Spy suspects discussed sabotage, feds say

News analysis: Miscues blamed on military's takeover of Cuban spy agency
Read the criminal complaint against the 10

By DAVID LYONS and ANA ACLE
Herald Staff Writers

Federal prosecutors Wednesday leveled a more serious and tantalizing allegation against the accused leader of an alleged spy ring for Cuba: Manuel Viramontes, a man armed with a résumé of aliases, discussed the sabotage of aircraft and an airplane hangar somewhere in Florida.

``The defendant has made allusions to the prospect of sabotage being visited on buildings and on airplanes in the Southern District of Florida,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Heck Miller told a federal magistrate during a lengthy bond hearing for Viramontes and co-defendant Luis Medina in U.S. District Court in Miami.

But the government offered no other details about possible sabotage.

The FBI arrested 10 accused Cuban spies over the weekend, but the government has since made no mention of potential attacks on government installations. The thrust of the government's case focuses principally on illegal intelligence gathering and the infiltration of exile groups in Miami.

Heck Miller said investigators found references to potential violence among the hundreds of computer diskettes seized from Viramontes' apartment in Miami Beach. Some of the diskettes contained coded references to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

The allegations effectively precluded any hope the defendants may have had for obtaining bail before trial. The two men, along with the eight others, were charged with attempting to gather information from three U.S. military bases, infiltrating exile groups that vehemently oppose Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and operating as unregistered foreign agents.

U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber ordered Viramontes and Luis Medina held in jail after determining that both are dangers to the community and would likely flee the country if freed on bail. He cited Viramontes' extensive use of aliases and evidence of links to Cuban intelligence. He noted that Medina has no family ties in the United States, but did have a plane ticket to fly to Mexico City today.

Garber postponed the bond hearings of the eight other defendants so that court-appointed defense attorneys could better prepare their cases.

Defense attorneys, while trying to free their clients, spent much of the hearing trying to glean more information about the government's case.

They didn't get much, and charged that the government had presented a series ofuncorroborated allegations to keep their clients behind bars.

Miami lawyer Paul McKenna, who represents Viramontes, said prosecutors offered no proof that his client used or possessed tools of violence. Indeed, when agents searched Viramontes' apartment in Miami Beach, they found no firearms, no explosives and no instruction manuals about how to manufacture bombs.

Attorney Eric Cohen, who represents Medina, agreed.

``What I've heard from the government is more like a Peter Sellers movie than a James Bond movie,'' he said.

But prosecutors and an FBI agent who helped investigate the case painted a picture of a low-budget spy ring that reported to the communist island via short wave radio and computer disks delivered by courier.

``They apparently didn't have a large budget to operate with,'' testified FBI agent Mark de Almeida, who said he has spent a year on the case. ``The documents reflect that they were expected to suffer in a similar fashion to the rest of the Cuban people.''

Heck Miller and fellow prosecutor Guy Lewis told the court the men were well-stocked with aliases and phony documents, and the names they are now using are fake. Viramontes, for example, used two ``back-up'' aliases: Daniel Cabrera-Olivera and Roberto Garcia Fernandez.

Although Viramontes listed himself as single, he actually had a wife, code-named ``Bonsai,'' in Cuba. At one point, prosecutors said, he wrote her a letter marking their eighth wedding anniversary.

The prosecutors also noted that Viramontes had traveled to Cuba at least twice in recent years -- once in late 1995 and again in 1997. They said he had devised four ``escape plans'' - two to Mexico, one to Managua, Nicaragua, and another to Canada.

Lewis told the court that Medina, who purportedly was born in Texas, was poised to leave the country with a briefcase containing cash and personal documents such as school diplomas and a birth certificate.

``Who carries diplomas and birth certificates in a briefcase?'' Lewis asked. ``He is exactly what we allege he is -- a spy for the government of Cuba.''

Meanwhile, the Miami-based Democracy Movement, known for its flotilla demonstrations against the Castro regime in waters near Cuba, announced it is planning another protest in retaliation for the alleged infiltration of its group by two of the accused agents.

``This gives us more vigor,'' said group leader Ramon Saul Sanchez. ``There are more spies, we know that.''

The group was stunned by the arrests of Rene Gonzalez-Sehweret, who served as under-secretary of air affairs, and Alejandro Alonso, who maintained a lesser role.

Sanchez said that because Gonzalez was able to penetrate the group, the organization will change its admissions policy. He said the group will soon form a study committee to improve security.

Among other things, the group has canceled all events, will change computer passwords, security codes, and radio frequencies. It also will move its boats to a new location and tighten the security of its aircraft.

Reflecting a new sense of caution, Sanchez declined to say precisely when the protest will occur, or whether it will be an airborne or waterborne event. He said only that it will take place between this weekend and Oct. 10.