CUBAN TROOP DEATH TOLL PUT AT 1,500 IN AFRICA
Document Type:
CREST [1]
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP81M00980R000600070026-1
Release Decision:
RIFPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date:
May 18, 2004
Sequence Number:
26
Case Number:
Publication Date:
July 19, 1978
Content Type:
NSPR
File:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 CIA-RDP81M00980R000600070026-1.pdf [3] | 47.98 KB |
Body:
Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600070026-1
THE WASHINGTON POST
ARTICLE APPEARED 19 July 1978
ON PAGE A-11
Cuban Troop Death. Toll
Put at 1,500 in Africa
A death toll approaching 1,500 Cu- in several countries as advisers and
bans killed in African combat. has not technicians. Troops are often replaced
shaken popular support in -Cuba. for, after' a one-year , tour . of -duty, they
President Fidel Castro's actions, U.S. said.
intelligence officials said yesterday. The senior officials said Cuba's mili-
According to.. recent.-. estimates,..-- ?:tary involvement in African conflicts :
about 1,000 Cuban soldiers have been.- = remains "extremely popular" at home.
killed in the Angola civil war and :'Other officials have said that only,
some 500 in Ethiopia during that coun? 1=heavy casualties would be likely to
try's fight to oust Somalians from dis- cause the Castro regime political
said. ;..
As a rule of thumb, U.S. military
authorities, who asked not to be iden-
tified, calculate that wounded gener-
ally outnumber killed by about a 3-to-
1 margin.
One official acknowledged the fig-
ures were somewhat speculative be-
cause there is no reliable information
on the actual number of Cuban sol-
diers wounded or missing in three
years of African operations.
Intelligence officials estimate that
there have been about 40,000 Cuban
military men in Africa, many as com-
bat troops in Angola and Ethiopia.
Others are said.to have been.stationed
Opposition to the Cuban actions in
Africa has been limited to complaints;
by friends and: families of. men sent to
serve there, intelligence experts said,
adding that there i? no organized op-
position.
Intelligence officials said they have
no information to confirm some re-
ports that Cuban wounded are being
treated in Soviet and East European
hospitals rather than being sent home,
where they might arouse popular con-
about Cuban military involve-
cern
ment in Africa. .
One official said that some- Cuban
dead are returned to Cuba for burial
but most are buried in.Africa.
Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600070026-1