INCOMIN T A epartment ofStall 


CONFIDENTIAL ­
Control:Action Rec'd: 
EJR 
FROM: Madrid 
Info 
ACTION: Secstate 333 Priority
SS (~ DATE: September 17, 9 PM 
SP L ARA 
EMBTEL 323.
p 	r 
USIA 
15016 September 17, 1964 
5: 4.3 FM 
Following i nitial reactio;i Spanish FONOFF t o Ambasse.dor (!{EFTEL), 
_~s~ 
Spanish press ·has obviously received instructions from GOS to 
lNR 
give SIEER.P.. DE ARANZAZU incident front page t r ea.tmeLt with
c:A 
NSA 	strong anti-American flavor .. All papers September 17 in varying degrees imply that US beP.J.rs measure of guilt for incident which 
DOD 
cost lives of thr ee Spa~ish seamen; general line · s th.e.t US 
~~IC 
E 	should have prevented occurrencee 
RMR 
Flanage-oriented ARRIHA expecially hostile~ with it~ New Y rk correspondent Bueno al leging that strange "silence" New York press confir ns .guilt cant!Ot be laid at door Cuban Govern. ent o 
Also charges that CIA mJf"t at lea.st have known a.bout mat er, if not directly or ind.ire tly i nvolved. ARRIB~ quĞ~.lifies 
Rusk-Merryodel Vall*interview as "formal prot est" a.nd as inquiry how incident al lowed to happen in area totally controlled by US naval and air forces. 
Catholic YA published FOr"OFF comment st ating t ..e "Sp.:....in annot tolerat e ac·;:s of piracy" 9 and the "GOS consi:k~rs US, which controls a.rea where inci ent occurred, t o have sufficie t neans available to ex,plG.in what happened in area where ..,... re3pon ibi lity evident". (Text by sep.::i.rate cable.) YA editori"-.1 demanded guilty parties pay indemnity to fa:milies of vict ims . 
ABC MASSIF, more restr ained than rest, underlined Spcnish 
position that "waters near Cuba patrolled by US Nav:7 and nust be 
secure for international shi pping" , adding that "Washington s~ys 
it doing it's best t o this eP.d but everything has it' s lirnit" 
0 
DECLASSIFIED 	RElfdtlDt?frm: FROM THIS COPY IS 
E.O. 13292, 	~ec 3.5 CONFIDENl'IAt. -PROHIBITED UNLESS "UNCLASSIFIED" 
I O'/.. /(,,1 
B·~ NARA, ­
\ 
CONFIDEN'i' IAL ­
-2-333, September 17, 9 PM from Madrid. 
Cormnent: The GOS customarily uses the controlled press to indicate to the world and --perhaps more importantly --to its own people the promptness and vigor with which it reacts to any attacks on .Spain or slight's to it' s dignity. The US, in this case, is a natural target of this reaction since we are here widely credited with the responsibility for managing the Caribbean in general and mismanaging Cuba in particularo A contributing factor to the special virulence of the GOS reaction on this occasion is certainly pent-up resentment at our efforts to pressure Spain out of the Cuba trade. 
At the same time, it would undoubtedly be mistake to interpret reaction as simply governmental histrionicso Spanierds in general are quick to resent attacks from abroad, and in this instance Embassy believes that feeling of indignation is both widespread and genuine, but it can be hoped that it will prove quite temporary. 
WOODWARD 
JMH/9 
* As received. 

-CO.l\J ·~· IDENT IAL=-­