A large crowd of Cuban exiles gathers to raise money for four exiles convicted in Panama in a plot to kill Fidel Castro.

BY TERE FIGUERAS

Two days after a Panamanian judge convicted four Cuban exiles in a plot to kill Fidel Castro, hundreds of supporters rallied and raised funds Thursday night for what has become a cause célbre in part of the exile community.

More than 400 people packed the Renaissance Ballroom in West Miami for the $100-a-plate dinner. Among them: Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernández, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, sharing a table with Miami Commissioner Angel González. Nearby sat members of Brigade 2506, veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Also making the rounds was former Miami Commissioner Humberto Hernández, who was removed from office and convicted of voter and mortgage fraud. He accompanied his father, Humberto Sr., a Bay of Pigs veteran.

Prominent developer Mario Ferro donated reprints of works by Cuban artist Cundo Bermúdez for an auction.

The four Cubans convicted Tuesday -- including three from Miami -- have relied on local donations to support their legal fight, said Santiago Alvarez, a local developer and longtime supporter.

''We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years,'' said Alvarez, who said he could not give a specific amount. ``The support has always been very important. Now we need the funds for the appeals process.''

The four were arrested in 2000 in Panama City with 33 pounds of explosives that prosecutors say was intended to blow up the Cuban president. They were found guilty of endangering the public safety.

Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo, both of Miami, were sentenced to seven years. Miamian Guillermo Jiménez and Luis Posada Carriles got the same sentence, plus another year for using false passports to enter Panama before Castro was to appear at the Ibero-American Summit.

The men claim they were in Panama to help a Cuban official defect and that they were framed by Castro agents.

''My husband is an idealist,'' said Miriam Novo, wife of Guillermo Novo.

Jiménez's wife, Carmen, a teacher at Dunbar Elementary in North Miami-Dade, said her husband ``was a peaceful man who only wants to see democracy in his homeland.''

The four convicts have been involved in anti-Castro violence in the past, however.

Gaspar Jiménez served time for an attempted kidnapping and murder of Cuban diplomats in Mexico. He was also indicted in the 1976 bombing that wounded late Miami newsman Emilio Milián, but those charges were dismissed.

Remón also served time for the attempted murder of Cuba's delegate to the United Nations nearly 20 years ago.

Novo's conviction in the 1976 murder of a former Chilean diplomat was overturned on appeal.

Posada, the oldest of the group at 76, has been accused in the bombings of hotels in Havana and the blowing up of a Cubana de Aviación plane in 1976. He was acquitted of the airplane bombing and was awaiting a new trial when he escaped from a Venezuelan prison.