3 Hurt in Havana Hotel Blasts; Cuba Suspects U.S. Attackers

Loud explosions shook two Havana hotels within minutes of each other Saturday, injuring at least three people, and authorities said the blasts were caused by “explosive artifacts.”

The explosions at the Hotel Nacional--a Havana landmark that opened in 1930--and the nearby Hotel Capri shattered windows in the lobby areas.

Cuba’s Interior Ministry blamed people from the United States for the attacks.

“The Interior Ministry has evidence that the people responsible for these deeds, and also the materials they used, came from the United States,” said a brief ministry statement read on state radio.

The statement did not say if anyone had been arrested in connection with the explosions, nor did it cite specific people suspected of being responsible for the explosions or what sort of evidence the Interior Ministry had.

However, official suspicion would be likely to fall on hard-line exile opponents of Cuban President Fidel Castro in Florida, some of whom have carried out violent protests in the past. In 1991, a Miami exile group claimed responsibility for a seaborne machine-gun attack on an oceanfront resort hotel.

The Nacional and Capri hotels are about 200 yards apart in Havana’s central district, and the explosions went off within minutes of each other.

“We heard a very loud noise, like an earthquake,” said Spanish tourist Carlos Alvarez, describing the explosion at the Capri. “In the lobby there was horrible confusion and hysteria; everyone was crying.”