Cubans Hold Man On Explosives Charge

A man carrying a German passport has been arrested in Cuba on charges of trying to place an “explosive device” in Havana and hiding four others in his rented beach house, published reports said Tuesday.

It also was not known if the arrest had any link to two bombs that damaged the city’s Nacional and Capri hotels on July 12.

Those bombs, plus three others in April and May, appear to be part of a campaign of violent opposition to President Fidel Castro, designed to scare away tourists and their desperately needed hard currency.

The German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), said the suspect was carrying a German passport in the name of Michael Andreas Reeb.

Police grabbed the man Saturday as he tried to drop off an explosive device in the four-lane tunnel that carries vehicles under the mouth of Havana’s Harbor and connects the capital with East Havana, DPA reported.