By DAVID LYONS
Herald Staff Writer
A Miami criminal defense lawyer charged Wednesday that the federal government did nothing to pursue information from a drug-smuggling client who said the Cuban government is aiding the international cocaine trade.
The allegations surfaced at a sentencing hearing in Miami federal court for admitted drug smuggler Jorge Cabrera, 41, whose name has also turned up as a hefty contributor to the Democratic National Committee.
After a contentious, two-hour hearing, Cabrera received a 19-year prison term for his role in a 5,828-pound cocaine bust last January. He was fined $1.5 million, which will come from his own assets.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard administered the term -- at the high end of sentencing guidelines -- over the strenuous objections of lawyer Stephen Bronis. He argued that Cabrera should have received credit for offering to help prove that Colombian cocaine traffickers use Cuba as a way station with the approval of high-ranking authorities there.
But neither the judge nor the Drug Enforcement Administration gave Cabrera's claim any credence.
``This defendant has had a lengthy history of involvement -- major involvement -- in the drug trade in this community,'' Lenard said. The judge refused to hear a full recitation of Cabrera's Cuba story from Bronis, saying it was up to the government to make a presentation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Diaz went in the other direction. She said Cabrera had lied to her and was guilty of obstructing justice. She offered no details.
But late Wednesday, James Milford, the DEA's top agent in Miami, said his investigators found Cabrera to be short on credibility.
``I felt that he had an ulterior motive and he was less than credible,'' Milford said. ``The bottom line is that he was and would have remained one of the major traffickers in South Florida, coordinating multiton loads of cocaine.''
Milford also termed Cabrera's story as ``self-serving,'' ``inconsistent'' and ``not something we wanted to pursue based on our investigative expertise.''
Bronis, however, insisted that his client's story is credible, a position supported by the work of his own private investigator. He sent a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno in Washington, asking that her office investigate the case.
``I'm asking that an investigation be conducted so that the truth can be known,'' Bronis said.
In his spare time, Cabrera supported political causes. His name has surfaced on a list of substantial contributors to the Democratic Party whose donations earn them special treatment. Bronis acknowledged that after donating up to $20,000, Cabrera accepted an invitation to the White House and attended a private dinner in Cocoplum for Vice President Al Gore.
``There was no quid pro quo or anything,'' Bronis said. ``It was like any other campaign contributor who donates a sizable amount of money and gets an invitation to a dinner.''
He did not have any other details.
In court and in the letter to Reno, Bronis said his client had direct dealings with Cali Cartel figure Carlos Tascon, a large-scale trafficker of U.S.-bound drugs through Cuban waters.
Bronis also said Cabrera met personally with Cuban President Fidel Castro, and did business with Manuel Piñeiro Losada, a notorious international-affairs official of the Cuban Revolution known as ``Barba Roja,'' or Red Beard. Cabrera said he also dealt with another high-ranking Cuban official, Alfredo Guevara.
Cuba has strenuously denied any complicity in the drug trade. And on Wednesday, its government was reported to have helped the United States build a drug case involving 12 men whose scuttled ship was found just outside Cuban waters with 3,748 pounds aboard.
In 1993, federal prosecutors in Miami prepared a draft indictment naming Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, as well as ``Red Beard.'' The investigation fizzled, however, after authorities determined that the indictment relied too heavily on uncorroborated testimony of smugglers who generally did not have access to the inner circles of the Cuban government.
But the issue heated up again this year with the arrival of the huge load involving Cabrera and several other traffickers.
Cabrera is a Cuban American whose family owns one of the largest commercial fisheries in the Keys, supplying lobster and crab meat to restaurants throughout the United States. When Cabrera was arrested, agents found a photograph of him posing with Fidel Castro.
Bronis said his client notified the U.S. government in February that he had information about Cuba. Bronis said he initially advised Cabrera to remain silent, because of the volatile political climate in Miami and the potential for physical harm against his family members.
But Cabrera insisted that he wanted to proceed, and the lawyer relented. Besides the names dropped by Cabrera, Bronis recalled, his client also offered to help set up a cocaine shipment from Colombia to Miami that American authorities could monitor.
``That shipment would come through Cuba in full view,'' Bronis said. ``It would go untouched. It would go unseized. Colombian drug [traffickers] would be embraced in Cuba.''
Cabrera, Bronis said, also told agents and prosecutors that they would be in a position to catch Miami-based ``mules'' who would collect the cocaine once it arrived, and the money launderers who would wash the profits.
The government, however, was not interested, Bronis contended.
``Lo and behold, I was surprised to learn that no, `we just want historical information from your client,' '' Bronis recalled agents as saying.
Copyright © 1996 The Miami Herald