White House Statement Concerning the Embargo on Trade With Cuba.

THE PRESIDENT announced today an embargo upon trade between the United States and Cuba. He said that on humanitarian grounds exports of certain foodstuffs, medicines, and medical supplies from the United States to Cuba would be excepted from this embargo.

The President acted under the authority of section 620(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. He stated in his proclamation that the embargo was being imposed in accordance with the decisions of the recent Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Inter-American System at Punta del Este, Uruguay.

The President pointed out that the embargo will deprive the Government of Cuba of the dollar exchange it has been deriving from sales of its products in the United States. The loss of this income will reduce the capacity of the Castro regime, intimately linked with the Sino-Soviet bloc, to engage in acts of aggression, subversion, or other activities endangering the security of the United States and other nations of the hemisphere.