MIAMI -- (AP) -- Five people accused of spying for Cuba were the Havana
 government's eyes and ears in South Florida, a prosecutor said today as their trial
 opened in federal court.

 The defendants -- three Cuban intelligence officers and two U.S. nationals -- used
 coded computer disks, high-frequency radio transmissions and electronic phone
 messages to infiltrate U.S. military bases and Cuban exile groups, Assistant U.S.
 Attorney David Buckner said.

 "All of these things paint a portrait of a sophisticated and highly motivated
 espionage cell operating in the midst of our community,'' Buckner told jurors.

 The defense was to make its opening statements later in the day.

 Priorities for the spy ring included getting access to the U.S. Southern Command
 Headquarters after it moved to Miami from Panama in 1996 and discrediting the
 Cuban-exile group Brothers to the Rescue before a Cuban MiG shot down two of
 the group's planes in 1996, killing four, prosecutors said.

 The five were arrested in 1998 on an indictment charging a 14-member ring. Five
 others have plea bargains requiring them to cooperate, and four are fugitives
 believed to be in Cuba.

 The five defendants acknowledge acting on orders from the Cuban government but
 say they were feeding information about militant Cuban exiles in Miami to the FBI
 during an outbreak of bombings at Cuban tourist centers in 1997.

 Three of the five face life in prison if convicted of the most serious espionage
 conspiracy charge. The other two would face 10-year terms if convicted as
 unregistered foreign agents.

 One, Gerardo Hernandez, also is charged with murder conspiracy for the Brothers
 to the Rescue shootings.