SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- In a trial that could signal a thaw in
                  decades of U.S.-Cuban enmity, three Cuban exiles, including a director of a
                  key Miami-based lobby, pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges they
                  plotted to kill Fidel Castro.

                  They are among a group of seven exiles indicted by a federal grand jury in
                  San Juan in what is believed to be the first such proceeding after years of
                  reported assassination plots against the Cuban dictator. The others pleaded
                  innocent last week.

                  Bail was set at $100,000 for Jose Antonio Llama, 68, a director of the
                  influential Cuban American National Foundation, and $75,000 each for Jose
                  Rodriguez, 59, and Alfredo Domingo Otero, 68.

                  Attorneys for the other four Angel Manuel Alfonso, 58, Angel Hernandez
                  Rojo, 64, Juan Bautista Marquez, 62, and Francisco Secundino Cordova,
                  51 have condemned the charges as hypocritical given past alleged
                  U.S.-sponsored attempts on Castro's life.

                  But Llama's lawyer Jose Antonio Pagan said they "have not made a decision
                  on whether we're going to follow that line" also.

                  Llama told reporters: "I am going to cooperate in everything." For Cubans
                  who fled Castro's 1959 revolution, the trial is a bitter pill especially at a time
                  when the man they revile is being embraced by his Caribbean neighbors and
                  many countries are challenging the 37-year U.S.-led economic boycott of
                  Cuba.

                  Some observers believe the case might reflect a desire by the Clinton
                  administration to back away from the demonization and isolation of Castro.

                  "If this were Ronald Reagan or George Bush, they'd be giving these people a
                  freedom medal," said Juan Masimi Soler, lawyer for Bautista Marquez.

                  Asked last week whether the indictments represented a change in U.S.
                  policy toward Cuba, Attorney General Janet Reno said she was not aware
                  of any change.

                  It could be months before the case comes to trial. The FBI said more arrests
                  and indictments were expected.

                  The case stems from the arrest of the four men indicted last week off Puerto
                  Rico on Oct. 27 after a search of their yacht revealed weapons that included
                  two .50-caliber assault rifles.

                  Alfonso, who like the others initially denied there were weapons aboard,
                  said he alone was responsible for the guns. According to an initial complaint,
                  he admitted planning to use them to kill Castro at a November summit of
                  Latin American leaders in Venezuela.

                  Llama has admitted that he owns the 46-foot yacht. He is accused of
                  providing one of the two rifles. That rifle is registered to Francisco "Pepe"
                  Hernandez, the exile group's president. Hernandez was questioned by the
                  FBI but has not been indicted.

                  Llama's indictment was a blow to the Cuban American National Foundation,
                  which is widely credited with pushing Washington into taking a harder line on
                  Cuba. Castro has accused the foundation of plotting to kill him, but it
                  professes a commitment to peaceful persuasion.

                  "We don't know why they are accusing him of those things," said son Jose L.
                  Llama.

                  "Here's a country that for years has been fighting communism and now it's
                  going to protect (Castro) or at least try to socialize him," he added.

                   Copyright 1998   The Associated Press.