Cuban Five

"Wasp Network" redirects here. For the film, see Wasp Network (film).

A poster in front of Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, calling for the release of the Cuban Five in 2007

The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five,[1] are five Cuban intelligence officers (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miami, Florida of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States.[2] The Five were in the U.S. to observe and infiltrate the Cuban-American groups Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue.[3] They were part of La Red Avispa (lit. 'The Wasp Network') composed of at least 27 Cuban spies.[2]

The Cuban government acknowledged that the five were intelligence agents in 2001, after denying it for three years. It said they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community, not the U.S. government.[4] Cuba says that the men were sent to South Florida in the wake of several terrorist bombings in Havana organized by anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, a former Central Intelligence Agency operative.[4][5]

The Five appealed their convictions, and concerns about the fairness of their trial received international attention.[6] A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned their convictions in 2005, citing the "prejudices" of Miami's anti-Castro Cubans, but the full court later denied the five's bid for a new trial and reinstated the original convictions.[4] In June 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.[7] In Cuba, the Five are viewed as national heroes and portrayed as having sacrificed their liberty in the defense of their country.[8]

René González was released from prison on October 7, 2011, having completed thirteen years of his sentence, with three years of probation in the U.S. remaining.[9] He was allowed to return to Cuba for his father's funeral on April 22, 2013, and a federal judge allowed him to stay there provided that he renounce his U.S. citizenship.[10] Fernando González was released on February 27, 2014.[11] The remaining members were released on December 17, 2014, in a prisoner swap with Cuba for an American intelligence officer, identified by a senior American as Rolando Sarraff Trujillo.[12] The exchange of prisoners coincided with Cuba's release of American contractor Alan Phillip Gross, although the governments characterized the release of Gross as being unrelated to the prisoner exchange. The release of the Cuban Five was broadly part of a temporary easing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, known as the Cuban Thaw.[13]

  1. ^ "Miami Five wives again denied visas to visit their husbands". Amnesty International. March 26, 2009. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  2. ^ a b "The agents who were too tired to spy". The Guardian. March 6, 2001.
  3. ^ June 4, 2008, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, D. C. Docket No. 98-00721-CR-JAL. Archived February 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c "Havana Complains About Conditions for Cuban Spy in U.S. Jail". International Herald Tribune. August 4, 2010. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  5. ^ Campbell, Duncan (January 9, 2008). "'Society has become more punitive'". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Denny, Pat (November 17, 1993). "United States: Cuban Five ruling a "travesty of justice"". Green Left Online. No. 680. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference reuters150609 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel (June 3, 2006). "Cubans Jailed in US as Spies Are Hailed at Home as Heroes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  9. ^ "Cuban spy free from Florida jail but must stay in U.S". Reuters. October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  10. ^ Cave, Damien (May 3, 2013). "Judge Says Cuban Who Spied on U.S. Can Stay in Cuba". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  11. ^ "U.S. News - National News". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014.
  12. ^ "Journey to Reconciliation Visited Worlds of Presidents, Popes and Spies" Archived September 29, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 17, 2014
  13. ^ Labott, Elise (December 17, 2014). "Cuba releases American Alan Gross, paves way for historic easing of American sanctions". CNN. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2022.