17. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Reinhardt) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

To keep you abreast of VOA coverage of the subject of the Cuban presence in Angola, I attach the transcripts of two full-length programs prepared for broadcast in the past few days. As you will note, the Voice has drawn on a wide range of sources in developing these programs.

“The Soviet-Cuban Presence in Africa” (text attached)2 is based upon comments from the press in Africa, Latin America and India.

Usage, and planned usage, is as follows:

The program will be broadcast today in Swahili; and by the weekend in Portuguese and in English to Africa; in Spanish and Portuguese to Latin America; in Worldwide English; in Russian; Armenian; Czech-Slovak; Hungarian; Polish; Romanian; Serbo-Croatian; Slovene; Estonian, Portuguese to Europe; Arabic; Chinese; Indonesian and Vietnamese.

Yesterday afternoon’s opinion roundup “Cubans in Africa” (copy attached)3 drew from U.S. press comment, quoting the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Post, the Miami Herald and the Baltimore Sun.

Usage, and planned usage, is as follows:

The roundup has been broadcast in French, Portuguese and Swahili to Africa; in Worldwide English; Spanish to Latin America; Russian; Ukrainian; Albanian; Bulgarian; Hungarian; Polish; Serbo-Croatian; Estonian; Portuguese to Europe; Greek; Turkish; Arabic; Bengali; Burmese; Chinese; Indonesian and Thai. It will be broadcast in Romanian, Lithuanian, Armenian and Vietnamese at an early date.

As we discussed, the Voice of America will continue to give this subject thorough treatment as source materials become available. We will keep you informed of its coverage.

  1. Source: National Security Council, Carter Administration Intelligence Files, Special Programs File, Box 29, USSR-Cuban Intervention in Africa 7 November 1977–5 December 1977. No classification marking.
  2. Dated December 1. Attached but not printed.
  3. Dated November 30. Attached but not printed.