Radio Havana Cuba, September 11, 1997 FOREIGN MERCENARY ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH TERRORIST BOMBINGS IN HAVANA; EVIDENCE POINTS TO CUBAN-AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION IN MIAMI Havana, September 11(RHC)-- Cuban authorities announced late Wednesday the arrest of a Salvadoran citizen connected to the terrorist bomb attacks against Cuban tourism installations last September 4th, one of which resulted in the death of Italian citizen Fabio De Celmo. The individual under arrest is identified as Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, who last entered Cuba from Guatemala as a tourist on August 31st. The Cuban Interior Ministry said they detained Cruz Leon following the bombings on September 4th and discovered traces of explosive substances in his backpack and on his hands. According to Cuba's Interior Ministry, Cruz Leon has admitted to bringing C-4 explosives into Cuba and of having also detonated the bombs at the Capri and National Hotels last July 12th. He admittedly received 4 thousand 500 dollars for each bomb attack. Cruz Leon stated that he is a former member of the Salvadoran Army, trained by U.S. military instructors and studied at a military training center in Georgia -- apparently the School of the Americas at Fort Benning. He also said that he had carried out the terrorist attacks only for the money. Cuban authorities assert that the investigation has revealed -- "without the slightest doubt" -- that the terrorist activities were planned and organized in Miami by a terrorist group with close ties to the Cuban-American National Foundation led by Jorge Mas Canosa. Cuban State Security officials said that for some time now, they have known of the existence of a network of mercenaries in El Salvador -- dedicated to terrorist and drug trafficking activities and closely tied to Cuban-American right wing sectors in Miami. It has long been known, said Cuban authorities, that the Cuban-American mafia in Miami has supported the most reactionary sectors of Salvadoran society, including that Central American nation's death squads during El Salvador's counter-insurgency war. LONG LIST OF TERRORIST PLANS AGAINST CUBA... ALL COMING FROM GROUPS BASED IN THE U.S. Havana, September 11(RHC)-- The Cuban Interior Ministry announced that between April 1994 and September 1997, Cuban intelligence received information concerning 30 terrorist plans against the island hatched in Miami -- fifteen of which were to be carried out with C-4 explosives and organized by the Cuban-American National Foundation and other terrorist groups like Alpha 66, the PUND and a group led by Orlando Bosch -- responsible for the 1976 terrorist bomb against a Cuban civilian airliner in Barbados. Most of these plans, said Cuban security officials, were discovered before they could be carried out -- with Cuban authorities confiscating weapons, explosives and other military articles, including the arrest of several of those involved. Among those arrested were Cuban-American terrorists Santos Armando Martinez Rueda and Jorge Enrique Ramirez Oro, residents of Miami -- detained in March 1995 after travelling to Cuba with false passports from Costa Rica. They had also planned to target tourist installations on the island and had earlier clandestinely entered Cuba's Las Tunas Province by sea, to hide 51 pounds of C-4 explosives. These two individuals, said Cuban authorities, were also trained and financed by the Cuban-American National Foundation. Cuba has expressed its astonishment over the fact that U.S. intelligence and security services have been unable to abort these plans organized in Miami, particularly when on numerous occasions Cuban authorities have turned over information concerning those plans to U.S. authorities. Finally, Cuba's Interior Ministry announced that it is in possession of further evidence "which at the moment is not convenient to reveal," and that the investigation continues with the valuable and decisive support of the Cuban people.
