Accused by Castro of assassination plot

Posted on Mon, May. 15, 2006
EUSEBIO PENALVER MAZORRA, 71
Accused by Castro of assassination plot
Associated Press

Eusebio Penalver Mazorra, a former Cuban political prisoner who led a
group of fellow exiles that Cuban President Fidel Castro once accused of
plotting to assassinate the president of Venezuela, has died. He was 71.

Penalver died Thursday in Miami, according to the Caballero Rivero
Woodlawn funeral home in Little Havana.

In Miami, Penalver led ``Plantados until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba.''

Penalver was jailed in Cuba for 28 years. In a 1999 interview with The
Associated Press, he defined a ''plantado'' as a person who firmly
plants his feet while struggling for freedom and democracy in Cuba.

Castro claimed in 1999 that Miami-based Cuban exiles were planning to
assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and said the plot was
based at a street address in Miami that turned out to be the office of
``Plantados.''

Penalver denied the charge.

President Bush on Saturday called Penalver ``a Cuban patriot.''

''His resistance to tyranny is a testament to the moral courage of all
Cubans who desire to see freedom return to their beautiful island
nation. Laura joins me in sending our thoughts and prayers to his family
and friends,'' Bush said in a statement.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/14580534.htm