Cuba Sentences 3 Miami Men to Death as Terrorists

Three men who allegedly tried to invade Cuba last month were sentenced Saturday to death by firing squad as terrorists, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported.

The Havana Province prosecutor’s office was quoted as saying the Supreme Tribunal would review the sentence early this week.

The three defendants are Eduardo Diaz Betancourt, 38; Daniel Candelario Santovenia, 36, and Pedro de la Caridad Alvarez Pedroso, 26. All three are from Miami, but their citizenship was not clear.

Diaz, an industrial engineer, left the island illegally nine months ago. Alvarez emigrated to Miami from Cuba at the age of 6, Prensa Latina said.

The agency said the three men confessed to training in southern Florida for a terrorist mission in Cuba with the full knowledge of American authorities.

The three allegedly tried to take in weapons and explosives and told authorities they had planned to bomb movie theaters, recreation areas, sugar and oil refineries and other economic targets. Their goal was to create a general panic and start a rebellion against President Fidel Castro, the agency said.

Castro defeated an invasion by U.S.-sponsored Cuban exiles in April, 1961, at the Bay of Pigs. Ever since, he has been using the threat of another American invasion as a rallying point. He has stepped up those accusations in recent months in the face of a deteriorating economy and increasing discontent at home.

“During the court hearing, the accused . . . recognized their absolute guilt and showed their remorse for the crime committed,” Prensa Latina said.

The men were arrested Dec. 29 near Jucaro, on the coast northeast of Havana. Cuban state radio said the men told authorities they sailed from Marathon in the Florida Keys aboard a yacht, then took a motorboat to the Cuban shoreline.

Cuban law carries the death penalty for terrorism. The sentence would be carried out by firing squad, Prensa Latina said.

Relatives of the three men went on Miami Spanish-language radio last week to appeal for international pressure for their release.