BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

 Defense attorney Paul McKenna had just hung up with a Cuban diplomat Wednesday when a reporter called with the news: The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has approved a visit by Cuban authorities with five jailed Cuban agents convicted in a Miami espionage case.

 ``It's about time,'' said McKenna, who sought the visits a little more than a month ago -- along with the other lawyers in the case. But they never got a response from
 prison officials.

 McKenna said diplomats from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., complained to him about their lack of access to the convicted spies. They even
 mentioned the case of John Reese, the novice American pilot who crash-landed a Cessna east of Havana on Tuesday.

 ``The consul I talked to was working on that American nut who flew in,'' McKenna said, referring to Reese. ``The consul said, `We're going to let him have consular visits!' ''

 McKenna said neither he nor the Cubans had gotten official word that a visit had been approved. He heard the news from an Associated Press reporter who quoted an anonymous spokesman for the Federal Detention Center, where the five spies are being held.

 ``A visit for the Cuban Interests Section has already been approved,'' said a prison spokesman, who asked that his name not be used. ``The details are being worked out.''

 McKenna said he wouldn't announce the diplomats' visit ``because they're always worried about their security when they're in Miami. They mentioned that specifically.''

 The reason for the visit is so the diplomats can express their support for the five, he said.

 ``They're their fellow countrymen. They want to tell them, `We're going to see you through this. We'll help you in any way we can,' '' McKenna said.

 Defense attorneys had asked the trial judge last month to order the prison system to comply with the Vienna Convention and allow Cuban consular officials to visit the men.

 The request for visits was one of several filed by Wednesday's deadline for submitting post-verdict motions. The former secret agents face sentencing in late September and early October on spying charges.

 The Cuban government has praised the agents as heroes and honored them during a march on the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution. Their faces adorn T-shirts and billboards across Cuba.

                                    © 2001