Since the foundation was formed in 1981 by a group of wealthy Cuban-American businessmen, the powerful Miami-based organization has waged a nonviolent war of diplomacy against Castro's government in the U.S. Congress and around the world.
Their lobbying efforts have dealt major blows to the Cuban government, among them the establishment of Radio and TV Marti broadcasts and the passing of the Torricelli and Helms-Burton bills tightening the U.S. embargo against the island. Cuba often responded by harshly attacking the foundation, even branding its members as terrorists. But until now the Cuban government has never pointed to a specific incident or produced evidence.
On Wednesday, the Cuban government formally linked the foundation to the string of bombings.
Cuban authorities said they arrested a Salvadoran mercenary who confessed to six of the bombings and said he was paid $4,500 per bomb he placed. The FBI on Wednesday visited foundation offices in West Dade and questioned Roberto Martin Perez, a foundation director and former political prisoner. Martin Perez declined to comment on their conversation.
Foundation President Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez vehemently denied any foundation link to the Salvadoran or the bombings.
``This is absurd,'' Hernandez said Thursday. ``It shows a total lack of knowledge of how serious organizations work inside the United States. They are pointing the finger at us because all of our strategies -- Radio Marti, Torricelli, Helms-Burton -- have been successful in hurting the Cuban government.''
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Hernandez said then he considered the bombings legitimate tools in the struggle of Cubans inside the island to rid themselves of Castro.
On Thursday, Hernandez reiterated the foundation's support of ``the right of the Cuban people to choose the instruments'' with which to fight Castro, including bombs, but any interpretation of those statements as complicity were flawed.
The accusation against the foundation ``reveals the Castro regime's desperation to fabricate and concoct a scenario in which they can externalize what is clearly an extremely serious internal situation that threatens the regime at its core,'' the foundation statement said.
U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, also called Cuba's accusations a lie, but said he was not surprised they focused on the foundation.
``It is not unusual for Castro to lie this way,'' Diaz-Balart said. ``He's lied for 38 years.''
Administration criticized
``I find it pathetic, repugnant and inconceivable that the administration would give any sort of credence or consideration to allegations made by the terrorist state of Cuba,'' Diaz-Balart said. ``If Saddam Hussein starts making accusations, do they send the FBI to investigate?''
The FBI has often times investigated Cuban exile groups such as Alpha 66, PUND, Comandos L, and exile leader Orlando Bosch, all of whom have engaged in covert operations.
Cuba Interior Ministry officials have accused the foundation of working with Alpha 66, PUND and Bosch followers to forge plans for the bombings.
But Hernandez scoffed at the link between the foundation and militant exile groups. Foundation leaders are not on friendly terms with leaders of those organizations, who often criticize the foundation on exile radio shows for not dedicating resources to military actions.
``With all respect to those organizations and the work they do,'' Hernandez said, ``there is an ocean between us and them.''
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald