WHY CUBA'S CLOUT CONTINUES TO GROW IN THE CARIBBEAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00153R000300040016-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2008
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: February 14, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/01/24: CIA-RDP85T00153R000300040016-8
THE DIRECTOR OF
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
National Intelligence Council
5
Approved For Release 2008/01/24: CIA-RDP85T00153R000300040016-8
 Approved For Release 2008/01/24: CIA-RDP85TO0153R000300040016-8
International
outlook
Edited by Sol W. Sanders
Why Cuba's clout continues to grow in the Caribbean
The U. S. effort to isolate Cuba within
the western hemisphere have at least the
ba a
C
u
mg.
Pr-
possibility of another satellite in the Ca-
ribbean community, the former Dutch tits
colony of Surinam, and may
way-with the help of Moscow and oth-
er East bloc countries-toward seizing
an opportunity in Haiti similar to the one
that preceded the leftist Nicaraguan
takeover (BW-Jan. 24).
These developments result in part
from the U. S. policy during the Falk-
land Islands war. In the eyes of most
Latin Americans, that policy vacillated
on defense of the hemisphere. Thus, CO-
- aofa-
Cuban technicians in Grenada' More countries are calling on Havana for assistance.
lombia, which only six more s g rest Havana for its activi-
ties invoking the Rio Treaty agai
ties in Nicaragua, has now sought Fidel Castro's aid in
becoming a member of the so-called nonaligned bloc.
confusing statements. Bolivia, with a newly elected left-of-cen-
ter government, has sought to reestablish relations with Ha-
vana. Costa Rica's new president, Luis Alberto Monge, has
sent semi-official emissaries to Castro to talk compromise in
Central America. In El Salvador, U. S. statement have
con-
country's
fused the issue by equating pursuit of a military the Communistrled insurgency with solving the ctory
myriad problems.
But the most dramatic changes have come in Surinam, on
n
the northeastern coast of South America, thand more e and of
His-
be
expected in Haiti-the. western portion o
paniola, strategic in the inner Caribbean. . Dbe' h Grenada, authori d
believe that Communist support
Nicaragua has helped Surinam install a brutal military dictatorship. And, because The Hague cut off $100 million in
annual aid to Surinam. after 15 democratic leaders and
there, the new regime may turn to cow. The Cubans have sent in Oscar Osvaldo Cardenas, a
senior member of the Department of the Americas--a special-
ized branch of Cuba's intelligence that works closely with the
Soviet KGB-as ambassador, with an expanded staff.
Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Luis-Jean, a Haitian trained in
weapons and explosives in Libya and Lebanon by the Pales-
tine Liberation Organization, has formed the Hector Riobe
Brigade. Named after a Haitian hill b in a revolagainst number
regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier,
only a dozen hard-core urban terrorists. But Luis-Jean is a
charismatic figure, with a reputation for prowess as a karate
master and an uncanny ability to disguise himself for visits to
Haiti.
In late December, one of his followers, Hilertaut
Republic
was arrested in neighboring Dominican smuggling weapons. Dominique had traveled to Libya, at the
Germany, Angola, Cuba, and Nicaragua, and destabilization said d that t to
organization was planning a campaign
start this year. The brigade's claim of responsibility for air-
borne raids, assassination attempts, and bombings in Port-au-
Prince has emboldened anti-Duvalier groups in the large Hai-
tian communities in New York, Miami, Paris, and Montreal. ^
plan to promote offshore development
Reagans zone p
W Id, the V-
The Reagan Administration believes that it has found a way
of i+ajeelin6 ? U. I'I. Dsw of the Bea Treaty V11h0ut 11
ing the baby out with the bathwater. In a U S ntia~ bea-
+1C Zone (E?1 for eommercial
ing a new Exclusive Eooc February,
development of living and nonliving natural resources in an
area 200 mi. seaward from all U. S. territory.
Polymetallic sulfides from the seafloor crusts of submerged
islands, which are rich in strategic minerals (manganese se anted
cobalt) and other, base metals, as well as phosphate,
available for mining development within the EEZSProjected
from both Hawaii and the West Coast. Washington ex under
attract investors because of the absence of political the U. S. flag.
The strategy anticipates that the U. S. will have established
seabed mining on a technologically and commercially feasible
g
basis in were areas
treaty have implemented its provisions: And since the treaty
provides for the creation of something akin to the EEZ option,
Washington hopes to attract the 52 other countries with Ea
possibilities into joint ventures.
The EEZ concept was developed by Interior Secretary James
Watt's office, working since last summer with two inter-
agency groups. While the precise definition of what consti-
tutes the continental shelf is still unclear, the extension of
unities free of
U. S. legal allows dAdministration sees the EEZ as the
cornerstone l risk. The
of The its Reagan oceans policy and another component in its strategic effort to reduce U. S. dependence on foreign energy
and mineral sources. -Daniel I. Fine
Resources analyst
BUSINESS WEEK: February 14, 1983 61
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