Cuba blames C.I.A., Morocco

Press, 16 July 1980, Page 9

Cuba blames C.I.A., Morocco

NZPA-Reuter Havana Cuba has blamed Morocco and the United States Central Intelligence Agency for the strafing of two of its merchant ships by jet fighters off the Western Sahara. The Cubans had earlier condemned the attack but not blamed anyone for it. The captain of one of the vessels, both fuel tankers, was killed in the attack at the week-end and three officers were wounded, according to official Cuban reports. Cuba supports Polisario Front guerrillas fighting Moroccan troops to establish an independent State in the Moroccan-ddminis-tered Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. Morocco broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba last April after the Fidel Castro Government recognised the “Sahara Arab Republic” proclaimed by f the Algerian-backed Front.

But there was nothing to link the Cuban ships with the activities of the Front. The tanker had sailed a few days previously from Las Palmas, in the Spanish Canary Islands, to refuel the Cuban tuna fishing fleet in the mid-Atlan-tic, Cuban reports said. The Cuban consul in Las Palmas, (Mr Jesus Fernandez Ponce) was quoted as saying Moroccan jet fighters carried out the attack. The Cuban Seamen’s Union, in a communique quoted in Havana by the official daily newspaper, “Granma,” said: “Behind this cowardice are the shadowy hands of imperialism and the C.1.A., which makes use of lackey governments that serve its interests and its strategy in the area.” The attack occurred in international waters some 50km off Villa Cisneros, in the southern part of the Western Sahara, which Morocco “illegally occupied,” the Cuban reports said. “Granma” said the two Mirage - jets arrived from the north-east 20 or 30 minutes after an unidentified, camouflaged light plane had circled the ships then flown away to the north-east. Morocco is north-east of the scene of the incidents.