By Jose Dante Parra Herrera
The Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 12:03 a.m.
Dec. 20, 2000
MIAMI -- A group of alleged Cuban spies kept the government in Havana
informed of the movements of exile groups and any hint of an American invasion
of the island through coded e-mails and cryptic pages, according to prosecutors'
evidence released in their trial on Tuesday.
A federal judge ordered the U.S. Attorney's Office to open to the public
reams of evidence collected during two years of surveillance of the so-called "Wasp
Network," a ring of alleged spies operating in South Florida.
The documents include photographs of the men alongside exile leader José
Basulto and transcripts of coded e-mail reports of their conversations with Ramón
Saul Sánchez, another local Cuban leader. The transcripts, as decoded by
federal investigators, show the suspects' ingratiating themselves to exile
leaders -- and then mocking them behind their backs.
In a coded message to his supervisor, one unidentified suspect details
how he enlisted exile leaders to help him get his family out of Cuba, asking
them to reach out to two Cuban-American members of Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and Bob Menendez.
Another refers to the "mostly geriatric and senile membership"
of the Democracy Movement, Sanchez's group.
Prosecutors accuse the five of penetrating exile groups and spying on
U.S. military installations. They are charged with acting as unregistered agents
of the Cuban government, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and
a $250,000 fine.
The U.S. government has also accused three of the men of penetrating U.S.
military installations and passing on defense secrets.
The alleged ringleader is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder
in the 1996 downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes.
In the evidence revealed on Tuesday, the government had a three-inch
thick binder with coded messages sent via e-mail by people with code names like
"Giro" and "Lorient." The government identifies Giro as
Gerardo Hernandez, the alleged ringleader, and Lorient as Antonio Guerrero.
Defense attorneys do not deny their clients were trying to gather
information on exile groups. They argue, however, that the defendants were were
only trying to prevent terrorists from harming Cuba by gathering information
that was available to anyone.
Copyright 2000, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida
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