CUBA REPORTED SENDING ARMS TO BRITISH GUIANA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A000400010022-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 22
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIA-RDP79T00429A000400010022-1
Cuba Reported Sending
Arms to British Guiana' '
By JERRY d'LEARY, Jr. from the waterway as Hav'
st %r swt writer I Dr. Jagan, whb is . -Of
Fidel Castro has begun ship- Indian descent and .,a: dentist,
ping arms received from Soviet
Russia to his Communist ad-
mirer. Prime Minister Cheddi
Jagan of British Guiana, in-
formed Government a o u r c e a
disclosed today.
Two shiploads of arms re
portedly left the Cuban port of Castro. About 46 per cent of the ccl-
Mariel recently for Georgetown - Dr. Jagan heads the Red= ony's half million people are
in British Guiana. dominated Peoples Progressivf cent
Party in the colony. Its ]East Indian and 42 per
A United States Government
mat' i
i
official said the Guianese de- eat membership is among the
scribed the arms as "old United East Indians who were brought
States rifles needed for train- to the colony years ago to
ing purposes." However, it was. work in the sugar fields and
considered unlikely that Drhave remained to become Brit-
Jagan would settle for obsolete' Ish Guiana's farmers and shop-
equipment with so many new keepers.
Czech arms already in posses He is bitterly opposed along,
on of Communist Cuba. racial lines by many of- the
colony's Negroes, led _ 4y anti-,
An Avowed Communist Communist Linden Forbes
This was the first confirmed Burnham. The white. Chinese
case of what the United States l See GUIANA, Page A-6
has long warned - that Mr.' Castro would use his island as
a transshipment point for arms
to Communists everyhere south
of the Rio Grande.
British Guiana, about the
size of Kansas, lies on the
southern rim of the Caribbean,
1,400 miles east of the Panama
Canal -- nearly twice as far
has long clamored for indeps,- GUIANA
dence for his humid ai4
. .
no
v
erty stricken 1 and. The
4
6- Continued From Pinta A-1
year-old Prime Minister is an and pm.ty9UW Peoples who
avowed Communist and . an form minority group there,
open admirer of both 8ovlet
The ?;, afjjoia'-"l mid fl i1* Could not
.
imagine who Dr.?'Jagan would
train with the reported weap-
ons from Cuba. The most dan-
gerous elements there are mem-
bers of the Guianese United
Youth movement.,, The official
said these are 1elither-jacketed
youths who '.roar about on
motor bikes."
The Guianese. he said, are a
docile dis-
like thee jungle interior and are
well content la ; htalmne
heavilY y po ou likely, he
go not,
ato would
"the back
added, dd
country in revolt.
..Revolt against. whom?" he
asked. ..After all, they (Dr.
`Jagan's suppa) are the
government. The average mem-
ber of Jaaan's PPP. party is
not at racteeefs. There snob
a cligtfe, however, and Juan
is capable of considerable mis-
chief just to remain in the
limelight. "
Dr:- Jagan visited .Washing-
ton in 1961 and, after c4lling
me
on the president; received 'ome
l
ans
are Negroes with the M
having a greater birth rate.
Jungle Training Camps
The British retain control of
Guiana's defense and foreign
policy. but the country is run
by a constitution granted in
1961. This provided for an elec-
tive legislature with vet o
powers reserved to a crow n-
appointed governor, Sir Ralph
Francis Gray. Full inde-
pendence, however. long has
been withheld with.the United
Kingdom apparently determined
to wait until there, is a non-
Communist government there.
A ?' British officlfil recalled
that there have been reports
over -a period of,more''than `a
year that Dr..Jagan - has brb-
vided jungle "training camps'for
Mr. Castro, that , there are
missile bases in the jungle back
country and that as`-many as
2,000 Cuban "tourists" "have-
been seen in British Gulan&
- "We don't di nIse'these"re-
ports " he said.' "We just don't
have any evidence that they
are true. The point la; we have
got troops there, and 'b' are
still in charge:
There Ss :.considerable 'com-
merce between. Cuba and -the
crown colony since .British
Guiana supplies Cuba with rice.
However. the stripe, In general,
come:tq the 4661ort`Y,x ballast.
y
United States aid large
f technical surveys of-
form o
the underdeveloped country.
Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIA-RDP79T00429A000400010022-1