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U.S. had plans to invade Cuba in 1976, documents show

Then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger sought a way to retaliate against Cuba for potential military incursions in Africa.

By Ed Adamczyk
President Gerald Ford (C) with Army General Frederick Weyand (L) and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (R) in 1975. (UPI Photo/Wally McNamee/Files)
President Gerald Ford (C) with Army General Frederick Weyand (L) and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (R) in 1975. (UPI Photo/Wally McNamee/Files) | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The United States developed plans to attack Cuba in 1976 following its military intervention in Angola, recently declassified documents indicate.

The research of documents at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Mich., declassified at the request of the research group National Security Archive, says then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and other officials convened to work out plans to retaliate against Cuba, should it deploy its army to other African countries.

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The top-secret plan to "smash Cuba," as Kissinger phrased it, included military assaults on ports and military installations in Cuba and the deployment of U.S. Marines to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The documents suggest Kissinger feared the United States would show weakness by not engaging militarily with Cuba.

"I think sooner or later we are going to have to crack the Cubans," Kissinger told Ford in 1976, a transcript indicates.

The documents have been posted online and are the basis of a new book, Back Channel to Cuba by William M. LeoGrande, of American University, and Peter Kornbluh, director of the archive's Cuba Documentation Project.

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