Files show orders to discredit pilots

 BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

 Even before Cuban MiGs shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996,
 killing four men, Fidel Castro's intelligence bosses apparently targeted the Miami
 pilot group for sabotage and dissension, according to court documents in the
 Cuban spy trial.

 Declassified communications from Cuban intelligence, read to jurors Wednesday,
 showed that accused spy and pilot Rene Gonzalez -- one of five men on trial --
 was directed to burn the hangar and planes of the ``counter-revolutionary
 organization'' and to make it look like an ``accident, negligence or self damage.''

 ``Rumors will leak that [Brothers leader Jose] Basulto and his people caused the
 damage themselves to collect the insurance and get more money from their
 contributors,'' said the undated message, whose author was not revealed.

 Operation Picada, or bite, as the anti-Brothers campaign was named, was one of
 dozens of missions allegedly linked to the five alleged spies now on trial in federal
 court. Picada also means nose dive.

 Jurors also heard about orders from Cuban intelligence for someone to mail an
 ``alleged book bomb'' -- complete with ``plastique,'' or plastic explosives -- to a
 Miami-based CIA agent. Other missions sought to discredit the Cuban American
 National Foundation and Miami's Cuban exile community at large.

 The communications were contained on nearly 1,000 encrypted computer disks
 confiscated during FBI searches of the defendants' South Florida apartments.
 Further testimony about the messages is expected when the trial resumes Jan.
 3.

 Developers of Operation Picada also directed Gonzalez -- a pilot for Brothers to
 the Rescue and alleged double agent -- to disable the group's ground antennae
 and transmission equipment ``making it seem like negligence.'' The orders were
 directed to ``Castor,'' one of Gonzalez's cover names, according to the
 government.

 ``Castor'' also was requested to ``inform us ahead of time'' of who was flying
 Brothers planes and when, and to try to hide material in Brothers planes.

 The documents mirror suspicions voiced previously by Basulto, who has
 speculated that Brothers planes were ``sabotaged'' several times: cut cables in an
 airplane's control panel, a weight attached to the propeller of Basulto's plane,
 metal particles in the oil drum of another aircraft.

 Basulto has said that Gonzalez was the first person at the Brothers' Opa-locka
 hangar after the 1996 tragedy. Gonzalez came to the United States in 1990 in a
 hijacked crop duster. He is accused of infiltrating exile groups and posing as an
 FBI informant.

 Cuban intelligence bosses also tried to ``discredit'' the Cuban American National
 Foundation with Operation Finado, or deceased, according to other documents
 read to jurors.

 CANF met in July 1998 to choose a successor to chairman Jorge Mas Canosa,
 who had died. The communications show that U.S.-based Cuban agents were
 directed to mail disparaging, anonymous flyers on possible candidates to some
 40 people and media outlets.

 ``Who are you voting for as Chairman of the CANF?'' the flyer was to start.

 It listed disparaging accusations against Jorge Mas Santos, Dr. Alberto
 Hernandez, Pepe Hernandez, Diego Suarez and Domingo Moreira Jr., and ended,
 ``Who should you vote for? Vote for the Finado.''

 The five co-defendants -- accused members of the so-called Wasp Network --
 were arrested Sept. 12, 1998, in the culmination of a major counterespionage
 investigation.

 Lead defendant Gerardo Hernandez faces the most serious charge: conspiracy to
 murder the four Brothers fliers, allegedly by providing Cuban authorities the flight
 plan of two Brothers planes while instructing other spies to shun the doomed
 flight.

 Though all of the accused spies acknowledge working on orders from Havana,
 they deny ever obtaining classified information or intending to harm U.S. interests.

 Rather, they say they worked from a defensive posture, trying to identify the
 exiles presumably responsible for a series of bombings at tourist sites in Cuba
 and to find out if the United States had plans to invade the island.