8 Exile Suspects Fast In Jail
By LOUSIE BLANCHARD
Miami News Reporter
A spokesman for eight Cuban exiles, jailed yesterday
in connection with the terrorist damage to foreign ships, said today they
have begun a limited hunger strike.
A ninth exile, a woman, also arrested and charged
with conspiring to damage ships doing business with Fidel Castro's Cuba,
was released.
Marcelino Garcia, speaking for the "Alianza Movimiento
Insurreccional de Recuperacion Revolucionaria Comandos L," said Dr. Orlando
Bosch has smuggled a letter out of the Dade County jail.
The letter Garcia produced said all had been arrested
on false charges. It accused the CIA and the FBI of "tenacious persecution"
of members of the organization. Its name translates roughly as "allied
movement for insurrection and to revive the revolution."
Garcia said the eight still in jail after their
arrest by FBI agents would eat only bread, which symbolizes Christianity
to them, and a can sugar drink which they consider a symbol of Cuba.
A spokesman at Dade County jail said he doubted
that Dr. Bosch had been able to smuggle anything out. Jail spokesman
also said it was not yet possible to determine whether the men are refusing
food.
Trays are distributed in accordance with the number
of men in a cell, the spokesman said, but the prisoners are not observed
to determine whether each prisoner gets a tray.
Garcia, secretary general of the "Alianza M.I.R.R.,
Comandos L.," issued a press release at a meeting last night denouncing
"all the governments of the free world"
The statement declared that the arrest of Dr. Bosch
and the others "confirms the conjecture" that the government of the United
States is interested in "sustaining Fidel Castro."
The press release said, as did the Bosch letter,
that members of the organization had been "persecuted and watched" by federal
authorities, that the accusations were "political in nature" and that the
arrests were intended to "paralyze all our forces for the liberation of
our nation."
Dr. Bosch and two others were charged with shooting
at a Polish ship, the Polanica, docked at Dodge Island Sept. 16.
In addition, Dr. Bosch was accused of sending cablegrams June 6 to the
heads of Great Britain, Mexico and Spain, threatening to destroy ships
and planes of the three countries.
Aimee Miranda Cruz, 39, the woman, was released.