>Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 04:43:55 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Saturday November 18 2:02 AM ET (via Yahoo) > >Castro Steals Show With Death Plot > >By JOHN RICE, Associated Press Writer > >PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) - The king of Spain and leaders from throughout >Latin America were here, but the spotlight was on one man at the >Ibero-American summit: Fidel Castro, who stole the show by alleging that his >enemies had sent armed assassins to murder him. > >The Cuban president said Friday that the assassination plot was led by a >Cuban exile named Luis Posada Carriles, who has admitted to Cuban hotel >bombings in the past. Hours later, police detained Posada Carriles and three >other Cuban exiles at a Panama hotel for questioning. > >The four had apparently arrived in the country Wednesday, and no guns were >found in their possession, chief of police Carlos Bares told The Associated >Press. He said they could be held for up to 24 hours and were still in >custody late Friday. > >Castro's allegations came during his first visit to Panama since he took >power in 1959. Within hours of his arrival, he had announced the alleged >murder plot, stalled an effort to condemn the Basque separatist group ETA >and made the opening speech at the 10th Ibero-American Summit, which brings >together leaders from 19 Latin American countries, along with Spain and >Portugal. The summit ends Saturday. > >Shortly after he arrived, Castro held a press conference and charged that >the U.S.-based Cuban-American National Foundation had sent arms, explosives >and assassins into Panama, `intent on my physical elimination.'' He said the >latest plot was led by Carriles, a Cuban exile whom he described as `a >cowardly man totally without scruples.'' > >The Cuban-American National Foundation said it has no links to Posada. >Ninoska Perez, a spokeswoman for the Miami-based foundation, said the group >has no one in Panama and Castro `should get a new story.'' > >`There is no reason why we should have to respond to unfounded >accusations,'' she said. `He is the terrorist. They are accusations without >proof. Where are the people he's talking about?'' > >Posada has been accused of organizing the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner >that killed 73 people. He was twice acquitted of that, but he spent nine >years in a Venezuelan prison before escaping in 1985. > >In July 1998, the New York Times quoted Posada as admitting he organized >bombings of hotels in Cuba. > >Panamanian Interior Minister Winston Spadafora said an advance security team >for Castro had been in Panama for several months and that the Cuban leader >had been `offered all security and all cooperation.'' > >At his press conference, Castro joked that there have been `about 600'' >attempts on his life. > >In December, a Puerto Rico federal jury acquitted five exiles - including a >director of the Cuban-American National Foundation - of plotting to kill the >74-year-old leader. > >The Coast Guard had stopped three of the men aboard a yacht near Puerto Rico >in 1997. Sniper rifles, ammunition and night-vision goggles were found >aboard, and one of the men told officers they were headed to the >Ibero-American Summit in Venezuela to kill Castro. > >Defense attorneys argued that the men merely planned to help Cuban officials >defect and they needed the weapons for defense. > >The Cuban leader's very presence in Panama on Friday was symbolic, coming >less than a year after the United States handed over control of the Panama >Canal to the Panamanian government after 97 years. Upon his arrival, Castro >praised Panama for achieving `full sovereignty'' with the December 1999 >handover. > >Castro, who hosted last year's Ibero-American Summit, opened this year's >session by speaking about the meeting's main topic: the problems children >face in Latin America. The U.N. Children's Fund estimates that about 500,000 >children under the age of 5 die each year in the region. > >Also Friday, Cuba blocked a resolution condemning terrorism by the Basque >separatist organization ETA. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said >Cuba considers the issue an internal matter for Spain and favors a more >general condemnation of terrorism. > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >================================================================= > >nytcari-11.18.00-04:43:29-23654 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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