A I Mikoyan’s toast at the reception at the Cuban Embassy November 14th 1960 Gentlemen Friends Comrades When I was in Mexico the Revolutionary Cuban government invited me to visit Cuba The Soviet government represented by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers N S Khrushchev gave me their consent to accept this invitation For me this was a great privilege Indeed the hearts of all the honest people of the world are with the people of Cuba I had the great happiness to not only be with them in my heart but also to visit with the revolutionary Cuban people to shake the friendly hands of the Cubans and to look in their eyes full of fire and speaking more than any words I got to see first-hand the dedication and love that shined in their eyes when the leaders of the Cuban revolution - the Cuban ‘bearded men’- appeared among them led by Fidel Castro During our visit countrywide women children ordinary people gave a rousing cheer to Fidel Castro and warmly hugged him We are very pleased that the Head of the Soviet Government N S Khrushchev had the opportunity to visit Fidel Castro in the black quarter of New York and embrace him as a friend When I read about this in the news I said nice one Nikita Well done Of course he could have received Fidel Castro in the Soviet mission but that would have been wrong Nikita Sergeyevich did this the way that the entire Soviet people wanted Source Mikoyan personal archive donated to the National Security Archive Translated by Sarah Dunn for the National Security Archive