Thread: Another convicted Cuban spy to be released, deported

Posted on Tuesday, 01.28.14
CUBA

Another convicted Cuban spy to be released, deported

Similar Stories:

• Cuban spy convicted in Miami to be released in February
  
• 5 Things to Know in Florida for Jan. 29
  
• WLRN cancels interview with author of book that questions conviction of Cuban spies
  
• The plight of Alan Gross in Cuba
  
• WLRN apologizes and re-invites Cuba book author
  

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM


One of the five Cuban spies convicted in a Miami trial in 2001 will be released from a federal prison on Feb. 27 but will be transferred to an immigration lockup while awaiting his deportation to Cuba, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Miami attorney Ira Kurzban said the U.S. Bureau of prisons has set Feb. 27 as the release date for Fernando Gonzalez, 50, serving a 17 year prison sentence on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and possessing forged identity documents.

One of the five, Rene Gonzalez, completed his prison sentence in October of 2011 and how lives in Havana. The others are serving longer sentences, including one who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami men killed when their airplanes were shot down by Cuban MiGs.

Kurzban said that after his release from prison, Fernando Gonzalez will be transferred to an immigration lockup to await his deportation to Cuba. The waiting period will depend on how quickly the U.S. government moves on the deportation, the lawyer added.

“It should not be long. Everyone wants him out of here,” Kurzban said.

The five, convicted in a Miami trial in 20012, are considered to be heroes in Cuba, where the government argues that they were sent to South Florida only to spy on radical exile groups that may have been planning terror attacks. Evidence at the trial showed they also spied on U.S. military installations in the Florida Keys and Tampa.

Fernando Gonzalez was initially sentenced to 19 years in prison but an appeal cut it to 17 and with time off for good conduct he will have served 15 years, five months and 15 days in prison on Feb. 27, said Gloria La Riva, spokesperson for the U.S.-based “Free the Five” committee.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/2...an-spy-to.html

Canada Plans More Actions in favor of The Cuban Five

Ottawa, Jan 28 (Prensa Latina) Canadian groups are preparing today new actions to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the anti-terrorist Cuban fighters held in US prisons for 15 years. Activist Tamara Hansen told Prensa Latina that on February 5 a rally will be held outside the US Consulate in Vancouver in solidarity with Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez. These men and their compatriot Rene Gonzalez (who is already in Cuba) were arrested in 1998 while monitoring Miami-based terrorist groups operating against in Cuba, which in the past 53 years have left more than 1,400 victims. Rene served his sentence and left prison in October, 2011 and returned to Cuba in May, 2013, after giving up his US citizenship to end an additional three-year supervised release punishment. According to Hansen, coordinator of the Free the Five Committee in Vancouver, they are planning several activities in that city, in Nanaimos and in Lamloops, as well as in Seattle (the United States) on March 5-8 to mark 100 consecutive months of initiatives to support these Cuban heroes. She explained that the program includes a concert with Canadian and foreign artists, a vigil and a chat with journalist Stephen Kimber, the author of the book "What Lies Across the Water. The Real Story of The Cuban Five," a result of thorough investigation, including the review of at least 20,000 pages of legal files about the case of these men, who were tried in a hostile environment in Miami, where journalists were paid by the government to unleash a campaign to discredit them. sgl/ef/rma/jf/ymr

Modificado el ( martes, 28 de enero de 2014 ) http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o...22951&Itemid=1

UPDATE 1-Cuba challenges neighbors on poverty, then faces own critics

Reuters

- ‎57 minutes ago‎

By Daniel Trotta.

HAVANA Jan 28 (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro challenged Latin American and Caribbean leaders to improve healthcare and education, telling a regional summit on Tuesday they have the natural resources to eradicate poverty ...