E ak RS Beech nae: EES NON-BLOC RELATIONS (1) (B) -6- 132401330 Page 10 DocId NW 55355
~—FOR-SECREF PINAR NON~BLOC RELATIONS = cont'd ie iS ae ze JEK~Act..6 (1) (B) AES PLAYS POE Y PRU MEA RATALY ES lia hast I TNR EE a NON~BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS: Cuba is continuing negotiations for the purchase of large 1. amounts of construction equipment, probably from the Varmi } company of Brussels. (See Daily Summary of 7 November for ‘ details of Varmi's offer.) ccording to an employee of the Spanish export-import firm CILASA who has access to the company's files, a seven-man Cuban delegation was expected to arrive in Brussels on 30 November with authorization to ‘let contracts, The group reportedly plans to examine, dis- assemble, and test the equipment and has a total budget of $3.5 million. (It was previously. reported that Varmi has offered to sell $1 million worth of construction equipment.) oT —FOP-SECREFT-DINAR HW 55355 DBocld:32401330 Page 11
HW 55355 NON-BLOC COMMERCIAL RELATIONS - cont'd The delegation is also interested in visiting European manufacturers of spare parts for the machines; they were principally interested in visiting Spain. The members of the delegation are Rene Narbona from the Cuban enterprise for the import of machinery, in addition to representatives named Respall, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Alemida (sic), Duran, and Morales, They were to stay at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, (CIA Madrid IN 69382, 28 November, SECRET NO FOR- EIGN DISSEM) - CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES: The discovery of a large cache of weapons of Cuban origin, announced by Venezuelan authorities on 28 November, provides the best evidence in recent years of major Cuban support for Latin American subversives. . . The Venezuelan foreign minister has announced that Caracas will lay formal charges concerning the arms cache before a special meeting of Latin American Foreign Ministers scheduled for December. Following this, Caracas will ask that the Coun- cil of the Organization of American States be convoked for con- sultation on the matter, There is definite proof to support the Venezuelan claim that the weapons came from Cuba. The approximately three tons of weapons include light automatic rifles and submachine guns identified as among those shipped to Cuba from Belgium in 1959 and 1960. There were also mortars, bazookas, recoilless rifles, and ammunition of US manufacture. Communist documents seized by Venezuelan authorities earlier this month indicate that the equipment was destined for the Venezuelan Communists' paramilitary arm, the Armed Forces of National Liberation. The cache was found on 1 November on a beach in Falcon State, scene of the most active guerrilla effort. The Vene- zuelan Government assumes that the weapons were sent from Cuba by sea. This is not confirmed, but Cuban fishing vessels were used to transport weapons to South America during the latter “part of October, according to several recent clandestine re- ports, For more than three years, the Castro regime has tried to: avoid actions that would clearly implicate it in direct sup- port of Latin American subversives. This exception seems to demonstrate either the high degree of urgency which Castro now gives to his subversive effort, or his estimate that the Venezuelan situation now is ripe for a final offensive... -8— DoclId:3240133530 Page 12
CUBAN SUPPORT OF EXTERNAL SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES - cont'd A Havana radiobroadcast immediately denied that Cuba was involved in the arms-infiltration attempt. The broad- cast, which quoted no official source, stated that "this is a new campaign of President Romulo Betancourt against Cuba and its revolutionary government, blaming the Cubans for the explosive situation in his country and the instabil- ity of his government.'' (SECRET) HW 55355 DBocld:32401330 Page 13