Exile group's officials facing indictment in anti-Castro plot

             By ALFONSO CHARDY, GERARDO REYES and FABIOLA SANTIAGO
             Herald Staff Writers

             Two top officials of the influential Cuban American National Foundation are
             expected to be indicted next week by a U.S. grand jury in Puerto Rico in a plot to
             kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a trip to Venezuela's Margarita Island, their
             attorneys said Thursday.

             The indictment against foundation president Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez and
             director Jose Antonio ``Toñin'' Llama is expected to be issued Tuesday. It caps a
             vigorous investigation that began 10 months ago when the U.S. Coast Guard
             stopped a boat carrying weapons, ammunition and military supplies off Puerto
             Rico.

             One of the four Cuban exiles aboard the 46-foot vessel La Esperanza allegedly
             blurted out that they were en route to Margarita to carry out a plot to assassinate
             Castro, who would be participating in the Ibero-American Summit.

             Since the October incident, investigators have found that Llama owned the boat
             and that one of the two .50-caliber sniper rifles belonged to Hernandez.

             Tuesday's superseding indictment will add four defendants and at least one
             additional count to the four Cuban exiles already accused in the case, according to
             a court document.

             A third foundation member, Alfredo Otero, is also expected to be charged. The
             identity of the fourth person to be indicted could not be confirmed and the precise
             charges against the foundation members were not immediately known.

             Lawyers for Hernandez and Llama denounced the proceedings as ``politically
             motivated.''

             ``We feel and fear that there are political reasons behind this action,'' attorney Jose
             Quiñon said. ``We see . . . that the administration may be trying to come together
             with Cuba. Somebody is going to be sacrificed, and hopefully, it won't be Mr.
             Hernandez.''

             Quiñon and attorney Manny Vazquez said U.S. prosecutors in Puerto Rico have
             ``a very weak case.'' They acknowledged that Hernandez owns the rifle and
             Llama owns the boat, but said there was no evidence linking their ownership to the
             alleged plot to kill Castro.

             ``Ownership of a rifle or a boat does not make you guilty of a crime,'' Quiñon said.
             ``The government has known this for years about the rifle and boat ownership.''

             Hernandez and Llama did not comment during the packed press conference held
             at Quiñon's office at noon Thursday.

             Powerful organization

             Their lawyers said the prosecution of the case was aimed at weakening the
             powerful anti-Castro exile organization. The group, widely considered the most
             effective anti-Castro lobby, enjoyed unprecedented access to the White House
             during the Reagan and Bush administrations. The Clinton administration, the
             attorneys said, is making overtures toward Castro and considering softening the
             U.S. embargo, which the foundation supports.

             ``We have also noticed,'' Vazquez said, ``that since the chairman of the Cuban
             American National Foundation, Mr. Jorge Mas Canosa, died in November,
             efforts to bring down the Cuban American National Foundation have intensified.

             ``The enemies of the embargo are behind this action,'' he added. ``When Castro
             snaps his fingers, our government jumps.''

             Clinton administration officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

             Last November, Hernandez and Llama were subpoenaed to testify before the
             federal grand jury in San Juan investigating the alleged plot. Otero, the third
             foundation member implicated in the case, is a 62-year-old retired Miami
             businessman. His lawyer, Wilfredo A. Ruiz, said Otero is accused of being
             involved in ``communications'' in the plot. Last week, he took the Fifth
             Amendment when asked to testify before the grand jury, Ruiz said.

             Aboard the vessel

             Also accused in the case are four Cuban exiles who were aboard the vessel: Angel
             Alfonso, 57, manager of a textile firm in Union City, N.J.; Angel M. Hernandez
             Rojo, 64, a Miami lumber dealer; Juan Bautista Marquez, 61, a former Miami
             merchant seaman; and Francisco Cordova, 50, a commercial fisherman who lives
             in Marathon. They are accused of importing illegal weapons to the United States
             and giving false statements because, when first questioned, they denied the boat
             was carrying weapons.

             By far, Francisco Hernandez, 61, is the most prominent exile among those
             allegedly involved in the plot.

             A successful businessman who owned an agricultural firm with operations
             stretching from the Dominican Republic to Kenya, he has been the second most
             visible foundation figure, after the late Mas Canosa. As CANF's president and top
             executive officer, Hernandez devotes most of his time to the anti-Castro lobby.

             The role of others in the case remains unclear.

             The owner of the second rifle confiscated, Miami exile Evelio Pou, a veteran of the
             Bay of Pigs invasion, was questioned by the FBI, but he has not been named
             among those likely to be indicted.

             Mixed reactions

             Reaction in South Florida to the imminent indictments was mixed.

             Roberto Rodriguez Aragon, president of the Cuban Patriotic Council, called
             Hernandez and Llama ``patriots.''

             ``It's absurd that the country that is supposed to be our ally against Castro's
             communism would prosecute people who want to liberate Cuba or who
             supposedly want to attempt to kill Fidel Castro,'' Rodriguez Aragon said. ``I wish
             they had been successful, if that was their purpose. There are 10 million people
             who have the same goal, only they don't have the means to do it.''

             Others refrained from comment.

             ``I don't want to involve myself with anything that has to do with terrorism,'' said
             Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, once a militant exile who now advocates peaceful change
             in Cuba and heads the group Cambio Cubano. ``I'm not a judge to evaluate [the
             indictments].''

             Castro himself has publicly commented on the case.

             According to the daily Granma, in a speech delivered July 26 in Santiago de Cuba,
             Castro said: `` Let's see how they can deny it. Let's see how they can deny that
             the boat that was going to commit the attempt at Margarita -- captured by pure
             chance after sailing from Miami to Puerto Rico -- belongs to the foundation and
             that the weapons belong to the foundation. Let's see how they handle that
             problem.''

             Herald staff writers Cynthia Corzo, Renato Perez and Carol Rosenberg
             contributed to this report.

                                WHO THEY ARE

             Prominent members of the Cuban American National Foundation who may be
             indicted next week by a federal grand jury investigating an alleged plot to kill
             Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to their lawyers:

               Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez, 61, foundation president. Businessman who
             owned an agricultural firm with operations stretching from the Dominican Republic
             to Kenya, he has been the second most visible foundation figure, after the late
             Jorge Mas Canosa. As CANF's president and top executive officer, Hernandez
             devotes most of his time to the anti-Castro lobby. Owner of one of the two rifles
             found aboard a boat allegedly used in the plot.

               Jose Antonio ``Toñin'' Llama, 66, on the foundation's 28-member executive
             committee. Exports auto air-conditioning systems. Owner of La Esperanza, the
             vessel involved in the alleged plot.

             Also expected to be under indictment:

               Alfredo Otero, 62, a retired Miami businessman who is accused of being
             involved in ``communications'' in the plot, according to his lawyer, Wilfredo A.
             Ruiz. Otero is also a member of the foundation. He took the Fifth Amendment
             when asked to testify before the grand jury last week.

             Indicted in November on charges of importing illegal weapons to the United States
             and giving false statements after they were found aboard La Esperanza:

               Angel Alfonso, 57, manager of a textile firm in Union City, N.J.

               Francisco Cordova, 50, a commercial fisherman who lives in Marathon.

               Angel M. Hernandez Rojo, 64, a Miami lumber dealer.

               Juan Bautista Marquez, 61, a former merchant seaman from Miami.