The Miami News
December 13, 1968

Bosch Gets Ten Years In Exile Bomb Terror

By IAN GLASS
Miami News Reporter
    A Federal Judge William O. Mehrtens today slapped a 10-year jail term on Dr. Orlando Bosch, the 42-year-old exile baby doctor whom the government said headed the terrorist organization Cuban Power.
    Eight other members of the organization received sentences ranging from one to eight years for conspiring to bomb foreign ships.
    They were Andres Jorge Gonzalez, 37 (five years); Barbaro Balan Garcia, 42 (six years); Marco Rodriguez Ramos, 24 (five years); Jesus Dominguez Bonitez, 27 (18 months); Jose Diaz Morejon (six years); Jorge Gutierrez, 20 (five years); Paulino Gutierrez, 45 (one year), and Aimee Miranda Cruz, 39 (one year.)
    After an FBI agent told the court he understood Bosch even now was plotting the bombing of another ship form his jail cell, the judge said:
    "It is obvious Bosch has long professed the use of violence to achieve his aims in flagrant disregard of the laws of the United States."
    The others, by association with Bosch in "this militant organization" had been involved in dangerous and terrorist activities.
    The judge called the Cuban Power organization--which plotted against ships of countries that deal with Fidel Castro's Cuba--"stupid" and said:
    "It is inconceivable to me that the firing of a rifle at a Polish ship would interfere with Poland's trade with Cuba.
    (It was after a 57-millimeter cannon shell hit the Polish freighter Polancia here last Sept. 16, that the nine were arrested by FBI agents.)
    "I cannot conceive of any benefit that could be obtained in the fight against communism by such activities."
    The judge said the acts of violence were directed "for propaganda purposes for Bosch to obtain power in the community and probably collect money from people in the area."
    He added that Cuban exiles, who fled their island and were given asylum here, should be especially law-abiding.
    In commenting that the group was capable of committing further acts of violence if released, the judge revoked the appeal bonds of all but three--Paulino Gutierrez, Aimee Miranda Cruz, and Jesus Bonitez.
    But he ruled Jorge Gutierrez could stay free until Jan. 2.  He is marrying Clara Perez de Alejo Dec. 27.
    Their attorney, Melvyn Greenspahn--who plans appeals for all nine--had pleaded, before sentencing, that the offenses, had arisen out of the "grave danger of communism."
    But government attorney Ted Klein said, "They have taken advantage of our compassion and understanding for their Cuban brothers who are sincere in their abhorrence of Castro, and under the veil of their so-called anti-communism, have carried on terrorist activities that have no relationship to and could not possibly have any effect on Castro's Cuba.
    "Any attempted justification of their criminal activity on the basis of their motives is nothing more than an invitation to anarchy, putting men above laws."
    FBI agent Michael Crane told the court he understood form "a reliable informant" that Bosch was even now plotting from his jail cell the bombing of another ship.
    He said also that a press conference held in a parking lot last week by Ernesto--who calls himself head of Cuban Power--was done so at the direction of Bosch.
    Bosch's wife, dressed in a yellow wool suit, eyes red behind dark glasses, listened unmoved as the judge passed the sentence of her owl-faced husband.  Judge Mehrtans had warned that nay spectator who demonstrated or committed any outburst would be immediately arrested.
    But outside the courtroom, a dozen relatives of the nine wept openly.
    During the seven-day trial which ended Nov. 15, the government produced a paid informer named Ricardo Morales Navarette, 29, who infiltrated Bosch's group with tape recorders tied to his body and kept the FBI informed of its activities.
    The taped conversations between Morales and Bosch showed that Bosch knew of explosions on foreign ships.  Phony explosives which Morales supplied to Bosch later turned up in a bomb aboard a British freighter.