Another convicted Cuban spy to be released, deported

Posted on Tuesday, 01.28.14

Another convicted Cuban spy to be released, deported
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

One of the five Cuban spies convicted in a Miami trial in 2001 will be
released from a federal prison on Feb. 27 but will be transferred to an
immigration lockup while awaiting his deportation to Cuba, his lawyer
said Tuesday.

Miami attorney Ira Kurzban said the U.S. Bureau of prisons has set Feb.
27 as the release date for Fernando Gonzalez, 50, serving a 17 year
prison sentence on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and
possessing forged identity documents.

One of the five, Rene Gonzalez, completed his prison sentence in October
of 2011 and how lives in Havana. The others are serving longer
sentences, including one who was sentenced to life in prison for a
murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami men killed when their
airplanes were shot down by Cuban MiGs.

Kurzban said that after his release from prison, Fernando Gonzalez will
be transferred to an immigration lockup to await his deportation to
Cuba. The waiting period will depend on how quickly the U.S. government
moves on the deportation, the lawyer added.

"It should not be long. Everyone wants him out of here," Kurzban said.

The five, convicted in a Miami trial in 20012, are considered to be
heroes in Cuba, where the government argues that they were sent to South
Florida only to spy on radical exile groups that may have been planning
terror attacks. Evidence at the trial showed they also spied on U.S.
military installations in the Florida Keys and Tampa.

Fernando Gonzalez was initially sentenced to 19 years in prison but an
appeal cut it to 17 and with time off for good conduct he will have
served 15 years, five months and 15 days in prison on Feb. 27, said
Gloria La Riva, spokesperson for the U.S.-based "Free the Five" committee.

Source: Another convicted Cuban spy to be released, deported - Cuba -
MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/28/3898710/another-convicted-cuban-spy-to.html