U.S. Protests Delivery of Soviet MIGs to Cuba

The State Department said Tuesday that Cuba has received a new shipment of fighter planes from the Soviet Union and that the United States “simply cannot tolerate” such developments.

In response to questions, spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler denied that the statement constituted a threat to Cuba. She referred reporters to Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s recent testimony before a Soviet legislative committee, in which he said that Cuba poses no threat to the United States.

Baker told the Soviet legislators that the United States has difficulty understanding why the Kremlin continues to send MIG-29 fighter jets to Cuba.

Tutwiler confirmed a delivery of new MIG-29s but gave no figures.

Tutwiler also quoted Baker as saying that “Cuba is actively supporting the insurgency in El Salvador, and it is these kinds of activities close to the shores of the United States that we simply cannot tolerate.”