7 indicted in plot to kill Castro

             CANF official named in grand jury probe

             By GERARDO REYES and JUAN O. TAMAYO
             Herald Staff Writers

             SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A U.S. grand jury Tuesday indicted seven Cuban exiles,
             including an official of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, on
             charges of plotting to murder Cuban President Fidel Castro in Venezuela last year.

             U.S. officials said they believe the indictment, which added new names and new
             charges to an ongoing case, was the first time that anyone in the United States has
             been charged with trying to murder Castro.

             The conspiracy was a debacle, with the plotters' yacht breaking down repeatedly
             and one suspect forgetting several boxes of .50-caliber ammunition in the trunk of a
             car rented in Miami, knowledgeable officials said.

             The main suspect indicted was Jose Antonio Llama, 66, who sits on the foundation's
             28-member executive committee. Llama, who runs an air-conditioning export
             business, owns the yacht the suspects used.

             Not indicted was foundation President Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez, even though
             his own lawyer, Manuel Vasquez, had said last week that he expected Hernandez
             would be charged. One U.S. official intimate with the case said the evidence against
             Hernandez was weak.

             Vasquez said Hernandez, the foundation's No. 2 official, was ``very relieved. But the
             prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Miguel Pereira, hinted to reporters in
             San Juan that the investigation is not over.

             ``Anything is possible, Pereira said. ``The indictment speaks of known and unknown
             co-conspirators.

             Tuesday's indictment capped a 10-month investigation sparked when the Coast
             Guard cutter Barnoff found two .50-caliber rifles hidden aboard the Miami-based
             yacht La Esperanza off Puerto Rico on Oct. 27. Hernandez owned one of the rifles.

             The foundation, the most powerful exile lobby, issued a statement Tuesday
             expressing confidence in Llama's innocence and reiterating its charge that the
             prosecution is politically motivated.

             ``We believe -- as does the vast majority of the Cuban exile community -- that
             violence is not the answer to the Cuban crisis. That is what distinguishes us from
             Castro. . . . He is the terrorist,'' the statement said.

             The foundation's two top leaders tried to raise the issue of the indictment with
             Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat during a meeting in Washington last week
             but were stopped cold, State Department sources said.

             Eizenstat told Foundation Chairman Alberto Hernandez and Jorge Mas, vice
             president and son of founder Jorge Mas Canosa, that he would not discuss a topic
             that was before the Justice Department, the sources added.

             Also named in the indictment were Miami lumber dealer Jose Rodriguez Sosa, in his
             early 60s; Alfredo Otero, 62, a Miami antique shop owner and rank-and-file member
             of the foundation; and the four exiles detained aboard La Esperanza.

             The crew members, already charged with failing to declare the two sniper rifles, are:
             Angel Alfonso, 57, a textile firm manager from Union City, N.J.; Francisco Cordova,
             50, a commercial fisherman from Marathon Key; and Angel Hernandez Rojo, 64,
             and Juan Bautista Marquez, 61, Miami businessmen.

             They are expected to be arraigned next Wednesday on charges that could bring
             them life sentences. They include trying ``to kill, with malice aforethought, Fidel
             Castro, conspiracy to commit murder and five technical counts of lying to U.S.
             officials about the weapons.

             Most previous attempts to prosecute Cuban exiles for violent anti-Castro plots were
             carried out under the U.S. Neutrality Act, an unwieldy 1794 law that outlawed
             privately run attacks on nations officially at peace with Washington.

             Avoiding politics

             But this indictment alleges a murder attempt and stays away from the politically
             charged questions of whether the United States is officially at peace with Cuba.

             The indictment also named Nautical Sports, the Llama-owned firm that bought La
             Esperanza in 1995 -- an indication, officials said, that prosecutors believe he bought it
             specifically for use in anti-Castro operations.

             The 12-page indictment dates the start of the conspiracy to February 1995 -- long
             before Castro announced he would visit Venezuela's Margarita Island for a summit
             of heads of government last Nov. 7-9.

