SALVADOREAN TERRORISM SUSPECT RODRIGUEZ WEEPS DURING COURT APPEARANCE, 1999-03-15 (photo)

Salvadorean Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, in an emotional speech to the court, confesses his guilt and asks for forgiveness, soon after his trial opened at the colonial-era La Cabana fortress March 15. Cuba put Rodriguez on trial for "terrorism" for participating in a bombing campaign which Havana blames on a U.S.-based group opposed to Fidel Castro's government. The state is seeking a 30-year prison sentence for Rodriguez, who is charged with setting off a small bomb in Havana's Melia Cohiba hotel in August 1997, and bringing explosives into the country a year later. RP/ELD/ME