BY DAVID KIDWELL

 FBI surveillance teams conducted as many as 200 missions in Miami since 1997 trying to catch two
 Cuban Interests Section officials they suspected were spies, an FBI specialist testified Wednesday at the
 espionage trial of former U.S. immigration supervisor Mariano Faget.

 Neither of the Cuban officials -- Luis Molina and his successor at the Cuban Interests Section in
 Washington, Jose Imperatore -- has ever been charged. Both have since returned to Cuba --
 Imperatore on expulsion orders from the U.S. government.

 John Bell, a 12-year investigative specialist for the FBI, described in detail one
 surveillance mission on Molina in which Faget made an appearance, but said the
 total number of missions topped ``100, maybe even 200.''

 Faget, now facing charges that he divulged classified information to a friend with
 ties to the suspected spies, first showed up on surveillance logs Feb. 19, 1999, at
 a meeting with Molina at Pitcher's Bar at the Miami Airport Marriott.

 ``They shook hands and greeted each other warmly, consistent with two people
 who had met before,'' said Bell, who had taken a seat at the bar and watched their
 90-minute conversation. ``Mr. Faget raised his glass in a toast. They clinked
 glasses and proceeded to have their beverages.''

 When Faget was questioned about the meeting a year later, he described it as
 less than friendly. He told FBI agents the meeting was short and stilted because
 Molina lacked social graces and conversational skills.

 Faget, 54, a longtime supervisor with top-secret security clearance at the Miami
 office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was charged with divulging
 secrets after an FBI sting in February in which he was asked to process
 immigration documents for Molina's top-secret defection, one cooked up by the
 FBI to see what Faget would do.

 Within 15 minutes, Faget used his private cell phone to call a lifelong friend and
 business partner with the news. That friend, Pedro Font, then left his New York
 office for a scheduled meeting with Imperatore, of the Cuban Interests Section.

 Faget argues he made the call to protect Font in case Cuban officials suspected
 he was involved in the defection.

 U.S. Prosecutor Richard Gregorie, in opening remarks Wednesday, described
 Faget's leak as motivated by greed, not politics. Both Faget and Font were
 partners in America-Cuba Inc., a company attempting to build business contacts
 for a post-Castro Cuba.

 ``This case is not about political ideology,'' Gregorie told the 11-woman, one-man
 jury, which includes six Cuban immigrants. ``We're not talking about communism.
 This has nothing to do with whether you like the embargo or you don't like the
 embargo. This case is about three things: money, information and access.

 ``They were interested in making money,'' Gregorie said. ``He's more interested in
 his retirement money and his business interests in America-Cuba than in his
 loyalty to the United States of America.''

 Gregorie said he will present evidence that Faget had access to 57 sensitive law
 enforcement files and 21 classified intelligence files -- 16 of which involved
 Cubans.

 O'Donnell portrayed his client as an avowed anti-communist and a fierce loyalist.
 O'Donnell said the government's case is based on ``misinterpreted meetings'' and
 one inappropriate phone call to a friend.

 ``You'll never meet a less greedy man than this,'' O'Donnell told the jurors. ``He
 feels a tremendous loyalty to his friends. He made a mistake, but there were no
 crimes committed here.''

 A U.S. State Department official also testified Wednesday that Molina and
 Imperatore lied on travel documents that require them to state whether they intend
 to meet with U.S. government officials.

 Faget is charged with divulging classified information, converting it for his own
 use, and making false statements to the FBI and on immigration records.