The Morning Record, July 20, 1967, "Cubans Held in Plot to Bomb Ships" by The Associated Press.

MIAMI - A federal grand jury said Wednesday a group of Cuban exiles practiced bombing missions out of Miami and conspired to bomb British, Canadian and Spanish ships "of any others loaded with supplies for Cuba."

Six other residents of Cuba, including Orlando Bosch, head of the revolutionary organization, Insurrectional Recovery Movement (MIRR), were named in an indictment charging they conspired to drop the bombs.

A second count charged two exiles with conspiracy to export arms and a third that they conspired to export an airplane.

Named with Bosch in the bombing conspiracy charge were Marcos Rodriguez Ramos, Barbaro Balan Garcia, Louis Bertot, Jose Antonio Mulet and Jose Diaz Morejon.

The indictment, returned before U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins, said that on Jan. 15, 1967, Rodriguez and Balan and an American pilot, Arthur Girteit, were arrested at Tamiami Airport as they were about to board Girteit's twin-engine Piper Apache.

Customs agents and deputy sheriffs made the arrest to climax a plot that began last December, according to Donald I. Bierman assistant U.S. attorney.

Bierman said that the plane was loaded with three 100-pound bombs, three one-gallon jugs containing phosphorous and water (an incendiary mixture), and M1 rifle and 80 rounds of ammunition.

Bierman said the plot started when Rodriguez and Balan approached Girteit and asked him to fly the bombing missions. Girteit agreed, but notified customs and the agency went along with the plan.

They flew several practice missions, Bierman said, and "when the night came for the real thing, they were arrested."

Bosch was found innocent last year after a trial on a charge of threatening death to other Cuban exiles unless they gave him money to fight Fidel Castro.

Copyright (c) 1967 The Associated Press