By Terry Johnson King

By the time you read this, some Cuban exile terrorist may have planted another bomb somewhere.

Perhaps it will have gone off.

If so, as sure as Castro makes little red statements, there will be a "secret" hand-delivered (nobody ever knows by whom) press release. It will be signed by Ernesto, Antonio, or some Latin-flavored name, and it will claim credit for the violence.

The reason it is hand-delivered is because these terrorists know a federal statute when they see one - they're not about to misuse the mails.

If the bomb does not go off, and many don't, you may not hear about it. For every attempted bombing that is investigated (36 so far this year in Dade county attributable to exile sources) a number go unreported for fear of unfavorable publicity.

It's like fighting a libel suit: it only calls attention to a bomb-worthy situation.

Miami's Cubans are living with a reign of terror that, so far, has been largely confined to their own neighborhoods and businesses. Almost daily now, incidents are reported locally as anti-Castro factions drown their sorrows and vent their frustrations in dynamite and C-4 plastic explosives.

It has been an escalating war. It started with smoke bombs and tear gas being tossed into festive gatherings among Cubans, set off by malcontents who said the exiles had no business having parties while their country was in the hands of Communists.

From there is grew. Dynamite was tossed into stores that sent drugs to Cuba - they were "trading with the enemy" when they sent badly-needed supplies of penicillin and antibiotics to the aged and infirm in that country.

Then it was C-4 plastic bombs - a sophisticated weapon, and too sophisticated, it turned out, for the clumsy terrorists. It was a long time before they could figure out how to make the things go off.

And finally into such advanced warfare as sniping a Polish ship in Miami's harbor last week, and the increase in bombings of commercial establishments which did not "cooperate" with the terrorists.

Miami police chief Walter Headley says much of the bombing is done for extortion. Merchants are asked to contribute to the counter-revolutionary causes. If they don't, they quickly learn the consequences. Cuban sources say extortion has nothing to do with it - it is simply a "philosophical" method of keeping the community in line, supposedly so it can fight the tyranny of Castro.

Last week, four reporters in exile were blindfolded and driven aimlessly about the city, and finally taken to a hooded character who said he was "Ernesto" - the leader of Poder Cubano (which translates as Cuban Power but, confusingly, is not the same group which calls itself Cuban Power).

The cloak-and-dagger encounter was reported straight-facedly, including the statement that Dr. Orlando Bosch, one of the noisiest of the militant anti-Communists here, would assume leadership of Poder Cubano.

It could have been for real (some of the newsmen have their doubts) - or it could have been someone else's cunning plot. For Bosch, who knows full well there's a bounty on the head of any member of Poder Cubano who is identified, has disappeared in the wake of the unwelcome publicity. All par for the course.

There are some 54 exile groups. The most aggressive are a small minority. They are controlled and financed by the wealthy who lost great holdings when Castro took over nine years ago, but managed to fall back on resources they'd been bundling out of Cuba in the years before.

Some of the groups consist of men who fought with Fidel until the surface was scratched and his communism came out. Others are outright supporters of former dictator Fulgencio Batista, hopeful of putting his policies, through a puppet, back in operation.

Election year speeches tend to encourage them. Ed Gurney, Republican candidate for the U.S. senate from Florida, said last week, "we should train, equip and aid responsible Cuban freedom fighters in their efforts to overthrow the Castro government."

The key word in the statement may be "responsible," but none of the militants are likely to admit they are irresponsible - and responsible people are not likely to be militants.

Also fanning the flames of the near civil war that brews in Cuban neighborhoods are the extreme right-wing, exile publications. Chief of these is a newspaper, "Patpra," which is commonly supposed to exist on money from Batista.

In addition there are bulletins, magazines, other papers, newsletters - published here, in California, New York and Mexico - which deify the terroristic strikes against non-cooperators, either here or elsewhere.

Aside from Poder Cubano and Cuban Power, the most militant groups are: White Hand, directed by a man who calls himself Michelta; the 7^th of December movement, directed by a man who signs himself Antonio; and the Secret Anti-Communist Army.

The MIRR - Insurrectional Movement of Revolutionary Recovery - is generally presumed to be the front organization for Poder Cubano. And another group, not heard of too often, has entered the age of specialization: the Garcia-Cronillot Group makes a practice of bombing just foreign consulates of countries that trade with Cuba.

All the terrorists have the same modulus operandi. A bomb is set, and if it goes off successfully, a press release is issued claiming credit.

Those from Poder Cubano are signed "Ernesto." The signature is wavery, obviously left-handed. The fact that the signatures vary bears out the theory that the group consists of ten people, each of whom calls himself Ernesto and is entitled to act independently of the others whenever he can gather his own cadre.

White Hand and Cuban Power peevishly charge that Poder Cubano swipes their headlines by claiming responsibility for ALL acts of violence, some of which the other struggling groups have committed.

With all the various organizations, methods and philosophy, there is one unified aim of the militants : to return the Cuban exiles to a "free" Cuba, no matter what means must be taken. This, despite the fact that recent studies indicate the vast majority would stay in Miami even if Fidel toppled.

They are settled here, most have more physical comforts than in their lower-middle class pre-Castro life. Rather than provoke unpopularity in the exile community, however, they continue to profess Cuban super-patriotism.

The identities of many of the terrorists in this new style Cuban Mafia are known, but as one bombed-out businessman said, "Why should I ask for a second dose? I do not wish to discuss this matter further." He termed it "an unfortunate accident."

His associates reckon the next time he is asked to support the Cubans' favorite charity - anti-Castroism - he will do so more readily.

Meanwhile, the Miami-based consuls of countries that trade with Cuba tremble daily as they start their cars (a bomb was wired to the Mexican consul's auto), open their offices (the Spanish National Office of Tourism has had three bombs planted), or go into their homes (a bomb exploded in the garage of the British consul's Coral Gables residence.)

Hardware store do a brisk trade in one-way mirrors and door-peepers. Fear lies over the Cuban community like a catafalque. Nobody wants to do anything with an unexpected present - it could be a time bomb.

One businessman, a boat builder, recently called the Hialeah police when a heavy, clumsily-wrapped package arrived from an unknown character in New Jersey - where they had just uncovered a Cuban arsenal. The bomb squad unpacked a propeller being sent back for repair.

The police and FBI reckon they have not gathered enough legal evidence to convict any of the people they suspect of being terrorists. They wring their hands and exchange bits of information, most of which is obsolete by the time they uncover it.

And meanwhile, the Cuban exiles live in a climate of fear they though they had escaped when they fled their homeland.