Bosch Gets Ten Years In Exile Bomb Terror
By IAN GLASS
Miami News Reporter
A Federal Judge William O. Mehrtens today slapped
a 10-year jail term on Dr. Orlando Bosch, the 42-year-old exile baby doctor
whom the government said headed the terrorist organization Cuban Power.
Eight other members of the organization received
sentences ranging from one to eight years for conspiring to bomb foreign
ships.
They were Andres Jorge Gonzalez, 37 (five years);
Barbaro Balan Garcia, 42 (six years); Marco Rodriguez Ramos, 24 (five years);
Jesus Dominguez Bonitez, 27 (18 months); Jose Diaz Morejon (six years);
Jorge Gutierrez, 20 (five years); Paulino Gutierrez, 45 (one year), and
Aimee Miranda Cruz, 39 (one year.)
After an FBI agent told the court he understood
Bosch even now was plotting the bombing of another ship form his jail cell,
the judge said:
"It is obvious Bosch has long professed the use
of violence to achieve his aims in flagrant disregard of the laws of the
United States."
The others, by association with Bosch in "this militant
organization" had been involved in dangerous and terrorist activities.
The judge called the Cuban Power organization--which
plotted against ships of countries that deal with Fidel Castro's Cuba--"stupid"
and said:
"It is inconceivable to me that the firing of a
rifle at a Polish ship would interfere with Poland's trade with Cuba.
(It was after a 57-millimeter cannon shell hit the
Polish freighter Polancia here last Sept. 16, that the nine were arrested
by FBI agents.)
"I cannot conceive of any benefit that could be
obtained in the fight against communism by such activities."
The judge said the acts of violence were directed
"for propaganda purposes for Bosch to obtain power in the community and
probably collect money from people in the area."
He added that Cuban exiles, who fled their island
and were given asylum here, should be especially law-abiding.
In commenting that the group was capable of committing
further acts of violence if released, the judge revoked the appeal bonds
of all but three--Paulino Gutierrez, Aimee Miranda Cruz, and Jesus Bonitez.
But he ruled Jorge Gutierrez could stay free until
Jan. 2. He is marrying Clara Perez de Alejo Dec. 27.
Their attorney, Melvyn Greenspahn--who plans appeals
for all nine--had pleaded, before sentencing, that the offenses, had arisen
out of the "grave danger of communism."
But government attorney Ted Klein said, "They have
taken advantage of our compassion and understanding for their Cuban brothers
who are sincere in their abhorrence of Castro, and under the veil of their
so-called anti-communism, have carried on terrorist activities that have
no relationship to and could not possibly have any effect on Castro's Cuba.
"Any attempted justification of their criminal activity
on the basis of their motives is nothing more than an invitation to anarchy,
putting men above laws."
FBI agent Michael Crane told the court he understood
form "a reliable informant" that Bosch was even now plotting from his jail
cell the bombing of another ship.
He said also that a press conference held in a parking
lot last week by Ernesto--who calls himself head of Cuban Power--was done
so at the direction of Bosch.
Bosch's wife, dressed in a yellow wool suit, eyes
red behind dark glasses, listened unmoved as the judge passed the sentence
of her owl-faced husband. Judge Mehrtans had warned that nay spectator
who demonstrated or committed any outburst would be immediately arrested.
But outside the courtroom, a dozen relatives of
the nine wept openly.
During the seven-day trial which ended Nov. 15,
the government produced a paid informer named Ricardo Morales Navarette,
29, who infiltrated Bosch's group with tape recorders tied to his body
and kept the FBI informed of its activities.
The taped conversations between Morales and Bosch
showed that Bosch knew of explosions on foreign ships. Phony explosives
which Morales supplied to Bosch later turned up in a bomb aboard a British
freighter.