All 5 moved to high-security unit
By Luisa Yanez. lyanez@herald.com. July 3, 2001.
The Miami Herald
Concerns over protests in Cuba calling for the release of five men convicted
of spying in Miami prompted federal prison officials to move them into a
high-security unit, one of their attorneys said Monday.
"My client was told that they were all put in the secure area because
the prison was worried about the demonstrations going on in Cuba,'' said
attorney Jack Blumenfeld, who on Monday met with his client, Antonio Guerrero,
held along with the others at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.
The five -- Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino,
Fernando González and René González -- were found guilty of
operating as unregistered foreign agents on June 8. One of the defendants, Hernández,
was also convicted of murder conspiracy. They are all awaiting sentencing in
late September or early October.
On Monday, prison officials confirmed the men have been segregated and
placed in the Special Housing Unit, nicknamed "the hole'' by inmates. They
said the move was for "nonpunitive'' reasons but did not elaborate.
USUAL REASONS
Inmates usually are put in the unit for disciplinary infractions, their
personal safety or security reasons.
"I guess prison officials are afraid hundreds of Cubans will come from
the Malecón to Miami to try to free them,'' Blumenfeld joked. "We
hope this will be resolved soon and we won't have to go to court.''
Inmates inside the high-security unit on the 12th floor spend most of the
day in a small cell that holds one or two people. Most of their personal
belongings are taken away. Inmates and visitors sit on opposite sides of a plate
glass window.
Guerrero told his attorney he was sharing a cell with co-defendant Labañino.
The accommodations of the three other Cuban spies were unknown and their
attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Luis Fernández, spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment.
MADE INTO HEROES
In Cuba, the spies are being transformed into national heroes. Their
predicament is the main topic on a nightly round table show televised
nationally. On Saturday, Fidel Castro's brother Raúl led a rally calling
for their release.
Last month, a letter attributed to the spies also was published in the
official Communist Party newspaper in Havana.
"We have honored our duty to our people and our homeland,'' they wrote.
When first arrested in September 1998, the defendants were held in the same
high-security unit for 17 months but were moved into the general population in
February 2000 after a series of motions by their attorneys.
Three of the men face life sentences; two others could be sent to prison for
at least 15 years.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald |