For the Record

Jimmy Carter is sore at Fidel Castro for giving him the runaround on nonexistent Cuban troop withdrawals from Africa—and he’s letting him know about it. In the UN, Andy (“stabilizing presence”) Young is denouncing Cuban “colonialism” in Africa left and right, and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has revealed U.S. intelligence reports that Cuba now has 27,000 troops in Africa—give or take a couple of thousand. . . . Castro in turn has gotten sore. He told a bunch of U.S. reporters the other day that Brzezinski is “magnifying” the problem, and that anyway he had “no business” releasing those reports. . . . Evans & Novak write that Andy Young told them that “Castro once said that when [Henry] Kissinger talked of 15,000 Cuban soldiers in Angola, the figure was closer to 50,- 000.” . . . Pat Holt, former chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, points out that at the 27,- 000 figure, “there are almost as many Cubans in proportion to population [in Angola] as there were Americans in Vietnam.” . . . Despite all of which, Havana announces that for the first time in 16 years there will be regular commercial flights from the U.S. to Havana next year—charter flights for tourists. And they are starting to be advertised in U.S. papers—eight days, seven nights in Cuba, just about everything paid for, for around 600 bucks.

Majority Leader Robert Byrd is rather breezy about it. He now thinks the Panama treaties will be passed early next year—possibly in March—with a “statement of understanding” appended. . . . But Byrd seems to be the only important senator who thinks so. Senators Eagleton (D., Mo.), Stevens (R., Alaska), and Wallop (R., Wyo.), all of whom have recently visited Panama, are doubtful. None of them thinks the treaties will be passed as now written. . . . The ACU is taking the lead in the attack against the treaties. It reports that it has spent half a million on the campaign thus far and offers a wide list of anti-ratification material ranging all the way from tape cassettes (Sens. Hatch, Allen, and Laxalt) to canned newspaper ads.

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Jimmy Carter is sore at Fidel Castro for giving him the runaround on nonexistent Cuban troop withdrawals from Africa—and he’s letting him know about it. In the UN, Andy (“stabilizing presence”) Young is denouncing Cuban “colonialism” in Africa left and right, and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has revealed U.S. intelligence reports that Cuba now has 27,000 troops in Africa—give or take a couple of thousand. . . . Castro in turn has gotten sore. He told a bunch of U.S. reporters the other day that Brzezinski is “magnifying” the problem, and that anyway he had “no business” releasing those reports. . . . Evans & Novak write that Andy Young told them that “Castro once said that when [Henry] Kissinger talked of 15,000 Cuban soldiers in Angola, the figure was closer to 50,- 000.” . . . Pat Holt, former chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, points out that at the 27,- 000 figure, “there are almost as many Cubans in proportion to population [in Angola] as there were Americans in Vietnam.” . . . Despite all of which, Havana announces that for the first time in 16 years there will be regular commercial flights from the U.S. to Havana next year—charter flights for tourists. And they are starting to be advertised in U.S. papers—eight days, seven nights in Cuba, just about everything paid for, for around 600 bucks.

Majority Leader Robert Byrd is rather breezy about it. He now thinks the Panama treaties will be passed early next year—possibly in March—with a “statement of understanding” appended. . . . But Byrd seems to be the only important senator who thinks so. Senators Eagleton (D., Mo.), Stevens (R., Alaska), and Wallop (R., Wyo.), all of whom have recently visited Panama, are doubtful. None of them thinks the treaties will be passed as now written. . . . The ACU is taking the lead in the attack against the treaties. It reports that it has spent half a million on the campaign thus far and offers a wide list of anti-ratification material ranging all the way from tape cassettes (Sens. Hatch, Allen, and Laxalt) to canned newspaper ads.