Miami News
October 3, 1974

Terrorist arrested, partner skipped bail

By Hilda Inclan and Barbara Malone

Maimed Luis Crespo, convicted anti-Castro activist, was arrested at his home last night after his partner jumped bail and had his bond raised from $10,000 to $100,000 today.

Circuit Court Judge Arden Sigendorf raised Crespo's bond but denied a motion by James Woodard, assistant state attorney, to revoke it altogether. Crespo's partner, Humberto Lopez, had his bail revoked yesterday.

Lopez, now a fugitive from justice, released a tape to the Miami News and a Spanish radio station, in which he said he was fleeing to continue the war against Fidel Castro as a member of the National Cuban Liberation Front (FLNC), a clandestine organization.

Woodard told Siegendorf today that Crespo was known to be an active member of the FLNC and that it was "reasonable to assume" he would flee too.

Crespo and Lopez, both 33, were convicted last month on charges of unlawful possession of explosives after a bomb the two were making went off in a garage in a Little Havana home March 20. Both men were crippled for life.

Crespo and Lopez were scheduled to be sentenced on that charge Oct. 21. Each could receive a maximum of 20 years in jail.

Melvyn Greenspahn, attorney for Lopez and Crespo, said he intends to appeal Siegendorf's ruling raising Crespo's bond.

The $100,000 bond, Greenspahn said, means the same as jail. "There is no way he (Crespo) can raise that money," he said.

It was learned today that Siegendorf has received more than 100 telegrams from Cubans in Miami in support of Crespo, including an unsigned one purported to have been sent by the FLNC.

"For all I know the FBI could have sent the telegram," Greenspahn said.

Before his arrest last night, Crespo had told friends he would remain to face sentencing because he could not go anywhere in his physical condition. Woodard argued before Siegendorf that the car Crespo wojld require in jail and the discomforts he would suffer were "more reason to believe" he would flee.

Lopez had already been gone two weeks, when police picked Crespo up at his home, 18901 NW 52nd Ave., and took him to Dade County Jail.

The March blast tore off Crespo's right hand, which was replaced with a metal hook. He had two fingers still on his left hand and a third grafted. He can't rotate his arms. He goes to Jackson Memorial Hospital weekly for treatment.

"He can't be in jail alone," his wife, Olga, said. "He needs someone with him at all times to help him get dressed, to feed him, bathe him . . . At home, I do everything for him. I don't know that he can get all the help he needs at the jail."

She went with him to Jackson yesterday before the arrest. "He had no intention of fleeing, how could he?" she said.

Woodard explained he requested the arrest warrants and emergency hearing on the basis of the tape which he obtained from WFAB Spanish radio station.

"I don't know what the extent of Crespo's physical needs are," he said. "But there's a medical staff at the jail. I assume they are taking proper care of him there."

The attorney for Lopez and Crespo, Melvyn Greenspahn, protested the arrest calling it "inhuman" especially since Crespo had "complied fully with all the orders of the court."

"He had to mortgage his home to pay the bond," Greenspahn said. "He would never leave his wife and son. Lopez left two weeks ago. Crespo would have left then if he wanted to leave. He had no intention on fleeing."