Published Monday, June 11, 2001 in the
Miami Herald.
Cuba's Wasp Network Convicted. The attempt to smear Cuban exiles failed.
Six long months after the trial of the five Cuban spies began, the
resounding verdict came on Friday: guilty on all counts.
Not only were all members of the code-named Wasp Network convicted on
serious espionage charges. The jury also found that its ringleader, Gerardo Hernández,
conspired with Havana to murder the four Brothers to the Rescue fliers killed in
the 1996 shoot-down of their planes.
This was a well-earned victory for the federal prosecutors -- and for the
country. As important, it gave the lie to defense claims that they were Cuban
``patriots'' trying to protect their country against Cuban exiles.
EXILES ON TRIAL
The spies all were provided with competent lawyers at U.S. taxpayer expense.
The defense traveled six times to Cuba to gather evidence, brought Cuban
witnesses into the Miami courtroom, and enjoyed wide latitude in presenting its
arguments.
Defense lawyers also put the Cuban-exile community on trial, arguing that
the spies were only defending their country from terrorists and kooks. Yet none
of the 12 jurors were led astray by that red herring, voting point by point for
the prosecution. This is remarkable in that no juror is or has a close tie to a
Cuban American -- this in a county with the largest concentration of Cubans
outside of Cuba.
Despite portrayals of bumbling spies out of Get Smart, the convicted men
were committed members of Cuba's intelligence service, known for its ability to
corrupt people and infiltrate targeted organizations.
The jury clearly believed that the three agents convicted of espionage
conspiracy intended to steal U.S. military secrets, though they weren't able to
do so. Jurors also saw the connection between Hernández, the spymaster,
and the heinous shoot-down that killed four South Floridians.
Prosecutors showed that Hernández warned two of his operatives, who
had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, not to fly on the group's missions
during a period that included Feb. 24, 1996, when the shoot-down occurred. One
of those operatives disappeared and resurfaced in Cuba.
Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales
had no idea, however. Flying on a Brothers to the Rescue mission, the four were
killed when Cuban Air Force MiGs shot missiles at their unarmed Cessnas over
international waters.
A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
A civil court in 1987 denounced the Cuba's regime for the ``callous
murders'' and awarded the relatives $187.6 million in damages. Now a criminal
court has found Cuban spymaster Hernández guilty of conspiracy in those
murders. His Cuban intelligence chiefs and the intellectual authors of the crime
in the regime's highest levels are equally culpable. One day they, too, should
answer to justice.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 