
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 8, 1993                   TAG: 9311080123
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: TAMPA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

PEROT CLAIMS PLOT TO KILL HIM

Two days before his scheduled debate with Vice President Al Gore, political activist Ross Perot declared Sunday that he had been told he was the target of a "carefully planned plot" to assassinate him because of his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Appearing before an enthusiastic crowd of 2,500 supporters at a fairgrounds complex near Tampa, Perot said a police officer had informed him Sunday morning that the FBI had received allegations that "six Cubans" were planning to "take him out."

The assassination was to be carried out either during Sunday's rally in Tampa or during "the debate in Washington," he told the shocked crowd. Perot is scheduled to debate NAFTA with Gore in Washington Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live" television program.

At another point, Perot said he had been told that the plot had been hatched by a "Mafia-like group in favor of a North American Free Trade Agreement because of the huge drug profits they could make shipping drugs from Mexico to the United States."

At the end of the rally, Perot cited the threats again. "In the unlikely event something should happen . . . don't spend a minute mourning," he exhorted. "Just remember you own the country, redouble your efforts . . . Step 1: Make sure you stop NAFTA, with or without me."

A Justice Department official in Washington confirmed that the FBI office in Los Angeles had received an anonymous tip Saturday night. It was relayed by a man in Albuquerque, N.M., who said he was calling on behalf of another man who had just been released from a Mexican prison.

The unidentified caller said the released prisoner, who did not speak English, said he had heard other prisoners talk about a Perot assassination scheme that was to be carried out by a group of Cubans, according to the Justice Department official.

The FBI office in Los Angeles notified the Secret Service and FBI officials in Tampa, Fla., and Dallas, who in turn alerted local police authorities. Authorities said the Secret Service may have been alerted because of Perot's upcoming debate with Gore. Perot does not receive Secret Service protection.

by CNB