An indictment says George and Marisol Gari tried to gain access to CANF mail and Southern Command.

Herald Staff Report

 Alleged Cuban spies George and Marisol Gari, known in their intelligence-gathering cell as Luis and Margot, reported to at least two of the five spies convicted in June, U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis said Saturday.

 The FBI, meanwhile, said the low-profile couple arrested in Orlando on Friday also reported at times to alleged fugitive spy Ricardo Villareal, also known as Hector. ``He is probably in Cuba,'' said Judy Orihuela, spokeswoman for the FBI in Miami.

 A federal indictment -- born out of the ongoing crackdown against La Red Avispa, or The Wasp Network, Cuban spy organization -- accuses the couple of trying to gain access to mail going to the Cuban American National Foundation and attempting to infiltrate Miami-Dade County's Southern Command.

 The couple lived and worked in Miami for eight years until they moved to Orlando 18 months ago. Sometimes, they would travel to New York, where they would pass information to Cuban spy leaders and pick up money, authorities say.

 Receiving information from the couple while they were in Miami, Lewis said, were Ramón Labañino, code-named Alan, and Fernando González, aka Oscar. They were convicted in June along with ringleader Gerardo Hernández, René González and Antonio Guerrero. The five convicted spies are being held at the federal detention center in Miami while they await sentencing.

 ``There was a connection to the five [convicted spies]'' Lewis said. ``For part of their careers, the Garis were handled by `Alan' and `Oscar.' ''

 Lewis said the code names of these suspects -- including those of the Garis -- were sometimes mentioned during the spy trial, or their activities were described in
 documents introduced as evidence.

 Lewis said there is increasing evidence that La Red Avispa was much more than an unsophisticated ragtag network of informants. ``I've continued to say our arrests are ongoing,'' Lewis said. ``Frankly, I do expect the arrests of additional individuals.''

 The FBI and other U.S. organizations have been monitoring the activities of Cuban spy suspects for more than 30 years. The United States, however, made only
 occasional arrests until the Clinton administration decided to crack down following the killings of four Miamians aboard two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft shot down by Cuban MiGs in February 1996.

 The first arrests -- 14 people in the La Red Avispa case, including the five convicted spies and five more who quickly pleaded guilty and began cooperating with the FBI -- came in September 1998. Gerardo Hernández was found guilty of conspiring with Havana to commit murder in connection with the shoot-down.

 ``I am glad the United States is finally acting to put behind bars these spies who have hurt Cuban exile groups for many years,'' said José Basulto, leader of Brothers to the Rescue, who managed to avoid being shot down. He calls the crackdown ``definitely a political decision by the Clinton administration, and now the GOP is doing the same.''

 Basulto said Havana's Radio Progreso -- broadcasting at 890 AM -- has been stepping up its denunciation of the spy arrests in nightly round-table broadcasts starting at 6 p.m., but has not yet mentioned the Garis.

 The Havana government has been organizing nationwide protests against the conviction and jailing of the five spies, who it insists were doing nothing more than defending Cuba against terrorism.

 The Red Avispa probe also caused the expulsion of three Cuban diplomats who the United States believes were involved in the spying and the fingering of two other
 diplomats who had already left the United States. Four more alleged spies were indicted but are fugitives.

 The activities of Cuban diplomats accredited to the United Nations in New York and to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., are constantly scrutinized by the FBI. Three years ago, a high State Department official said all but one of the 40 diplomats at the U.N. mission were engaged in spying, together with the 20 to 30 members of the support staff.

 ``This one [La Red Avispa] was designed in a typical cell fashion,'' Lewis said. Leading each cell grouping of spies were intelligence officers like Fernando González and Labañino. George Gari allegedly was a mid-level manager, in charge of lesser spies. To preserve the internal security of the network, officers did not know who the other cell leaders were handling.

 Lewis said the officers, in turn, reported directly to officials of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, which has several branches dealing with both internal and overseas
 espionage. They sent encrypted data gathered by individual spies to Havana by e-mail or in high-frequency radio messages.

 Lewis said some of this material passed through Cuba's U.S. mission.

 ``I can't say it always was the U.N. [mission], but often it was,'' Lewis said. ``The Cubans have an incredibly advanced intelligence operation, but they also use the typical dead drop [drop box] stuff.''

                                    © 2001