Exiles claim they shelled Polish ship
By Frank Soler
Poder Cubano (Cuban Power) Monday claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn cannonading of a Polish freighter at the Port of Miami.
A large-caliber shell exploded against the gray hull of the 3242-ton freighter Polanica at its Dodge Island berth at 2:45 a.m. Monday.
The sell, apparently fired from the McArthur causeway across Government Cut from the freighter, passed within feet of a Coast Guard picket boat stationed in the channel as a guard against a possible exile attack.
There were no injuries in the attack. The shell, thought to have been about the diameter of a large drinking glass, dented the freighter's hull about seven feet from the waterline but did not penetrate. A daylight inspection disclosed only slight damage.
A crewman who was on deck at the time of the shelling said he saw a splash near the side of the ship and moments later felt the impact and a "very loud boom."
In a telephone call to a local news medium, a man who identified himself as "Ernesto," head of the exile group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Polanica docked at the Port of Miami Sunday enroute to Tampico, Mexico via Portugal.
The Coast Guard said the ship carried construction equipment for the Polish delegation to the upcoming Olympic Games in Mexico City.
The incident was the 37th bombing in the Miami area since January, and the seventh attack on a ship claimed by Poder Cubano. Friday, it claimed responsibility for an explosion aboard the Spanish freighter Coromoto off San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Poder Cubano has said its attacks against Spanish, British, Japanese and Canadian vessels are intended to discourage trade by those nations with Cuba.