CUBA: Who, Me?

Arrested in Miami last week: Charles Hormel, 45, the smooth-talking, high-flying U.S. citizen who identified himself to a TIME correspondent in Havana as the pilot of a plane loaded with arms that ditched in Guantanamo Bay fortnight ago (TIME, Sept. 1). Charge: violating the U.S. Mutual Security Act by illegally exporting munitions, specifically, a load of arms and ammunition destined for Fidel Castro in his war against Dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Cool as a Cuba Libre, Hormel protested his innocence. The accusations, said he, were all a big misunderstanding. When the rented plane's owner heard that it had gone down in Cuba, he asked Hormel what had happened. Hormel denied ever making the flight. He was in Alabama at the time, he said; someone must have stolen the plane while his back was turned. It may be tough to prove. In Havana last week, the word was that Flyer Hormel had left his passport in the splashed plane—and that the U.S. Navy found the document when it towed the plane ashore.