NewsMax.com Wires.
Saturday, March 3, 2001
MIAMI (UPI) – The prosecution rested its case Friday after nearly three
months of testimony in the federal trial of five Cuban spy suspects.
Testimony in recent weeks centered on the Cuban MiG attack against two light
planes in 1996. One of the defendants, Gerardo Hernandez, is charged with
conspiracy to commit murder in the attack, which took the lives of four Miami
men. He could face a life sentence if convicted.
Prosecutors said Hernandez and the other four became "the eyes and ears
of the Cuban regime" in south Florida. They said the Cubans, operating
under bogus identities, used short-wave radios and encryption software to
transmit national defense secrets and disrupt Miami's Cuban-American community.
The trial started Dec. 7 before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard. It is
expected to last several more weeks after the defense begins presenting its case
Tuesday. Monday will be taken up by motions from both sides.
Prosecutors said evidence pointed to a conspiracy between Hernandez and the
Cuban government to set up the ambush over the Florida Straits of the four
members of Brothers to the Rescue who were looking for refugees in rafts trying
to make it from Cuba to Florida.
Jose Basulto, founder of the Brothers to the Rescue, has insisted for years
that Cuba had intended to claim that the planes were shot down while they were
on their way to Cuba for an air strike. Basulto was also on the mission but flew
his plane into a cloud as the MiGs approached and thereby escaped.
Attorneys for the five do not deny they worked for the Cuban government, but
they said they infiltrated exile groups and spied on military installations to
protect Cuba, not to damage U.S. national security.
The jury of 12 includes five Hispanics but no Cuban-Americans.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. | 