Defense in alleged anti-Castro plot seeks new venue

The Miami Herald October 29, 1998 Defense in alleged anti-Castro plot seeks new venue

By JUAN O. TAMAYO
Herald Staff Writer

             Defense lawyers for a group of Cuban exiles awaiting trial in Puerto Rico on
             charges of trying to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro have asked that the
             case be moved to Miami.

             Judge Hector M. Laffitte of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico gave
             prosecutors several days to reply to the motion and said he would rule on it
             around mid-November.

             The shift would move the trial to a city with a heavily Cuban American population
             likely to be sympathetic toward exiles accused of trying to kill Castro. But the
             motion focused instead on arguing that Puerto Rico was not the right venue for the
             case.

             Four exiles were arrested in Puerto Rico last October aboard the yacht Esperanza
             after one blurted that they were on their way to kill Castro during a summit in the
             Venezuelan island of Margarita. Three other exiles, and the firm that owned the
             yacht, were charged with conspiracy.

But the case ``is truly a Miami case, said the motion filed on behalf of the
defendants. It argued that:

Six of the seven defendants, the boat-owning firm and a majority of key
prosecution and defense witnesses are all based in Miami.

Most of the actions alleged in the charges also took place in Miami, from buying
the powerful sniper rifles to buying the yacht.

             ``In contrast, the [actions] in Puerto Rico are few and either fortuitous or, perhaps,
             the result of government forum shopping, said the motion, hinting at a prosecution
             interest in keeping the case in Puerto Rico.

A Puerto Rican jury might be expected to be less sympathetic to the Cuban exiles
and consider their alleged plot to kill Castro as a simple legal issue.

             Charged in the case are: Angel Manuel Alfonso, Angel Hernandez Rojo, Juan
             Bautista Marquez, Francisco Secundino Cordova, Jose Antonio Llama; Jose Luis
             Rodriguez and Alfredo Otero.