By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          HAVANA -- A Salvadoran man facing the death penalty for terrorism admitted Monday to a
          string of hotel bombings in Cuba and asked the family of an Italian tourist killed in one attack
          to forgive him.

          Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon stood before the five-member tribunal and insisted that his motivation had
          been financial, not political.

          ``I have lost my liberty, my dignity and my honor, and now I am begging for what remains: my life,''
          he said at the opening of his trial.

          ``My hands are stained with innocent blood, and that torments me constantly,'' Cruz Leon said.
          ``God knows, I never wanted that death. And I want to ask for forgiveness from his family.'.

          Cruz Leon, a bespectacled man in his 20s, said he was approached in El Salvador by a man named
          Francisco Antonio Chavez Abarca, who recruited him for the bombings. He said he didn't know the
          targets were in Cuba until a few days before he traveled there to plant the explosives.

          ``I was in a very critical financial situation caused by a lot of spending on my credit cards,'' Cruz
          Leon said. ``I have never had anything against the Cuban revolution.'.

          The string of six bombings of tourist facilities in 1997 killed one person and injured 11, including
          seven foreigners.

          Cuban authorities have said Cruz Leon was a U.S.-trained Salvadoran army veteran who received
          $4,500 for each of six bombings at five hotels and a restaurant.

          The bombings apparently were aimed at frightening away tourists, who provide one of Cuba's most
          important sources of income.

          The trial was being held at the imposing Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabana, where Fidel Castro's
          government tried and put to death hundreds of people in the early months of the revolution.

          The choice of La Cabana is highly symbolic. Since completion by the Spanish in 1774, the complex
          has long been a site of military-style justice, a place where those who violently attacked the state
          were judged and put to death.

          Much of the physical evidence in the case was displayed on a table in the courtroom, protected by
          plastic sheets. Batteries, tools, a small backpack, even the shorts and T-shirt the defendant wore
          when he was arrested were shown.

          Cuban government radio on Monday said the trial before a tribunal of three professional attorneys
          and two members of the community could last up to five days.

          Execution would be by firing squad. All death sentences are automatically appealed to Cuba's
          Supreme Court.

          Cruz Leon earlier admitted to the bombings on Cuban television, including the Sept. 4, 1997,
          bombing of the Copacabana hotel, which killed Fabio di Celmo, 32, of Italy.

          On March 15, the government will try another Salvadoran, Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, on
          terrorism charges.

          He was arrested at the airport in June with a package of plastic explosives and other items the
          government said were designed ``to undertake terrorist activities.'' Prosecutors are seeking a
          30-year prison term.

          Cuban officials say both men have said their activities were financed by the Miami-based Cuban
          American National Foundation and organized by Luis Posadas Carriles, a Cuban exile. The
          foundation has denied the allegations.
 
 

                     Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company