Castro Assassination Attempt Quashed

P A N A M A   C I T Y, Nov. 17 -- Panamanian police said they had arrested the presumed mastermind behind analleged plot to assassinate veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Police sources told Reuters late Friday they had arrested Luis PosadaCarriles and three of his Cuban-American colleagues at a hotelin central Panama City as a “precautionary measure” afterCastro accused them of plotting to take his life.

Castro, in Panama for the opening of the Ibero-Americansummit on childhood, said earlier on Friday that “terrorists”armed by anti-communist Cuban-Americans were planning toassassinate him.

“Terrorist elements organized, financed and led from theUnited States by the Cuban American National Foundation… have been sent to Panama with the aim of eliminating me,”he said.

“They are now in this city [Panama City], and have broughtin arms and explosives,” Castro, dressed in military fatigues,told reporters gathered at a Panama City hotel.

Group Dismisses Accusations

The Miami-based CANF, the most militantly anti-Castro ofFlorida’s numerous Cuban-American groups, dismissed the claimsas the ravings of “an aged rock star … [who] needs to attractattention somehow.”