FBI: Cuban exiles charged in plot to kill Castro
            turning themselves in

 
                     SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Seven Cuban exiles, including a director of the
                  most influential exile group, are turning themselves in to face trial on charges of
                  plotting to kill Fidel Castro, the FBI said Wednesday.

                  The seven were indicted by a federal grand jury in San Juan on Tuesday and the FBI
                  issued arrest warrants in what is believed to be the first such court case after
                  years of alleged plots against Cuba's communist leader.

                  Four of the suspects will face charges in court in Puerto Rico on Thursday.
                  The other three will appear in court next week.

                  "Other arrests and indictments ... could happen any moment because the
                  investigation is continuing," FBI spokeswoman Sara Lema told The
                  Associated Press.

                      The indictment of Jose Antonio Llama, 68, was a blow to the Miami-based Cuban
                  American National Foundation, of which he is a director. Castro has accused the
                   foundation of plotting to kill him, but the group says it is committed to peaceful
                   political persuasion.

                      Angel Manuel Alfonso, 58, Angel Hernandez Rojo, 65, Juan Bautista
                  Marquez, 62, and Francisco Secundino Cordova, 51, were arrested off Puerto
                   Rico on Oct. 27 when 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.

                  Lema said Llama and two others -- Jose Rodriguez, 59, and Alfredo
                  Domingo Otero, 68 -- will appear in court next Wednesday.

                  Llama has admitted that he owns the 46-foot yacht. He is also accused of
                  providing one of the two rifles.

                  The rifle is registered to Francisco "Pepe" Hernandez, the exile group's
                  president. Hernandez was questioned by the FBI but has not been indicted.

                     Copyright 1998   The Associated Press.