FIU mental health counselor accused of being agent for Cuban government came to attention of U.S. Senate terrorism panel in 1982

BY OSCAR CORRAL AND JAY WEAVER

The activities of a Florida International University mental-health counselor accused of operating as a covert agent for the Cuban government came to the attention of Congress as early as 1982 when she worked for the University of Miami, according to congressional records.

Florida investigators warned the federal government that several Cuban exiles in Miami, among them Elsa Prieto Alvarez, was providing sensitive information to the Cuba's communist government, just as Miami was struggling to absorb more than 125,000 Mariel refugees, including hundreds of prisoners with serious criminal backgrounds and patients with severe mental illnesses.

Prieto Alvarez's lawyer, Jane Moscowitz, said Thursday that her client ``never furnished any such records to the Cuban government.''

Testifying before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 1982, Sergio Pinon, then an agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, accused Elsa Prieto of sending along private information on mentally ill patients at Jackson Memorial Hospital to Cuba.

''Imagine if you will, what a fantastic tool for extortion or manipulation a foreign government would have by having this information,'' Pinon told the subcommittee. ``Let us ask you, how would you feel if you, your relatives or assistants had a history of mental illness, and if this information was leaked to Cuba?''

Moscowitz said if the congressional testimony were true, authorities either investigated her activity and found nothing wrong -- or didn't bother to investigate because her work was not suspicious.

U.S. authorities accused Prieto Alvarez, 55, and her husband, Carlos Alvarez, 61, on Monday of operating as covert agents for Cuba's communist government for decades using shortwave radios, numerical code language and computer encrypted files to send information about Miami's exile community to top Castro intelligence commanders. Prieto married Alvarez, an assistant professor at FIU, on Jan. 1, 1980. They are charged with not registering as agents for a foreign government and face up to 10 years in prison.

U.S. prosecutors said Carlos Alvarez had spied for Cuba since 1977 and his wife since 1982.

In 1982, the FDLE agents, Pinon and Daniel Benitez -- noting they were not testifying on behalf of the agency -- said that Prieto Alvarez allegedly supplied information on patients in the ''mental ward'' at Jackson to Cuba through Lourdes Dopico, who ran a travel agency.

``The person who provided information for transmission to Cuba is alleged to be Elsa Prieto ... The access of this type of information to suspected or actual Castro agents is of a great concern to all.''

Dopico was indicted in 1982 on federal charges for illegal financial dealings with Cuba as president of Cañaveral Travel.

Dopico's attorney, John de Leon, said Thursday that the 1982 charges on the indictment were eventually dismissed and not related to espionage in any way. He said that Dopico is living and working in Miami. ''She has not been convicted of anything in her life, and she is a law-abiding citizen,'' de Leon said.

A woman who talked to a Herald reporter outside Dopico's west Miami-Dade home declined to comment.

Elsa Alvarez's resume, in her FIU personnel file, indicates she trained at the University of Miami medical school's Spanish Family Guidance Center from 1975 through 1979. She also listed herself as a research instructor at the University of Miami's department of psychiatry from 1979 through 1982.

The University of Miami's medical school spokeswoman Jeanne Krull said Thursday the university would not ``make any comment on employees, past or present.''

The FDLE agents' testimony referred to Prieto Alvarez based on allegations by the late Rev. Manuel Espinosa, a pro-dialogue Cuban exile who accused several fellow exiles of being pro-Castro agents for the Cuban government, after breaking ranks with them.

Espinosa said at a news conference at the Columbus Hotel Feb. 5, 1980, which was broadcast live on the now-defunct WRHC Cadena Azul, that Prieto was spying for Cuba, among other things, according to a transcript compiled by Miami Radio Monitoring Service.

''Elsa Prieto, who worked at the Mental Health Program, received immediate orders to separate from the Maceo Brigade to penetrate the professional circles here and to send to Cuba any information about us,'' Espinosa said, according to the transcript.

Espinosa, a Hialeah preacher and self-proclaimed Cuban agent, allegedly recruited Napoleón Vilaboa in 1968 to serve as a Cuban agent in Miami. Vilaboa is now considered the ''Father of the Freedom Flotilla,'' the chief instigator of the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

Vilaboa went on Spanish-language radio in Miami, urging Cubans to go pick up relatives in Mariel -- setting the example himself by piloting a 41-foot fishing vessel and leading a small flotilla across the Florida Straits that opened the gates to the mass migration.

De Leon maintains that Espinosa's allegations were discredited and that defamation charges against him for his comments about Dopico could not be pursued because he died.

Pinon, who no longer works for the FDLE, told the terrorism subcommittee that ''the Antonio Maceo Brigade has been active at Florida International University in Dade County in attempts to recruit and sign up persons.'' Former agent Benitez also testified about the brigade's influence at other universities.

The brigade, which is still active, is a pro-Castro group that began decades ago to recruit university students to seek a U.S. opening with Cuba.

Pinon declined to comment about his testimony when reached at his home Wednesday. But a woman who talked to a reporter at his west-Dade house said that the testimony in the subcommittee report is ``reliable.''

The 1982 testimony raises questions about why authorities did not pursue a case against Prieto Alvarez sooner, since they claimed she had been spying since that same year.

A former U.S. intelligence officer knowledgeable on Cuba, who asked not to be identified, said the government may not have pursued a case against Prieto Alvarez back in 1982 because of ``arrogance.''

''It's a characteristic of the FBI, especially when they're dealing with local law enforcement,'' the ex-official said. ``The bureau did not have any interest in Cuban support for international terrorists. I think maybe the story here is that the bureau simply assigned Elsa a very low priority.''

The FBI's Miami office declined to comment about the 1982 congressional testimony.

Miami attorneys for the FIU couple said the fact that state law enforcement agents publicly testified in the early 1980s about Prieto Alvarez and her alleged role as a Cuban agent shows she has done nothing wrong.

''This proves that the [current] charge against Elsa Alvarez is a stale and baseless allegation that the government appropriately ignored almost 25 years ago,'' said her attorney, Moscowitz.

''Now we find that the government concluded some 25 years ago that what our clients are being accused of today was not improper,'' said attorney Steven Chaykin, who represents Carlos Alvarez.

Chaykin said the reputations of two respected academics were being destroyed by a ''McCarthy-like hysteria,'' fueled by government misstatements about their alleged covert work on behalf of Cuban intelligence agents.

''The presumption of innocence has disappeared,'' Chaykin said. ``There are serious and troubling questions about these charges -- their timing and purpose.''

Miami federal prosecutors defended the indictment as solid, but declined to comment about the 1982 congressional testimony about Prieto Alvarez.

''Any covert Castro agent that operates in South Florida poses a threat to our nation and our community,'' said interim U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.

''The United States Attorney's Office will use all legal means and will vigorously prosecute each and every foreign agent operating in South Florida,'' he said. ``The indictment of Carlos and Elsa Alvarez was appropriate and timely.''

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart said the spy case against the Alvarez couple could be just the tip of the iceberg.

''There are many Cuban spies that have already been discovered by U.S. intelligence, but whose cover have not yet been blown,'' said the Republican lawmaker. ``I wouldn't be surprised that there are more ... but not just at FIU.''

Attending the 1982 congressional hearing, according to the transcript, was Jose Delgado, who was assigned to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, D.C., and served with the title of third secretary.

Miami Herald Staff Writers Alfonso Chardy and Noah Bierman and researcher Monika Leal contributed to this report.