Some Soviet Muscle in Cuba

Touching off a furor likely to grow, the U.S. State Department reported last week that the Soviet Union has 2,000 to 3,000 combat troops in Cuba, augmenting the estimated 2,000 Soviet military and technical advisers that have been there practically since Castro took power. While the State Department said that the combat units, comprising armored, artillery and infantry elements, obviously did not pose any direct threat to the U.S., it had "expressed concern" about their presence through diplomatic channels in Washington and Moscow.

That was not nearly enough for several Senators who promptly demanded urgent action by the White House, particularly since, it turns out, some of the combat forces may have been there, by U.S. Intelligence estimates, since 1976. Frank Church, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, protested that "the U.S. cannot permit the island to become a Soviet military base 90 miles from our shores," and challenged President Carter to compel the immediate withdrawal of the Soviet force. Senator Robert Dole of Kansas went further still, proposing that the current Senate debate on the Strategic Arms Limitation treaty be suspended until the troops leave. Senator Richard Stone of Florida, fearing the Soviet troops might be used against military governments in Central America, wanted Carter to get on the hot line to Moscow at once. Said he: "This may not be of the same dimensions as the 1962 missile crisis, but it is of the same gravity."

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