Castro denies sending arms to Salvador

Press, 26 February 1981, Page 7

Castro denies sending arms to Salvador

NZPA-Reuter Moscow: The Cuban President (Di) Fidel Castro) was reported to have denied yesterday’ that Cuba was sending arms) to guerrillas in El Salvador and to have described a pos-! sible United States move to* block Cuban arms exports toj the Central American coun i try as senseless. ! President Castro was said: lo have told the Soviet Com-; munist Party Congress in. Moscow, where he was the: first foreign delegate to! speak: "This measure is ■ senseless. There are ' ncl (Cuban) ships in the area! and no-one can catch what! does not exist.” The comment was attrib-i uted to him by Vadim Zag-, jadin, deputy chief of thei Soviet Party Central Com- i mittee’s international depart-i ment. at a press conference. i But Dr Castro’s denial didi not appear in a lengthy I Spanish-language version of: his speech given by the So-1 viet news agency, Tass, a) fact which could be ex-!

plained by the Cuban leader’s habit of often departing from his official text.

Dr Castro, as quoted by Tass, condemned Washing-; ton for supporting the ruling' junta in El Salvador and] said his country would not. back down in the face of eg-) gression. 1

“Imperialist forces unleash! a campaign of malicious lies I against socialist and other! progressive countries, trying) to prove that events in Cen-; tral America are not the re-! suit of the rightful indignation- of oppressed peoples but the result of international conspiracies,” he said. The United States State Department released documents on Tuesday which, according to White House j officials, proved the Soviet : Union, Cuba and their Com- ■ munist allies had supplied I arms to Leftist guerrillas fighting the Salvadorean! i Government. I

According to Tass, Dr Castro referred to the possibility of a United States blockade of Cuba, which United States officials say they have not ruled out, and said: “Cuba will never be brought to its knees. Principles are not for sale.”

Tass also quoted him as saying: “We will fight for each piece of territory to] the death if imperialism attacks us.

“He will not resist the: symbol of liberty if it is| offered us, but we will not, retreat before the threat oi; aggression.” He expressed what ap-l peared to be. Cuba’s total support for Moscow on all important issues of policy. The exact wording of his speech will not be known until today when it appears in Soviet newspapers with the speeches of other delePresident Reagan said yesterday that the United States had no intention oi getting into a Vienam-style involvement in El Salvador. “I know this is of great concern.” Mr Reagan told reporters at a White House briefing. “It’s part of the ■Vietnam syndrome. But we ihave no intention of that i kind of involvement.”

I His comments seemed in (line with previous assurances by ■ other Administration officials that the ■ United States was not plan- ■ ning to send ground forces Ito the Central American I country.

Mr Reagan said, the ] flow of arms into El .Salvador would be one.of the:; things “that should b"e .straightened out’.’ in any future negotiations with the Soviet President. (Mr Leonid. Brezhnev). In San Salvador, El .Salvador’s capital, residents fleeing San Esteban Catarina said Left-wing guprriilas launched an; attack bn the town’s garrison on Tuesday and ’’ there were “many” dead and woundec from a. day-lpng battle. In the cpaftal,'. authorities reported the bodies of 12 unidentifed -people had been discovered at dawn in various locations.. ■ Some of the victims reportedly were found wearing signs bearing’ the word “thief.” At least five, however, ~ were said to be marked (with the letters EM, the by-now • familiar initials of the Rightists . “death squad,” which Leftists say is made up of military officers. The/battle between Liftist and Rightist forces for control, of El Salvador resulted |in at least 13.000 deaths last I year, according to human- ! rights investigators. The i death toll so far this year is conservatively estimated at 11500.