Mexico told Kennedy that declaring Cuba a security threat would cause ’40 million Mexicans to die laughing!’
President Kennedy warned the Mexican ambassador that Cuba was very dangerous and a threat to security during the Cuba Missile Crisis era. The Mexican ambassador's told President Kennedy that "If we publicly declare that Cuba is a threat to our security, forty million Mexicans will die laughing".
This was because at the time, the United States had strong fear of communism, communists undercover in the United States, and nuclear threats coming from the island nation.
Mexicans knew Cuba to be a much smaller threat than the US thought it to be. That’s why the Mexican ambassador knew that any public support towards the US government in this matter would result in ridicule from the Mexican population.