By JUAN O. TAMAYO
             Herald Staff Writer

             The trial of seven Cuban exiles accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro will
             stay in Puerto Rico after all, according to the same judge who just last month
             ordered the case moved to Miami.

             U.S. District Court Judge Hector Laffitte's ruling Monday, coupled with the recent
             arrest of one of the exiles on drug charges, were considered strong blows to the
             defendants' chances to avoid conviction.

             ``With one guy under pressure to cooperate with prosecutors and the Castro case
             going to a jury in Puerto Rico, not Miami, their future looks pretty bad,'' said one
             U.S. law enforcement official who has taken part in the investigation.

             ``I am very disappointed because all the elements of a conspiracy that the
             government alleges took place here, so the case belongs here,'' said Manny
             Vasquez of Miami, the defense lawyer for Francisco Cordova. ``But we'll win in
             Puerto Rico.''

             The seven defendants, including Jose Antonio Llama, a director of the Cuban
             American National Foundation, were the first ever charged in a U.S. court with
             conspiring to kill Castro.

             Laffitte ruled Monday that ``upon further reflection and consideration, the court
             finds that the issue of venue . . . [was] not properly resolved by the court's limited
             inquiry'' before his first ruling on Jan. 12.

             Defense attorneys can again challenge the venue if prosecutors fail to prove any
             links between the conspiracy to kill the Cuban president and acts carried out by
             the defendants in Puerto Rico, Laffitte added.

             The seven exiles face life in prison if convicted on charges of plotting to kill a
             foreign government official, using a Miami-registered yacht in the alleged
             conspiracy, and failing to report guns to the Coast Guard.

             They were originally charged in Puerto Rico because four of the defendants were
             aboard the yacht Esperanza when the Coast Guard intercepted it and ordered it
             into a Puerto Rico port in 1997.

             A search of the boat found two sniper rifles undeclared and hidden under a
             stairwell. One of the defendants later shouted that the guns were his and that he
             was on a mission to kill Castro during a visit to Venezuela.

             A Puerto Rico grand jury months later indicted three other defendants, including
             Llama, 66, and the Llama-owned firm that owns the Esperanza. Six of the
             defendants have homes in Miami, and the other lives in New Jersey.

             Laffitte initially agreed with the defendants' request that the trial be moved to
             Miami, ruling that the alleged plot to kill Castro was ``hatched, nurtured and
             fledged'' in South Florida. Federal prosecutors immediately appealed his ruling.

             Changing the venue to Miami would have put the seven men before a jury likely to
             be sympathetic to the anti-Castro cause, and unlikely to vote to send them to jail
             for life for trying to kill a man they regard as a dictator.

             ``The struggle [against Castro] that has transpired over four decades is better
             understood in Miami than anywhere else,'' defense lawyer Jose Quiñon said at the
             time.

             Crewing the Esperanza were Cordova, 50, a commercial fisherman from
             Marathon Key; Angel Alfonso, 57, a textile firm manager from Union City, N.J.;
             and Miami businessmen Angel Hernandez Rojo, 64, and Juan Marquez, 61. They
             could not be reached for comment Monday.

             Charged later were Llama, who owns a Miami air conditioner export business,
             Miami lumber dealer Jose Rodriguez, 61, and Alfredo Otero, 62, described in
             court papers as running a Miami boat yard.

             The case took a twist last month when Marquez and his son, Juan Alberto, 26,
             were arrested as part of a ring that imported 365 kilos of cocaine to South Florida
             and conspired to smuggle in another 2,000 kilos.

             U.S. law enforcement officials revealed at the time that a Drug Enforcement
             Administration tap of Marquez's phone had recorded conversations with another
             Puerto Rico defendant about the yacht Esperanza.

             The officials said they hoped that Marquez, facing the prospects of long jail terms
             for himself and his son, might feel under heavy pressure to begin cooperating with
             prosecutors in the Puerto Rico case.