Marines to go to Cuba

Press, 3 October 1979, Page 1

Marines to go to Cuba

NZPA-Reuter Washington A force of 1500 United States Marines will be sent to Cuba in the next few weeks in a “reinforcement exercise.” That was one of several moves announced by the President of the United States (Mr Carter) in a televised address to the nation yesterday. He said it would be part of the United States response to the presence of a Soviet brigade in Cuba. The Marines will be sent to the Guantanamo

naval base, an enclave on the south-east tip of Cuba, which the United States has occupied by treaty since earlier this century. Mr Carter said he had received assurances from the highest levels of the Soviet Government that the 2000 to 3000 troops in Cuba did “nothing more than training.” “However, we shall not rest on these Soviet statements alone,” Mr Carter said. He said he had also ordered increased surveillance of Cuba, pledged United States backing for

any country in the hemisphere ever threatened by Soviet troops, expanded military manoeuvres in the Caribbean, and increased economic aid to the region. Mr Carter issued a new call for the Senate to ratify the new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (S.A.L.T. II), whose ratification has appeared to be jeopardised by disclosures in August of the presence of the Soviet troops in Cuba. Mr Carter said he had been in touch with European allies in the last few

days: “And I must tell you tonight that if the Senate fails to approve the S.A.L.T. treaty, these leaders and their countries would be confused and deeply alarmed.” The Soviet President (Mr Leonid Brezhnev) said in Moscow yesterday that the Soviet Union “does not threaten anyone and is doing nothing in excess beyond ensuring the security of itself and its allies.” He made his remarks before President Carter gave his address to the nation.