§ 62. Mr. Youngerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on what dates Her Majesty's Government last authorised the sale to the Cuban Government of Sea Fury aircraft and of the rockets which left the United Kingdom on 3rd November, 1958; and what information Her Majesty's Government had on those dates about the progress of civil strife in Cuba.
§ Mr. ProfumoApproval was originally given at the beginning of May, 1958, for the sale of arms excluding bombers or bombs. Negotiations between the Cuban authorities and the aircraft manufacturers culminated in a proposal for the purchase of seventeen Sea Furies which was approved at the beginning of July. The contract was signed in August.
As regards the second part of the Question, the situation in May was that Senor Castro apparently controlled a limited area in the mountainous part of the eastern provinces of Cuba. By the early autumn there were guerilla activities elsewhere in the island. On 19th November my right hon. and learned Friend said in the House that the situation had rather changed since the orders had been given and that certainly any future requests of this sort would have to be examined in the light of the situation at the time.