Cuba arrests four Miami-based exiles suspected of attack plot

By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has arrested four Miami-based exiles suspected of planning attacks on military installations with the goal of promoting anti-government violence on the communist-run island, the Interior Ministry said. Labeling the suspects as "terrorists," it said in a statement late on Tuesday they were linked to Luis Posada Carriles, 86, a Cuban exile and former CIA operative living in Miami who for many years sought to overthrow former President Fidel Castro. The April 26 arrests could antagonize the already poor relations between Washington and Havana, and the case recalled a series of plots from the exile community in Miami against Cuba. Cuba said it would contact U.S. officials about the investigation and that the four suspects had admitted to planning the attacks. By reaching out to U.S. authorities, Cuba said it hoped to "avoid acts by terrorist organizations or elements located in that country." The State Department said it had seen the Cuban statement but had no further information. "The Cuban government has also not been in touch with us yet on these cases," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. The suspects were identified as Jose Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodriguez Gonzalez, Raibel Pacheco Santos and Felix Monzon Alvarez, relative unknowns among Miami exiles. Cuba said they were working for three others in Miami, who are well known, and who had close ties to Posada Carriles, a polarizing figure seen as a terrorist in Cuba but a hero to some anti-Castro exiles. A lawyer for Posada Carriles denied any connection to the allegations. "No basis at all," attorney Arturo Hernandez said. At least two of the three other so-called masterminds, Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat, have been active in the militant, anti-Castro exile movement. Both pleaded guilty in 2006 to criminal conspiracy in a plea deal to avoid more serious charges of possessing machine guns, a grenade launcher and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Alvarez denied any link, saying he had never heard of the men who were arrested. "This is just a bunch of lies," Santiago Alvarez said. "They need to shift the blame from the economic situation they are in and entertain people with stories about Miami terrorists." Posada Carriles is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela in relation to the bombing of a Cubana Airlines jet in 1976 that killed 73 people. He is also suspected of involvement in hotel bombings in 1997 aimed at destabilizing Cuba and scaring away tourists. Cuba has recently intensified its criticism of the United States for what it considers efforts to destabilize the country. It has also railed against the State Department for once again naming Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in an annual report on April 30. Jose Pertierra, a Cuban-American attorney who represented Venezuela in its extradition attempt, said he hoped the U.S. government would cooperate with Cuba's new investigation. "Washington has protected rather than prosecuted Cuban-American terrorists," he said. "Perhaps Obama should have put Miami on its list of terrorist countries rather than Cuba." (Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami; editing by G Crosse and Kieran Murray)