Cuban American Leader, 6 Others Indicted in Plot to Kill Castro

                  By Roberto Suro
                  Washington Post Staff Writer
 
                  A federal grand jury indicted a leader of a prominent Miami Cuban exile
                  group and six other Cuban Americans yesterday on charges of conspiring
                  to assassinate President Fidel Castro.

                  Jose Antonio Llama, who sits on the executive board of the Cuban
                  American National Foundation, was charged with participating in a plot to
                  shoot the Cuban leader during a summit of Latin American nations at the
                  Venezuelan island resort of Isla Margarita in November 1997.

                  Since the early 1980s, the foundation has been the leading voice of Cuban
                  exiles in Miami and a powerful influence over U.S. policy directed against
                  the Castro government. Presidents Clinton, George Bush and Ronald
                  Reagan have consulted foundation officials on Cuba policy, and major
                  legislation enacted by Congress in recent years regarding Cuba has often
                  shown the imprint of foundation lobbying.

                  In a statement, the foundation expressed its confidence yesterday in
                  Llama's innocence and said that "these politically motivated allegations are
                  wholly without merit." The statement also said, "We believe -- as does the
                  vast majority of the Cuban exile community -- that violence is not the
                  answer to the Cuban crisis."

                  The indictment, returned in San Juan, Puerto Rico, alleges that in 1995 the
                  seven named conspirators as well as others who are not named began
                  plotting to kill Castro during one of his trips outside of Cuba. To carry out
                  the alleged assassination plan, the conspirators obtained two .50-caliber
                  semiautomatic rifles that were to be used as sniper rifles, a 46-foot yacht
                  modified for long-distance cruising and other equipment, such as
                  night-vision goggles and satellite positioning devices.

                  A federal investigation into the alleged plot was already underway,
                  according to a Justice Department statement, when a U.S. Coast Guard
                  cutter intercepted and boarded the yacht on Oct. 27, 1997, in the
                  Caribbean off of Puerto Rico. Four of the alleged coconspirators were
                  found on board, along with the rifles and other gear.

                  The indictment said Llama obtained one of the sniper rifles and purchased
                  the yacht.

                  Llama also allegedly accompanied his fellow conspirators to Isla Margarita
                  on Oct. 17, 1997, when they identified a precise point on a hilltop
                  overlooking the airport and entered its location and that of an offshore spot
                  nearby into satellite location devices, according to the indictment. The
                  alleged assassination team apparently intended to use the hand-held
                  positioning devices to land on the island at night in a dinghy and return to
                  the spot on the hilltop from which they planned shoot Castro during arrival
                  ceremonies at the airport.

                  Neither Llama nor his attorney, Jose Quinon, responded yesterday to
                  requests for comment on the indictment.

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