Defense files bid to toss case against Cubans

Defense files bid to toss case against Cubans
By Sean Gardiner
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 8, 2006

Charges that a husband and wife acted as agents for Cuba should be
dismissed because the FBI's case is built on broken promises not to
prosecute if the man cooperated with the investigation, defense
attorneys say.

Those contentions contained in defense motions will be the focus of a
June 14 hearing in Miami before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore,
who will determine if the case against Carlos and Elsa Alvarez should be
dismissed.

The indictment charged that for 30 years, the Alvarezes supplied
non-classified information to the Cuban intelligence agency, mostly
about anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in Miami.

In several motions filed over the past week, defense attorneys have
asked that the judge dismiss the case on various grounds, including that
FBI agents reneged on their promise not to prosecute Carlos Alvarez, 61,
and his 56-year-old wife if he cooperated.

That motion by attorney Steven Chaykin states that FBI agents confronted
Carlos Alvarez on June 22, 2005, in a Miami Publix grocery store. There,
agent Alberto Alonso, who tape-recorded the interview, told the
professor, "We're giving you a chance for you to tell us what's going on
so we can leave you alone. ... Because we don't want nothing with you,
you understand?"

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pbcalvarez08jun08,0,4853467.story?coll=sfla-news-palm