Raúl Castro's prisoner-swap offer met with scorn, skepticism, intrigue

Posted on Saturday, 04.18.09
Raúl Castro's prisoner-swap offer met with scorn, skepticism, intrigue
South Floridians responded to Raúl Castro's prisoner swap idea with
scorn, skepticism and intrigue.
BY TRENTON DANIEL AND ELAINE DE VALLE
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com

Swapping five Cuban spies convicted in Miami for the communist regime's
jailed dissidents and political prisoners would be ''a travesty,'' a
prominent exile activist declared Friday.

Jose Basulto, founder of the Brothers to the Rescue exile group and the
only pilot who survived a 2006 air attack by Cuban MiGs that killed four
fliers, said the prisoner groups cannot be compared.

''They are two very different things,'' said Basulto. ``The prisoners in
Cuba are part of a larger population of political prisoners, namely the
entire island. The government can release these and take 50 others, so
[a swap] would be meaningless.''

One day after Raúl Castro's offer for a swap, South Florida residents
responded with scorn, skepticism and intrigue.

A federal jury convicted the so-called Cuban Five on spying-related
charges in 2001, in a trial the Bush administration portrayed as
delivering justice for the Brothers shootdown after one of the spies was
linked to the attack over international waters.

Three of the men are serving life sentences. Two others got 15- and
19-year sentences, respectively. They were among 14 people arrested in
1998 as members of Cuba's Wasp Network.

While acknowledging they were Cuban agents, the men maintained their
primary target was exile groups allegedly planning ''terrorist'' actions
against the Castro government.

In Cuba, they are hailed as the ''five heroes,'' and their faces appear
on everything from classroom banners to postage stamps.

On Friday, talk of a possible prisoner exchange -- not the first such
overture by Havana -- was particularly troubling for exiles
commemorating the failed Bay of Pigs invasion's 48th anniversary.

''These are two completely different things,'' said Humberto ''El
Chino'' Diaz-Arguelles, 66, who was 18 when he participated in the
CIA-planned invasion and was caught and sentenced to 30 years. He and
more than 1,200 other captured exiles were freed two years later in a
U.S.-negotiated exchange for food and medicine.

''The prisoners in Cuba are political prisoners who are dissidents,
people who simply wanted to exercise their freedom of speech and freedom
of the press,'' Diaz-Arguelles said.

Miriam de la Peña, mother of one of the four fliers killed in the
Brothers shootdown, called the swap proposal ``. . . pardon the
expression, B.S. from Raúl Castro.''

Killed in addition to her son, pilot Mario de la Peña, were Carlos
Costa, Armando Alejandre and Pablo Morales.

Miami attorney Paul McKenna, who represented ringleader Gerardo
Hernández -- the only Cuban Five spy convicted of murder conspiracy --
said ''the only thing that is really specific and concrete'' is that
Castro wants to talk about the spies.

''I really believe they will do anything to change some policies so they
can get these five people back,'' he said.

Raúl Castro's prisoner-swap offer met with scorn, skepticism, intrigue -
Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com (1 May 2009)

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1005583.html