No Clash Expected In Caribbean

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29367, 21 November 1960, Page 15

No Clash Expected In Caribbean

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) CHICAGO, November 20., The United States Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh. A. Burke, said last night that the United States Navy would do “whatever it takes” to deter or repel aggressors against Nicaragua or Guatemala. But there would be no use of atomic weapons. Admiral Burke, who was commenting on President Eisenhower’s order to the fleet to preserve peace in the Caribbean, said he did not think there would be hostilities.

He said there were various' ways in which the Navy would carry out its objectives. They included reconnaissance by aircraft and surface craft and the checking of all ship movements in the area. The presence of a naval task

force would deter aggression, he said.

He did not expect the situation to develop into a dangerous one "I don’t think there will be hostilities,” he said. In Washington, the United States claimed that Cuba has received at least 28,000 tons of arms from the Soviet bloc, including tanks, automatic weapons, field guns and eight jet fighter planes. The department accused the Communist Powers of contributing to tension in the Caribbean “by burdening the Cuban economy with excessive arms purchases and by supporting the aggressive policies” of the Cuban Prime Minister, Dr. Fidel Castro. “At least 12 Soviet ships have delivered arms and ammunition to Cuba since July of this year," the statement said. “The most recent was the Psow, which unloaded approximately 6000 tons of arms on November 7.” The statement said that Dr Castro had buMt up an armed military force “larger than any army in Latin America” and 10 times bigger than the force of the former Cuban president, Fulgencio Batista. It said the Cuban militia now totalled more than 200,000. A detailed tabulation of arms purchases by Dr. Castro described by the State Department as coming from reliable sources, showed heavy purchases from Soviet bloc countries and other sources. The department’s press officer.

Mr Lincoln White, declined to identify the "non-Soviet” sources, but officials said sales of arms from Belgium to Cuba had stopped. The State Department’s list of arms purchases included 45.000 Czechoslovak automatic rifles, 10,000 sub-machine guns, 150 mortars, 40 tanks, 25 field guns. 55 howitzers, 80 anti-aircraft guns, 10 helicopters and 15 mobile radar units.

In his address to the Chicago Business Publications Association, Admiral Burke also discussed the Navy’s plan to cut down the number of sailors’ dependents overseas. He said the Navy had 30,000 dependents overseas and it would try to reduce the number by 50 per cent. He hoped the cut could be made gradually by returning men with dependents to the United States and replacing them by bachelors. Later in his address, Admiral Burke said “survivability” was more important than simple retaliatory power in a world conflict.

"To deter limited military aggression successfully, we must have existing forces that make local war unattractive to the Communists,” he said.

"Speed of response is essential in limited conflict. That is why our powerful Sixth and Seventh Fleets, our attack carrier striking forces and our combat-ready amphibious forces, continue to stand guard in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific.”