Exile militants arrange arms surrender

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Thu, Jun. 07, 2007
CUBAN EXILE COMMUNITY
Exile militants arrange arms surrender

Two anti-Castro militants persuaded associates to turn in an arsenal of weapons in what a lawyer hailed as a turning point in exiles' struggle against Castro.
BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

An aging alliance of anti-Castro militants who had stockpiled weapons, explosives and ammunition in South Florida ended up helping two of their imprisoned associates obtain reduced sentences Wednesday after turning over the arsenal to U.S. authorities.

The unprecedented arms surrender earlier this year led to U.S. District Judge James Cohn's decision to reduce developer Santiago Alvarez's sentence from 46 months to 30 months and his colleague Osvaldo Mitat's term from 37 months to 24 months.

Both defendants, in their mid-60s, pleaded guilty to weapons charges last fall in a conspiracy case that crossed county lines and had ties to a notorious Cuban exile militant now under federal investigation. Their high-powered team of defense lawyers characterized the firearms surrender as the end of an era for Miami-Dade's anti-Castro forces in the post-9/11 world.

The ''anonymous donors'' turned over 14 pounds of plastic explosives, 200 pounds of dynamite, 4,000 feet of detonator cord, 30 semiautomatic and automatic weapons, one grenade launcher, and two handmade grenades, among other items. The donors, who had surrendered the cache at a lawyer's office in Miami, are not under investigation.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/131345.html

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http://www.freethefive.org.nyud.net:8090/images/alvarezmitat.jpg

Santiago Alvarez, left, and Osvaldo Mitat, right

[Mika]

1. They were working on their "peaceful transition" ops planned for Cuba.

Not that they were violating the US Neutrality Act or anything. :eyes:


These two are part of Posada's circle of friends.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Two real winners, aren't they? Yep, they are surely part of that crowd of terrorists

who have made it their life's work trying to get revenge on Cubans for the revolution which took these big fish in a small bowl out of power.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Sentence for Posada pal is reduced

Posted on Wed, Jun. 06, 2007
Sentence for Posada pal is reduced
Associated Press

A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale reduced the prison sentence Wednesday for a prominent Cuban-American businessman with connections to anti-Fidel Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles after an arsenal of weapons and high explosives was turned over to the U.S. government.

U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn cut 16 months off the sentence of Santiago Alvarez, who pleaded guilty in September to a conspiracy charge after the FBI seized a cache of military arms including a grenade launcher and machine guns. Cohn also reduced by 13 months the sentence of Osvaldo Mitat, an Alvarez employee.

Alvarez, 65, had initially been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and Mitat, also 65, to just over three years. The two men, who have served about 18 months each, smiled broadly and raised their manacled hands in triumph after the judge announced his decision to a courtroom packed with family and supporters.

Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend reduced prison terms for both men after a large amount of weaponry was surrendered earlier this year, including 200 pounds of dynamite, 14 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives, 30 automatic or semiautomatic guns, a grenade launcher and grenades and 4,000 feet of detonator cord.

The military hardware was given to the U.S. government by anonymous individuals who had likely been storing it away in homes, garages and elsewhere in the Miami area in hopes of someday launching an armed assault against Castro's communist Cuban government, defense attorneys said.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/130875.html