Revolution.”
“In the U.S., the idea that Cuba is here to stay is growing stronger every day,” he asserted.
Guevara called Fulbright “highly representative” but then said the same of Rusk. Noting that Rusk had “rejected” the Fulbright views, he said: “We have to hold to the objective facts.”
