Published Tuesday, January 9, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
Jailed Cuban spy identifies his 'handlers'
He said both directed him to get a job at the Southern Command's Miami
headquarters.
By Gail Epstein Nieves, gepstein@herald.com.
A former Cuban intelligence agent on Monday identified two more defendants
in the Cuban spy trial as his "handlers'' and said both of them directed
him to get a job at the Southern Command's Miami headquarters so he could snoop
for the Cuban government.
The testimony of acknowledged ex-agent Joseph Santos, 40, was the first to
link accused spies Ramón Lavaniño and Fernando González
with in-the-trenches intelligence activity. On Friday, Santos similarly
implicated co-defendant Gerardo Hernández.
The trial's opening weeks focused on documentary and physical evidence
against the five accused spies. With Santos, jurors are hearing firsthand
accounts about the inner workings of Cuba's intelligence apparatus, from spy
recruitment to training to work assignments.
In the case of Santos and his wife, Amarylis -- also a Cuban agent -- their
achievements were far less illustrious than their assignments, according to
testimony.
Santos said he successfully completed a research project on the Southern
Command while its new headquarters were being built in Miami's Doral section in
early 1997.
He and his wife took photographs of all the surrounding buildings, between
Northwest 87th and 99th avenues and 25th and 40th streets, "to provide a
pretty clear idea to anyone'' what the area looked like.
Santos said he gave the report to his handler Lavaniño, an "illegal
agent'' or ranking Cuban intelligence operative who also went by the name Luis
Medina.
But more importantly, Lavaniño told the Santos couple that their "supreme
task'' was to get jobs at the Pentagon's SouthCom headquarters, which directs
U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Accused spy González -- who also went by the name Rubén Campa
-- gave them the same task, Santos testified. "Penetrating'' SouthCom was a
high priority set by Cuba's intelligence chiefs, according to Havana-to-Miami
directives seized by the FBI and read to jurors Monday.
MISSION FAILED
The Santos failed at that assignment. They were too busy trying to make a
legitimate living and never found a place to apply for a job, Santos said.
But on cross-examination, the defense attorney for accused spy Hernández
scoffed at the notion that Santos could have obtained anything important -- let
alone national defense secrets, a key factor for proving espionage -- even if he
had managed to get hired at SouthCom.
Santos does not speak English. Before his arrest, he was working as a
laborer at Goya Foods and the Miami Arena.
Attorney Paul McKenna read jurors a report in which Hernández
directed Santos to obtain "public information'' about SouthCom. "In
fact, none of your handlers ever tasked you with getting national security
information, did they?'' McKenna asked Santos.
Santos responded that it was implicit that he was supposed to get
information that could not be obtained "by conventional means.''
SERVING SENTENCES
Santos and his wife are already serving prison sentences after pleading
guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent.
Their terms are likely to be cut short for their help testifying against
Hernández, who prosecutors say conspired with the Cuban military to
murder four Brothers to the Rescue fliers in 1996.
McKenna cross-examined Santos about the plea agreement for a long time in an
apparent bid to undermine his credibility. Under sentencing guidelines, Santos
faced 60 months but prosecutors recommended he serve 48. U.S. District Judge
Joan Lenard agreed.
"So these people here,'' McKenna said, naming prosecutors Caroline Heck
Miller, John Kastrenakes, David Buckner and FBI Agent Al Alonso -- "are all
your friends that are helping you, correct?''
"They're not my friends,'' Santos responded through an interpreter. "I
met those people during the investigation of the case.''
Cubans migrate to Keys by dozens
Smugglers blamed for weekend influx
By Jennifer Babson. jbabson@herald.com
KEY LARGO -- After weeks of rough weather, relatively smooth seas prompted
dozens of Cuban migrants to cross the Florida Straits into the Keys this
weekend.
"That is typical of this time of year. There becomes a pent-up demand
because of the bad weather,'' said Capt. Joseph Nimmich, Commander of the U.S.
Coast Guard Group in Key West.
Coast Guard and U.S. Border Patrol officials said they suspected most of the
migrants had been smuggled in.
The migrants came ashore in landings from near Islamorada to Key West.
The men, women and children touched shore in four landings that stretched
from near Key West to Islamorada starting on Saturday night, according to
information provided by the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard and the Monroe County
Sheriff's Office.
The first group -- made up of seven men, one woman, a 12-year-old boy and
16-year-old boy -- came ashore at Boca Chica Key about 7 p.m. Saturday,
according to Border Patrol spokesman Mike McClarnon.
"They related that they came on a 30-foot boat that came near shore,
and they waded in. They said they didn't pay for the trip, and the vessel was
returned to Cuba,'' said McClarnon. "We suspect alien smuggling.''
Between 5 and 7 a.m. Sunday morning, 26 people came ashore on Big Coppitt
Key -- 12 men, nine women, four boys and a girl, McClarnon said.
The group, some of whom were family members, said they hailed from various
places in Cuba, including Havana and the provinces of Pinar del Río and
Matanzas.
Sunday evening, six men, three women, and a boy -- who said they left Cuba
only five hours before from an undisclosed location about 40 miles east of
Havana -- made shore in a 22-foot inflatable boat near Boca Chica Key.
A female passenger who suffered minor injuries was treated and released from
an area hospital.
The group was transported to Krome Detention Center.
A man believed to be a Cuban migrant was reported to police Monday morning
on Islamorada about 5:54 a.m. and taken into sheriff's office custody until
Border Patrol arrived, sheriff's office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said.
While no suspected smugglers were detained specifically in relation to the
weekend arrivals, early Monday morning the Coast Guard intercepted two men at
the helm of a 25-foot go-fast boat near Marathon.
The boat had "excess fuel'' and other items on board that led Coast
Guard officials to suspect the men, who are being questioned, may be smugglers.
Migrants continue to embark on the sometimes perilous journey across the
straits in large numbers. In the first eight days of this year, 50 Cuban
migrants made it to shore in the Miami area and the Florida Keys -- more than
half the 80 logged by Border Patrol agents for the entire month of January 2000.
The agency reported a slight decline in the number of Cuban migrants it took
into custody last year -- 2,443 as compared to 2,674 in 1999.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 