By Luisa Yanez. lyanez@herald.com. Published Tuesday, July
31, 2001 in The Miami Herald
Attorneys for five convicted Cuban spies -- held since June in special
confinement at the Federal Detention Center -- have asked a judge to allow Cuban
government officials to visit them this week, according to motions filed in
Miami federal court.
If approved, the meeting would be the first between the five and Cuban
officials since the Wasp Network spy ring was squashed in 1998, said assistant
federal public defender Joaquín Méndez.
"They have the right to such a meeting, the same way Americans held in
foreign jails have the right to meet with representatives from their
consulate,'' said Méndez, who cited the Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations and their right to protection against cruel and unusual punishment in
his motion.
It also included a June 29 letter from the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington, D.C., to the State Department. In it, the Cubans requested immediate
"consular access'' for José Anselmo López Perera, first
secretary and consul, and Luis Adolfo Morales Rodríguez, short-term
temporary support officer at the interests section.
Luis Fernández, spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section, said
Monday that other foreign nationals jailed in the United States are granted such
meetings.
"As Cuban citizens held in an American jail, they have that right,
too,'' he said.
Before any meeting can take place, the spies must be moved out of the
Special Housing Unit and back to the prison's general population. The five were
put into the unit for an unspecified reason June 26.
In motions filed last week, Méndez asked U.S. District Judge Joan
Lenard to order their transfers.
The five are awaiting sentencing.
After the six-month trial, a Miami jury convicted the group of espionage
June 8. One of them was also convicted of a single count of murder conspiracy.
MONITORED GROUPS
Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino,
Fernando González and René González were found guilty of
monitoring U.S. military installations, some in the Florida Keys, and Cuban
exile groups in Miami.
Hernández also was convicted of conspiracy in the 1996 shoot-down of
four Brothers to the Rescue fliers.
Hernández, Labañino and Guerrero face maximum sentences of
life in prison. Fernando González and René González, who
are not related, face up to 10 years behind bars.
Sentencing hearings are set to start in late September.
Numerous requests to allow a meeting between the five and representatives of
their government have been ignored by the Bureau of Prisons, said lead defense
attorney Paul McKenna.
Barry Sabin, first assistant U.S. attorney, said Monday that he would not
elaborate on the U.S. government's position on the proposed visit from Cuban
officials.
"We'll file our response to their motion in court,'' he said.
SECURITY FEARS
Eighteen days after their convictions, federal prison officials moved the
five men into the Special Housing Unit, or "the hole,'' as inmates have
nicknamed the section. In a one-sentence statement, officials said the move was
not related to behavior problems, traditionally the reason that inmates are
placed there.
Attorney Jack Blumenfeld, who represents Guerrero, said his client was told
the move was prompted by security fears sparked by growing sentiment in Cuba
that the spies are being unjustly held.
In Cuba, the verdicts have been described as a "revolting injustice.''
In the motion, Méndez, who represents Fernando González but
filed the motion on behalf of all five, said their ability to prepare for their
sentencing is being hampered by their confinement. "They are "locked
up in a small, windowless cells 23 hours a day. . . . They are required to eat
and use the toilet in the same cell and are denied numerous basic rights and
privileges afforded to inmates in the general population.'' No hearing date has
been set.
Five other spies arrested made plea bargains requiring them to cooperate
with the prosecution. The Cuban government officials have made no request to
speak to them.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald |