CAMPAIGN ’88 : Robertson on Missiles

Robertson again raised the issue of missiles in Cuba on Tuesday by citing second-hand testimony from a Senate subcommittee hearing 21 years ago as documentation that Soviet intermediate-range missiles are based in Cuba.

Robertson, who concentrated heavily on the Cuban-American vote for the Super Tuesday primary during a two-day swing through South Florida, said the information indicates a “loophole” in the U.S.-Soviet arms control treaty awaiting ratification in the Senate.

Robertson quoted 1967 testimony by Paul Bethel, a State Department official from Miami who said Cuban refugees had told him of seeing missiles. But none had personally seen the missiles, the transcript indicates.

The testimony was given to the Judiciary subcommittee to investigate the administration of the Internal Security Act and other internal security laws.

Robertson read portions of it to supporters at a breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale and during a rally the night before in Miami.

“I’ve been accused of bringing funny facts,” Robertson told the Ft. Lauderdale gathering. “Ladies and gentlemen, the clear eyewitness, sworn testimony of witnesses before a Senate Judiciary Committee is not funny facts. . . . This is documented evidence.”

Robertson’s assertion that there are missiles based in Cuba has been denied by the White House, congressional defense experts and Cuban President Fidel Castro.