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- WORLD, Page 48World NotesSOUTH AMERICATalk About Paranoia
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- President Fidel Castro has not visited Brazil since 1959,
- the year he installed himself as Cuba's supremo. So when Castro
- announced that he would attend last week's inauguration of
- Brazil's new President, Fernando Collor de Mello, authorities
- there were not sure what to expect: certainly a Cuban security
- detachment, perhaps even a few small arms.
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- Instead, the Cubans shipped in a small arsenal. On March 9
- a Cuban transport plane landed in Brasilia carrying 100
- passengers and crew members. According to the Rio daily Jornal
- do Brasil, there were also ten tons of weaponry aboard. At
- first the Cubans tried to convince the hosts that the cargo
- consisted of medical supplies. When the Brazilians insisted on
- an inspection, they discovered machine guns, grenades, an
- antiaircraft gun, even missiles.
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- After more than a day of heated negotiations, the transport
- plane headed back for Cuba, its cargo intact; Castro's security
- detail was left with only handguns.
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