The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) denied the Miami Herald report that Cuban exiles planned to assassinate Fidel Castro during his stay in the Dominican Republic. Michael Fabregas, spokesman for the FBI in Miami, said he didn’t know where the Miami Herald had gotten the story from. The Miami Herald had reported that the Cuban exiles were preparing to house and transport the "hit team" to the DR shortly before the murder. Luis Posada Carriles, an exile accused of masterminding a dozen bombings in Havana last summer, was signaled out as the coordinator of the plan that was aborted when the FBI was tipped off. The Herald said that Posada met with three men last month in Guatemala to discuss the smuggling of the guns and explosives into Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, in the DR, President Leonel Fernández said that "Fidel Castro is coming without fear." Castro will participate in the Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) that groups signatory nations of the Lomé Convention. While Cuba is not a member of this group it has been invited to the meetings. Castro will also be present during the Caricom Summit in which members of the English-speaking Caricom trade block will hold their annual meeting in Santo Domingo. Cuba is an observer in Caricom. The meetings are slated for 20-22 August. Castro will stay on through 25 August to visit Baní, where Cuban liberator Máximo Gómez was born, and the city of Monte Cristi, another historic landmark of joint Dominican-Cuban history. The director of the National Department of Investigations (DNI), Rear Admiral Sigfrido Pared Pérez said that the security and contingency operative in place guarantees the protection of all visiting statesmen.
