Lopez asks for end to bombings
By Milt Sosin
Cuban terrorist Humberto Lopez Jr. today repudiated bombings in his name and asked that any other planned actions against innocent people be halted.
Three bombings, and one bomb that was set to detonate but malfunctioned, have been in retaliation for Lopez' jailing, police believe.
Lopez, who wrote the statement in his Broward County jail cell to be transmitted through his lawyer Gino Negretti, said:
"For people to go out an commit acts which would carry death or destruction to innocent people is something that I condemn because it places the freedom-fighters on the same level with the assassins."
"I was to state before anything that I will not modify by convictions and that my only ambition is to fight for the freedom of my country from Castro communism."
"At no time - ever - have I done anything which would cause suffering to any country or any innocent person. The war for Cuban liberation should be conducted exclusively against Castro communism."
Lopez, who lost an eye and part of his hand when a bomb he was making exploded in his face, fled the United States after he was convicted on state and federal arms and explosives violations.
Arrested in the Dominican Republic, he was returned to the United States for sentencing on his previous convictions and trial on the bail-jumping charge.
Trial is scheduled next week before U.S. District Court Judge Joe Eaton on the bail-jumping charge, but Lopez' attorney Negretti had filed a motion to have his client declared mentally incompetent.
In his motion, Negretti said Lopez was a "political fanatic."
U.S. Magisrate Charlene Sorrentino appointed Dr. Albert Jaslow to make a psychiatric evaluation.
Since Lopez' force return to this country, bombs have exploded at the Dominican consulate here, the parking lot of the Broward County Jail and in a locker at Miami International Airport. A fourth bomb was found and dismantled in front of the Dominican Airways office in downtown Miami.
The self-proclaimed anti-Castro group "Youths of the Star" have claimed
responsibility for the consulate, Broward and Dominican Airways bombings.