I'm very Happy about it
By Edith Robertson
Reaction to today's FBI arrests ranged from extreme caution to "much happiness" among victims of Miami's exile bombings.
"I'm very happy about it. It will give my family a feeling of relief," said Reno Garcia, manager of Aeronaves de Mexico, 150 SE 3rd Ave.
Garcia's office was bombed last August, and "while I have never been afraid, I have had a certain amount of concern. I am very happy for all the people who have suffered from this."
"I think the whole Cuban community will be happy. They are opposed to this. They know it gave them a bad name, and they want it to end."
Official reaction was more guarded. Luis DeBayle, Nicaraguan consul and dean of the consular corps in Miami, said he hoped the suspects were the "right ones and that the bombings stop now."
DeBayle added that he thought the protest appearance of five foreign consuls before the Miami city commission last month contributed to today's arrests.
DeBayle said he had also wired Gov. Claude Kirk demanding action and "he ordered the law enforcement officials to cooperate."
"Activity toward trying to discover who is causing these bombings makes us feel better about the whole situation," he added.
DeBayle also credited "quite a bit of recent publicity" with contributing to the FBI action.
Refael Reyes Spindola, Mexican consul whose home and office have been attacked four times since last February, expressed a cautious hope that today's arrests would stop the bombings.
"I would like to wait and see what happens now," Spindola said. "It is good if they are the ones who have been doing it. It is bad that eight or ten persons doing these terible things cause so much trouble for so many other exiles who are innocent."
Spindola expressed hope that the FBI action "will make us feel safer, but I don't know. I don't know what to think at this moment."
Two other consuls who appeared before the city commission - Vincent Gamboa Marcano of Venezuela and Eurico Nogueira Ribeiro of Brazil - said they could not comment on today's news until they knew more about it.