On Cuban radio and at cafe counters in Little Havana, Cuban Americans expressed outrage Thursday at the image defense attorneys are trying to create of alleged child killer Juan Carlos Chavez as an anti-Castro fighter.

The murder of 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce ``was the most heinous crime of the last 10 years,'' said Andres Nazario Sargen, leader of the militant exile group Alpha 66. ``You cannot tie it to our noble cause.''

Callers to Spanish-language radio shows Wednesday night and Thursday morning criticized Assistant Public Defender Art Koch for claiming Chavez was an anti-Castro counterrevolutionary.

In opening arguments Wednesday, Koch blamed the killing on the son of Chavez's employer. He attempted to discredit Chavez's 61-page confession by telling jurors that Chavez had been an anti-Castro activist in Cuba working for an organization called Group for Action and Resistance.

``The object of his organization,'' Koch told jurors, ``was to bring down Fidel Castro and return freedom to the island of Cuba.''

Koch contended Chavez was too afraid of being sent back to Cuba to reveal that he helped the real killer move the boy's body.

Chavez, a former handyman, is charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering Jimmy on Sept. 11, 1995. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
`A low blow'

Koch's line of defense angered Cuban exiles who feel their cause is being stained to save an accused child killer.

``What the Public Defender's Office has done is insulted all Cubans,'' said Teresita Gyori, a Cuban-American who listened to Marta Flores' show on WAQI 710-AM Wednesday night. ``For them to link their defense to the most sacred of Cuban causes is a low blow. A lot of Cubans have died trying to free Cuba from Castro.''

Complaints continued to stream in Thursday morning on WQBA 1140-AM's airwaves.

``The lawyer should be put in jail,'' a male caller said on Roberto Avalos' early morning show.

``Take them out and hang them,'' another male caller said of the defense team.

The anti-Castro defense strategy also was the talk of town at Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.

Patrons sipped café con leche and discussed their disgust with the Chavez defense and the fact they had never heard of Group for Action and Resistance.

Chavez, many said, was not a freedom fighter.

``Cubans have always been trying to distance themselves from Chavez,'' Gyori said. ``He is not representative of any Cuban. This is a monster who killed a defenseless little boy. Think of all the children who also have died at the hands of Castro and for the Public Defender's Office to play a defense off that is insulting.''

Attorneys under gag order

Attorneys on both sides of the case are under a gag order from the judge and cannot comment.

Lawyer Michael Diaz Jr., who serves on the the board of Cuban American Bar Association, said the organization would not make a formal statement on the appropriateness of the defense.

``As a criminal defense lawyer myself, I'm used to novel theories of defense,'' Diaz said. But, he added, ``the use of liberating the country as a defense is unfortunate. It makes a mockery of the cause.''

Few were more bothered than anti-Castro militants.

Attorneys have to do their best to defend their clients ``and apply all their tricks,'' Sargen said, but in this case the defense went too far.

``This hurts the image of freedom fighters,'' Sargen said. ``People can just brand us all capable of doing such a horrible thing.''

Never heard of group

Sargen also had never heard of the anti-Castro group Chavez's lawyer named.

``There are many groups in Cuba,'' he said, ``but I've never heard of this one.''

At the time of Chavez's arrest, family and friends in Cuba told The Herald that he didn't have any political affiliations. They said Chavez, who came to South Florida in 1991 aboard a raft, was jailed in Cuba only because he went AWOL from the armed forces. His brother said Chavez had nothing worse than a personal ``discomfort'' with Cuba's politics and economic crisis.

Even if Chavez had been an anti-Castro fighter, Sargen said, he should be severely punished ``because he has committed a repugnant crime.''

Herald staff writer Manny Garcia can be reached by e-mail at ma.garcia@herald.com and Herald staff writer Fabiola Santiago can be reached by e-mail at
fsantiago@herald.com