Death Upheld for Cuba War Hero, 3 Others

A 29-member council led by Cuban President Fidel Castro has confirmed death sentences for one of Cuba’s top army heroes and three other officers convicted of drug trafficking, an official report said today.

Officials said execution by firing squad was imminent.

The Council of State upheld the sentences handed down by a court-martial last week, said the report by Cuba’s official Prensa Latina news agency.

The decision apparently exhausted the last appeal for former Maj. Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez and the three other men, who were convicted of helping smuggle tons of cocaine and shiploads of marijuana into the United States.

Ten other officers were convicted in the case, which also involved smuggling of diamonds, ivory and dollars, and sentenced to terms ranging from 10 to 30 years in prison.

The Cuban news agency AIN said that the Council of State’s decision was unanimous.

This meant that the president of the council, Castro, voted to turn down the appeal of the four men.

Castro has commuted death sentences in the past and could have intervened to spare the four officials’ lives.

The arrests and trial constituted the biggest scandal to rock Cuba since Castro came to power Jan. 1, 1959.

Ochoa, 57, had fought alongside Castro in Cuba’s rugged mountains during the revolution that overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista,