News stories from Saturday February 28, 1976

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

President Ford called Prime Minister Fidel Castro of Cuba an "international outlaw'' at a naturalization ceremony, mostly for Cuban refugees in Miami where he was campaigning for the Florida primary. "The Fidel Castro regime, by sending an expeditionary force of 12,000 soldiers to intervene in a civil war in Angola, is acting as an international outlaw. My administration will have nothing to do with the Cuba of Fidel Castro," Mr. Ford said. He was loudly cheered and applauded by the 1,200 persons attending the ceremony. Mr. Ford's political aides acknowledged that the speech -- the sternest words he has used in describing the Cuban intervention in Angola -- were intended to woo the increasingly important bloc of Republicans of Hispanic origin in Florida. Later, Mr. Ford started on a seven-hour motorcade from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan, Mr. Ford's principal opponent in the Florida primary, was also campaigning in Florida, where he stepped up his criticism of President Ford and used the harshest language of his campaign to denounce the administration's negotiations with Panama over the future control of the Panama Canal. Mr. Reagan also attacked Mr. Ford's selection of cabinet officers and implied that if elected President there would be no room in his administration for Attorney General Edward Levi and Labor Secretary W.J. Usery. [New York Times] The Democratic candidates running in Massachusetts' presidential primary on Tuesday are tailoring their efforts to build a constituency in an uncertain electorate. The murkiness of the outlook was the major point of agreement among political professionals and observers as they surveyed the eight-candidate race, the uncertain mood of voters and the complexities of the state. [New York Times] A drought has damaged much of the winter wheat in the old dust bowl areas of southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. If it does not rain in the coming month, half to two-thirds of the 1976 crop will be damaged. Last year's crop was a record. [New York Times] Attorney General Edward Levi has told Governor Carey of New York that an "extensive" federal investigation had found no "credible" evidence that he had used his influence while in Congress to obtain oil export licenses for the benefit of his brother Edward, head of the New England Petroleum Corporation. "Consequently, the (Justice) Department has decided to close its investigation," Mr. Levi said in a letter made public by the Governor's office. [New York Times] The French Communist Party confronted the Kremlin with its new independence at the 25th Soviet party congress in Moscow. Guy Plissonnier, who ranks third in the French party hierarchy, told the 5,000 delegates, including the Soviet leadership, that his party would pursue "socialism in the colors of France," and that the French Communists would seek to cooperate with other leftist parties at home. Mr. Plissonnier took the place of Georges Marchais, the French party chief, at the meeting. Mr. Marchais confirmed that his differences with Moscow had led him to boycott the meeting. He was said to be the first French Communist leader to snub a Soviet party congress. [New York Times] Until Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India becomes openly friendlier with the United States, the Ford administration is pursuing a policy of non-cooperation in economic aid and in other areas. Besides postponing a plan to resume economic aid, the administration has decided not to renew a contract under which an American space satellite has provided educational television to 2,400 Indian villages. It has also been cool toward efforts to increase American private investment in India. The administration has snubbed the Indian Ambassador in Washington, T.N. Kaul, who for the last year has had virtually no direct access to President Ford or Secretary Henry Kissinger. [New York Times]