14 May 2003
Expelled Cuban Diplomats Suspected of Espionage, Says State Dept.
(Reeker describes diplomats' activities as "unacceptable") (910) By Lauren Monsen Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The decision to expel 14 Cuban diplomats from U.S. soil was in response to "certain inappropriate and unacceptable activities" that the diplomats engaged in, says State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker. At a May 13 State Department briefing, Reeker told reporters that the U.S. government "decided to take strong action" after determining that seven diplomats from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington and seven diplomats assigned to Cuba's Mission to the United Nations in New York were involved "in activities deemed to be harmful to the United States." All 14 diplomats were declared "persona non grata, requiring their departure" from the country, Reeker explained. "I think you are all familiar with the record of espionage by the Cuban regime against the United States," he added. "It's a long record." He cited recent examples such as the case of Ana Montes, a former senior analyst on Cuba at the Defense Intelligence Agency, as well as "the case of a former INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] official, and the so-called 'Wasp Ring' case in Miami, all of which have resulted in convictions for espionage or espionage-related crimes." Montes, arrested in September 2001 and currently serving a 25-year prison term, is the highest-level Cuban spy ever caught in the United States. Investigators demonstrated that she provided the Communist government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro with classified documents, photographs and the names of at least four covert U.S. operatives working in Cuba. Mariano Faget, a 34-year INS employee based in south Florida, was arrested in February 2000 on charges of spying against the United States after a sting operation revealed that he was passing information to Havana about Cuban asylum petitioners and defectors. The espionage ring known as the Wasp Network, consisting of more than a dozen Cuban secret agents who tried to infiltrate U.S. exile groups and military bases in Florida, operated for several years until law-enforcement authorities broke up the ring in 1998. Reeker reiterated that the 14 Cuban diplomats who have now been ordered to leave the United States are being expelled "because of activities which are not in keeping with their official duties -- inappropriate and unacceptable activities." Although he declined to identify any of the diplomats, a May 14 report published in The Washington Post offered the names of two. The Post said that Cosme Torres, the deputy chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, is the most senior of the expelled diplomats, while also naming Juan Hernandez, spokesman of the Cuban Interests Section, as another. Asked when the Cuban Interests Section was notified about the impending departures, Reeker said that the Cubans in question were summoned to the State Department at nine o'clock on the morning of May 13. The notice of expulsion was "delivered verbally and with a diplomatic note," he confirmed. The State Department official noted that the Cuban diplomats committed "an abuse of residence," which he defined as "undertaking activities that were inconsistent" with their official duties. In reference to those diplomats representing Cuba at the U.N. in New York, he said: "Under the host-country agreement we have with the United Nations, diplomats assigned to the United Nations are given the privilege of residence in the United States, and we determined that these seven members of the Cuban Mission ... were engaging in activities harmful to the United States outside of their official capacities as members of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations -- and those [activities] constitute an abuse of residence." The cumulative effects of the diplomats' expulsion, prior incidents of Cuban espionage, and the Castro regime's recent crackdown on dissidents are casting a shadow over already-strained U.S.-Cuba relations, Reeker indicated. These latest developments have prompted the Bush Administration to review "all of our policies in our approach to Cuba, in light of the significant deterioration" in Cuba's human rights situation, he said. "We have all discussed here several times the absolutely appalling situation -- the worst in over a decade -- in terms of what the [Castro] regime has done to silence people who are simply trying to speak," Reeker pointed out. He cited Castro's efforts "to restrict journalists from practicing their trade," the jailing of dissidents, and the death sentences imposed on would-be defectors as examples of the Cuban government's most recent abuses. "So, to ensure that we are doing all we can to support those [dissidents] seeking democratic change" in Cuba, "we are reviewing our policies, looking at all aspects of the bilateral relationship," he said. "We have long been frustrated by the lack of parity between how U.S. diplomats are treated by their Cuban hosts -- that is, through our diplomats at our Interests Section in Havana -- and the privileges extended to Cuban diplomats in the United States." The State Department has repeatedly protested the fact that James Cason, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, is encountering heavy-handed interference from the Castro regime because of his contact with Cuba's pro-democracy activists. As a result, "the issue of [diplomatic] reciprocity ... is under review," Reeker said. However, "no specific measures have been taken yet," he emphasized. "When we actually complete deliberations and make some decisions, we will provide details." (The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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