CANADIAN INDIANS RESPONDING TO RADIO HAVANA?
Toronto
Officials of the Canadian Fair Play for Cuba Committee charged November 9 that the recent wave of accusations made against the Cuban diplomatic staff and Expo personnel by Social Credit Memper of Parliament Robert Thompson, and indirectly backed by External Affairs Minister Paul Martin, are "completely without foundation, and constitute a deliberate move on Mr. Thompson's part to worsen diplomatic relations between Cuba and this country."
Without exception, said the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Mr. Thompson's charges are secondhand or based on outright hearsay. Many of them appear to be warmed over rumors circulated earlier this year by a right-wing U.S. scandal sheet, the Inside's Newsletter, alleging that Cuban Expo officials were engaged in the training of separatists.
Mr. Thompson's charge that Radio Havana, which has been broadcasting to North America in both English and French for many years, is inciting Canadians to revolt “is equally fallacious," the FPCC statement says.
"Ottawa has had nearly one month since Thompson's charge to investigate the broadcasts, which Mr. Martin admits
are monitored by American authorities,
and they have not been able to come up
with any evidence to suggest that 'out-
side subversion' is behind any unrest
among Canada's Indians or French-speaking
population.
"That Mr. Thompson should indulge
in such irresponsible rumour peddling
itself is not surprising," the statement
continues, “since his party has been
pressing continually for a break in dip-
lomatic relations with Cuba. What is much
more serious is that External Affairs
Minister Martin has lent official cre-
dence to these ridiculous slanders by
assuring Mr. Thompson that 'the charges
are not being treated lightly.'
"Surely Mr. Martin is not unaware
of the flood of provocations against the
Cuban diplomatic mission, not to mention
the bombings, which the government has
to this day not cleared up.
"Rather than resolutely rejecting
these accusations -- a duty Mr. Martin
owes the Cuban mission -- he has himself
added grist to the rumour mill. His be-
havior indicates a move on the part of
the Canadian government to create fric-
tion between Ottawa and Havana.
"Only a full apology to the Cuban
Embassy can dispel that impression."