Miami Herald

March 28, 1981. p. 2b.

 

’Glades Commandos Say Tactics Within Law

 

By Zita Arocha and Patrick Riordan

Herald Staff Writers

            Cuban exile commandos left their Everglades training camp Friday for a Miami press conference to deny that they are international terrorists who flout the laws of the United States.

            Members of the Freedom Fighters’ Expeditionary Task Force No. 1 said they are not out to break U.S. laws, but to “break Communist heads.”

            The group, which claims to have some 600 commando trainees at a camp in West Dade County, said it will “honor any call for help that may come from other freedom fighters or governments that seek to replace Soviet imperialism with advocates of self-determination.”

            But it said it isn’t violating the U.S. Neutrality Act, which makes training and recruiting for foreign military adventures a crime.

            The question is not entirely resolved, however.

            Myles Frechette, head of the U.S. State Department’s Cuban Desk, said, “These matters are within the purview of law enforcement, and we understand that the FBI and the Justice Department are looking into the activities of these groups.”

            But according to Miami FBI spokesman Welton Merry, the FBI’s investigation is closed.

            “They are not in violation of the Neutrality Act in their training,” Merry said. “I don’t think that we can take [the task force] to court. . .” He said federal weapons charges filed in January against seven members of the militant anti-Castro Alpha 66 group are the only pending criminal cases involving refugee commandos.

            “We break no U.S. laws; we seek to break only Communist heads whenever and wherever requested,” according to a task force “communiqué” released Friday.

            To make sure they don’t break the law, task force leaders have hired Miami attorney Ellis Rubin. He promptly called a press conference in his office and displayed a group of commandos wearing jungle battle fatigues.

            On a low sofa in his law office, Rubin was flanked by Jorge Gonzalez, a Cuban exile also known as Bombillo (Lightbulb), and Luis Crespo, a convicted bombmaker who blew off his right hand in a 1974 accident in a bomb factory.

            Bombillo, 48, is in charge of the Everglades training camp. Crespo said he is a trainer.

            Bombillo and Rubin said the camp has no connection with the CIA, but they said it has received a clean bill of health from the FBI and the Treasury Department.

            “If we were in violation of the law,” Rubin said, “we would be arrested.

            “They are not training to invade Cuba, Nicaragua, or El Salvador. . . They will respond to the call, if it comes, by going to a third country for the final phase of their training and for the leadership and materials necessary,” Rubin said.

            Exiles from Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other Central American countries are getting paramilitary training at the Everglades camp, near the intersection of Bird Road and SW 157th Avenue, Rubin said. He said they are receiving small-arms training, paratroop training, amphibious landing training and instruction in survival and endurance.

            Rubin said all the weapons in use at the camp were legally purchased. “Any automatic weapons which are being used are registered, legal and known to the American authorities,” he said.

            Manuel Espinosa, an ex-preacher turned cemetery-lot salesman and a flamboyant unmasker of Communist spies, announced he has created an “intelligence-gathering” organization called Men of Fortune.

            The purpose of the group, headquartered in Florida and California, is to seek out Communist agents in South Florida and turn over their names to the proper federal authorities, Espinosa said.

            Men of Fortune is legal too, Rubin said.

            At the end of the press conference, the task force invited the press to a Sunday morning open-house at their secret training camp. Rubin said he would wear his honorary commando uniform.