U.S. Begins Blockade of Cuba; Grim Warning Issued To Russia
Washington, Oct. 22 (AP) ─ President Kennedy put into effect a U.S. blockade of Cuba Monday night, after disclosing that the Soviets are shipping into Cuba long-range weapons able to rain nuclear destruction on all the Americas.
Kennedy spoke in a grim emergency nationwide radio-television address in which he disclosed that, despite past Soviet assurances to the contrary, offensive atomic missile sites are being built in Cuba and Soviet jet bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons have arrived there.
Kennedy outlined a 7-point program for fast military and diplomatic action to stop Cuba from being built up as a Communist launching base against the hemisphere and sent a letter to Soviet Premier Khrushchev calling for a halt.
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Speedy developments amid an atmosphere of deep crisis followed the President's somber announcement:
─ A Defense Department spokesman said the United States is ready to sink every Communist bloc ship headed for Cuba which refuses to stop for a search. The blockade, which could apply against planes later, applies against offensive weapons but not nonmilitary necessities like food or medicine.
─ The Navy said at San Juan, Puerto Rico, that the more than 40 ships and 20,000 men assembled for announced annual Caribbean exercises now are "sustaining the blockade" of Cuba.
─ The United States summoned the Organization of American States (OAS) to an emergency session here at 9 a.m. Tuesday in expectation that the inter-American group will approve the U.S. program, thereby giving it international legal standing.
─ Canada said it has stopped Soviet planes bound for Cuba and the Caribbean from landing at Canadian air bases, such as Gander, Nfld.
State department officials prepared a formal proclamation to be issued Tuesday after the OAS action.
Kennedy used the word "quarantine" to describe the naval ring around Cuba, since "blockade" implies an act of war. State Department authorities said, however, that the U. S. act included the essential elements of a blockade ─ inspection, visit and search.
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which is expected to take place Tuesday afternoon. He sought a Security Council order for "immediate dismantling and withdrawal" of all offensive weapons in Cuba.
A Defense Department spokesman said Soviet missilemen are manning 1,200-mile range rockets in Cuba on mobile launch pads aimed at key American cities including Washington.
Exhibiting reconnaissance photographs of missiles in place, he said that despite no firm information on whether the rockets are nuclear-tipped it is "inconceivable" that their warheads are other than atomic.
The spokesman said that air and sea patrols will be watching ships moving toward Cuba. Warships will move in to intercept. If the U.S. boarding party finds offensive weapons aboard, the ship's captain will be told to head for any port other than Cuba.
If the ship refuses to stop for a search, the Pentagon spokesman said, the United States is prepared to sink it. A State Department spokesman emphasized that short-of-attack measures will be tried first, such as firing a warning shot over the bow.
Kennedy warned in his speech that any atomic attack against any nation in the Western Hemisphere would bring full retaliation against the Soviet Union.
He couple with this an invitation to Khrushchev to join in "a search for peaceful and permanent solutions."
