Feds take hard line in Castro-plot case

             By CAROL ROSENBERG and JUAN O. TAMAYO
             Herald Staff Writers

             A decision by U.S. prosecutors to file attempted murder charges against seven
             Cuban exiles who allegedly plotted to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro may help
             remove politics from the case and boost the chances for obtaining convictions,
             lawyers say.

             By accusing the seven of attempted murder under Section 1116 of the federal
             criminal code, and not with violating the U.S. Neutrality Act, as some defense
             attorneys had expected, the prosecutors may be able to block a defense based on
             discussions of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

             They also will be able to seek a much harsher penalty -- life in prison. Neutrality
             Act convictions typically bring sentences of three to five years.

             The severity of the potential penalties comes from Section 1116's roots in one of
             the 20th Century's most notorious acts of terror -- the slaying of 11 Israeli athletes
             by Palestinian guerrillas at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Congress enacted the
             law just weeks after the Munich massacre in an effort to extend federal protection
             to official foreign guests and their families while they visit the United States.

             The law, later fleshed out with wording from international anti-terror conventions,
             has been used previously to convict several Chilean secret police agents and
             Cuban exiles in the car-bombing death of former Chilean Foreign Minister
             Orlando Letelier and an aide in Washington in 1976.

             Prosecutors in Puerto Rico ``have put together a very winnable case, said John
             Mattes, a Miami lawyer who successfully defended a group of militant Cuban
             exiles accused of shipping weapons to Nicaragua in 1986.

             Frank Rubino, a Miami attorney who has defended Cuban exiles accused of
             violating the Neutrality Act, said he was not surprised that prosecutors opted for
             the tougher charges.

             ``The government alleges that they [the defendants] weren't going to just raise
             some hell, to have some insurrection, but that they were going with an intent and
             purpose to assassinate Fidel Castro, he said. ``In Miami, people may think that's
             OK. But anywhere beyond the Broward line that's an attempt to kill a foreign
             leader, and that is a serious crime.

             Sensitive issues

             Those indicted in Puerto Rico were Jose Antonio Llama, a top official of the
             Cuban American National Foundation, five other other South Florida exiles and
             one from Union City, N.J. They were accused of plotting to assassinate the Cuban
             president when he visited Venezuela last November.

             One former federal prosecutor said the indictment's tougher-than-expected
             charges might allow prosecutors to block the introduction during trial of sensitive
             issues such as past U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro.

             ``Some of these guys would love to argue that, `We [the United States] aren't
             neutral. We've been trying to kill this guy for years,'  said the former prosecutor,
             who asked for anonymity. ``This allows it to be more of a straight -- and less of a
             political -- case.

             ``The Neutrality Act is a weak stick, said Mattes, who won acquittal for six Miami
             Cubans who sent weapons to CIA-backed contra rebels in Nicaragua by arguing
             that Washington and Managua were not at peace.

             Turning state's evidence

             Mattes, now a journalist with WAMI television, said the tougher charges also
             might lead some of the defendants to turn state's evidence and help jurors convict
             the other defendants.

             ``This strips legitimacy away from the defendants. They are accused of attempted
             murder, not some political adventure, he said. ``And anyone looking at life in
             prison might be tempted to cooperate.

             Asked if a jury in Puerto Rico would be less likely to consider the exile defendants
             as freedom fighters than a South Florida jury, Juan Masini, lawyer for defendant
             Angel Alfonso, said he knew nothing about Miami jurors.

             ``But I've been appearing before juries in Puerto Rico for years and I can tell you
             this: Our juries are serious, careful of their duties. They will not consider whether
             the defendants are Cuban exiles or not, whether their target was Castro or not
             Castro, Masini said.

             In 1976, Congress broadened Section 1116 to cover plots to kill an
             ``internationally protected person like a chief of state outside U.S. territory, under
             any of three circumstances:

               If the victim is a representative of the United States.

               If the accused is a U.S. citizen.

               If the accused is found afterward in the United States.

             Congressional records reflect that it was a routine amendment, introduced by
             former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, a New Jersey
             Democrat, to bring U.S. law in line with two international treaties.

             Former federal prosecutor Lawrence Barcella, today a criminal defense attorney in
             Washington, said he used the same statute -- 1116 -- to successfully prosecute the
             Letelier case.

             Barcella said the coming trial of the Cuban exiles ``may be the first time it was tried
             under these circumstances -- involving a plot whose alleged co-conspirators were
             based in the United States for an attempt to kill abroad.

             Meanwhile, there were conflicting versions on whether Justice Department officials
             in Washington had played an unusual role in the politically charged Puerto Rico
             case.

             ``The indictment was drawn up here in Washington . . . a lot of cases are handled
             out of Washington. There's nothing nefarious going on here, Justice Department
             spokesman John Russell said Wednesday.

             National interests

             The U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico, Guillermo Gil, told The Herald Tuesday that the
             case had been handled by Washington from its start because ``it affected national
             interests. Asked about Gil's comment, Russell said: ``We deemed it as a criminal
             act.''

             But earlier in the 10-month-old case, officials in Gil's office had insisted to
             reporters and defense lawyers that the case was a routine matter being handled by
             Gil's staff in Puerto Rico.

             Russell also denied any suggestion that the attempted murder charges represent a
             get-tough approach or a warning toward Cuban exiles engaged in violent attacks
             on the Cuban government.

             ``There is no change in policy. The facts are that according to our indictment these
             people conspired to assassinate Castro, he said.

             El Nuevo Herald staff writer Gerardo Reyes contributed to this report.