WaybackWire

WASHINGTON, Sunday.—President Kennedy welcomed Mr Khrushchev’s decision within hours, in a statement from the White House and in a reply sent to Moscow at once.

“I welcome Chairman Khrushchev’s statesmanlike decision to stop building bases in Cuba, dismantling offensive weapons and returning them to the Soviet Union under United Nations verification,” the President said. “This is an important and constructive contribution to peace.”

He will be in touch with the Secretary-General about reciprocal measures, he said, and the crisis has made clear the need to end the arms race and reduce world tensions.

In his reply Mr Kennedy wrote: “I consider my letter to you of October twenty-seventh and your reply of today as firm undertakings on the part of both our governments which should be promptly carried out.” He wants them carried out through the United Nations so that the quarantine can be lifted, and he offered talks on disarmament, the spread of nuclear weapons and a ban on tests, at Geneva or elsewhere.

Meanwhile the State Department said the quarantine against shipments of offensive weapons remains in force, but the Navy is marking time.

MOSCOW, Sunday.—Mr Khrushchev warned President Kennedy that an American reconnaissance plane flew over Soviet territory in the Chukotka Peninsula area today, and said such an intruder could be taken for a nuclear bomber.

“Is it not a fact that an intruding American plane could be easily taken for a nuclear bomber, which might push us to a fateful step?” he asked.

He recalled the American U-2 shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 and a violation over Sakhalin of which he had written on 30 August. His officers in Cuba, he added, report American planes flying over the island.

Mr Kennedy answered that an unarmed American aircraft on an air-sampling mission had made a navigational error. “I regret this incident and will see to it that every precaution is taken to prevent recurrence,” he said.

HAVANA, Sunday.—Dr Fidel Castro said today that President Kennedy’s guarantees against aggression will be worthless unless the United States gives up its naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Dr Castro did not read the statement himself. Havana Radio announcers read it in full, again and again.

The Cuban Prime Minister declared that “guarantees against an aggression on Cuba of which President Kennedy speaks will not exist unless, in addition to the elimination of the naval blockade which he promises, the following measures, among others, are adopted”.

He demanded an end to the economic blockade and to all commercial and economic pressure; an end to subversive activities, which he said “are carried out from the territory of the United States and from some accomplice countries”; an end to the raids; an end to violations of Cuba’s air and water space; and American withdrawal from Guantanamo.

He said nothing of what Cuba might do to back the demands. The White House declined comment.

UNITED NATIONS, New York, Sunday.—U Thant announced today that he will go to Cuba at Dr Castro’s invitation, and a United Nations spokesman said he expects to leave on Tuesday.

The Acting Secretary-General acted before the Moscow broadcast of Mr Khrushchev’s order reached the U.N. He handed his letter of acceptance to Cuba’s chief delegate, Dr Mario Garcia-Inchaustegui. He wrote that he hoped the talks would produce a solution respecting Cuba’s sovereignty, one that would make it possible “for action which would reassure other countries which have felt themselves threatened by recent developments in Cuba”.

One urgent task now is arranging inspection of the dismantling. U Thant will take with him his military adviser, Brig. Gen. Indar Jit Rikhye of India, and two U.N. Under-Secretaries, Hernane Tavares de Sa of Brazil and Omar Loutfi of the United Arab Republic.

Mr Kuznetsov, the Soviet First Deputy Foreign Minister sent by Mr Khrushchev to negotiate, arrived in New York tonight. “We are sure peace can be achieved if all parties concerned will exercise good will and a reasonable approach,” he said.

NEW DELHI, Sunday.—The Chinese invasion of India appears to be losing momentum, according to reports from New Delhi, and the Indian Army’s position is better than at any time since the Chinese crossed the frontier.

The invaders’ supply lines are lengthening, while India’s are growing shorter. In Ladakh, an attacking enemy force has been pushed back.

The Tunku has assured India of Malaya’s support in its fight, and Archbishop Makarios has sent Cyprus’s moral support.

In the eastern sector, Peking’s New China News Agency said Chinese troops had repelled Indian attacks and retaken Laman, Taksing and other positions.