             Extra fuel tanks were built into La Esperanza by October 1995, allowing it to travel
             almost anywhere in the Caribbean without having to refuel, the indictment noted.

             Otero bought the inflatable rubber dinghy found aboard the yacht, the indictment
             added. And one of La Esperanza's four crew members allegedly received $2,000
             ``from an unknown co-conspirator.

             Scouting trip

             At some time before La Esperanza was boarded by the Coast Guard, some of the
             plotters had visited Margarita to scout locations from which they could fire at Castro
             with the .50-caliber rifles, the indictment said.

             Prosecution officials said they found a map on the yacht with pinholes that marked
             the route to Margarita and showed the coordinates for a hill overlooking the island's
             airport.

             A search of La Esperanza also turned up several sets of camouflage fatigues and
             other military gear that would have helped the shooters to nest unnoticed on the
             hilltop while they waited for Castro's arrival, they said.

             The plan was to shoot either Castro's plane as it landed or Castro himself as he left
             the aircraft, investigators said. A .50-caliber bullet can easily punch through an
             airplane fuselage and even most bulletproof vehicles.

             But the plot appears to have gone badly awry right from the beginning.

             Left behind

             Just days before La Esperanza left Miami for Venezuela, Rodriguez forgot a bag full
             of .50-caliber ammunition and a manual for the .50-caliber rifles in the trunk of a
             rented 1998 Chevrolet when he returned it to Interamerican agency in Miami,
             officials said. Rodriguez listed La Esperanza crew member Hernandez Rojo as an
             additional driver on the rental contract, sources said.

             Serial numbers on the ammunition boxes found in the rented car matched the
             sequence of those found on La Esperanza, the sources added. The rental agency
             telephoned authorities when it looked inside the bag.

             La Esperanza left a Miami dock in mid-October on its final mission to Margarita but
             immediately ran into problems, breaking down before it reached the Bahamas and
             then again near the Dominican Republic.

             Rodriguez traveled to the Dominican Republic around that time, the indictment
             charges, apparently to help the crew deal with the breakdowns.

             More trouble

             But the yacht ran into trouble again during a storm near Puerto Rico around Oct. 26,
             breaking two portholes in the hull and taking in water that caused several short
             circuits, officials said.

             A U.S. Coast Guard cutter ordered La Esperanza to head into a Puerto Rican port
             for repairs after what its commander says was a routine safety check.

             After the vessel pulled into port, a search turned up the two .50-caliber rifles hidden
             under a stairwell.

             FBI investigations showed the second rifle had been sold to Jose Evelio Pou, a
             Miami resident and Bay of Pigs Veteran. He is not mentioned in the indictment. As
             Angel Alfonso was being arrested, he blurted out that he had brought the guns
             aboard for an attempt to kill Castro but that the other crewmen knew nothing about
             it.

             WHO THEY ARE

             Indicted by a federal grand jury investigating an alleged plot to kill Cuban President
             Fidel Castro:

               Angel Alfonso, 57, manager of a textile firm in Union City, N.J. Allegedly told
             U.S. Coast Guard officer searching the vessel La Esperanza off Puerto Rico in
             October that he was on a mission to kill Castro at Venezuela's Margarita Island.

               Francisco Cordova, 50, a commercial fisherman who lives in Marathon. Crew
             member aboard La Esperanza.

               Angel Hernandez Rojo, 64, a Miami lumber dealer. Crew member aboard La
             Esperanza.

               Jose Antonio ``Toñin'' Llama, 66, on the Cuban American National Foundation's
             28-member executive committee. Exports auto air-conditioning systems. Owner of
             La Esperanza.

               Juan Bautista Marquez, 61, a former merchant seaman from Miami. Crew
             member aboard La Esperanza.
               Alfredo Otero, 62, a retired Miami businessman accused of being in charge of
             communications with La Esperanza at sea. A rank-and-file member of the Cuban
             American National Foundation.

               Jose Rodriguez Sosa, about 61, has owned lumber import companies. He is
             president of the Association of Veterans of Special Missions, exiles who were
             members of CIA teams that carried out infiltration missions to Cuba in the 1960s.