Miami News
May 5, 1976

Anti-Castro group pushes 'naval war'

By Hilda Inclan

The Cuban National Liberation Front, a militant anti-Castro exile group that took credit for two recent attacks on Cuban fishing vessels, has vowed it will continue its "naval war" against the Castro government.

The announcement yesterday by the militant anti-Castro group followed a series of notes between the U.S. and Havana on the most recent incident last month, when a crewman was killed during an attack on a Cuban fishing boat. The boat sank and the remaining four crewmen were picked up by a Norwegian ship and brought to Miami. All four were allowed to return to Cuba.

Premiere Fidel Castro said the machinegun attack on the boat was incited by recent U.S. government statesments warning that future Castro interventions in foreign lands would not be tolerated by the U.S.

The U.S. State Department, in a note to Havana, rejected the charge, saying U.S. warnings about Castro incursions around the world had no bearing on the incidents.

A U.S. Justice department spokesman told the Miami News yesterday that it has agents in Miami investigating the attacks on Cuban vessels.

Describing the Castro fishing ships as "espionage vessels," the FLNC statement added:

"The combatants from the National Liberation Front of Cuba and the Movement April 17th (a reference to the Bay of Pigs brigade) tell the world that enemy navigation will always be in danger and that our naval units, operating from several bases outside of the North American territory, will continue hitting all of those who persist in serving International Communism."

Juan Perez Franco, past president of the Bay of Pigs Veteran's Association, said the organization didn't know if any of its members were involved in the attacks against Castro vessels, but said the group backed such activities, as "acts of patriotism from brave combatants who are fighting Castro and advancing the cause of a free Cuba."