Castro notion of U.S. trying alleged smugglers `unrealistic'
By DAVID KIDWELL and RICK JERVIS
Herald Staff Writers
Cuban leader Fidel Castro's idea to empty his prisons of U.S. residents
caught
smuggling Cubans on the condition they be prosecuted here was called ``far
fetched'' and ``unrealistic'' by U.S. government sources Friday.
But federal sources also acknowledge a recent atmosphere of growing
cooperation with Cuban authorities -- including the exchange of intelligence
information and the use of Cuban authorities as witnesses at trial.
Cuban exile groups and their elected supporters condemn such cooperation,
calling it a partnership with a ``gangster regime,'' but there is much
support from
families of those who have spent time in Cuban prison and welcome the help.
``It's better to bring them here,'' said Lourdes Mena, wife of Hugo Portilla,
who
spent 2 1/2 years in Cuban prison on charges of smuggling people. ``Over
there,
there are no lawyers; you can't defend yourself. My husband had no
representation. He was in prison and I couldn't see him. It wasn't easy.''
Mena, whose husband was captured in 1993 after he tried to pick up Mena
and
15 other Cubans in a speedboat from Miami, said Portilla lost 90 pounds
in
prison. Three teens were shot and killed by the Cuban coast guard as they
swam
toward the boat.
Castro's latest proposal to build a diplomatic bridge over the Florida
Straits is not
likely to win acceptance.
Although U.S. authorities said they would accept imprisoned U.S. citizens
and
would consider taking others with legal U.S. residency, they said it is
impossible to
promise dozens of prosecutions based on evidence compiled from Castro's
communist regime.
``We would have to make our own cases, with our own independent
corroboration of evidence,'' said one state department official. ``We need
information, and the Cuban government has not provided it in any way, shape
or
form.''
Said one Justice Department source: ``We don't even take evidence from
our own
agencies on faith, let alone from Fidel Castro. I don't see any way we
would take
these cases.''
But such cooperation between Cuban and U.S. authorities is not without
precedent in recent years.
Despite an outcry from Cuban exile groups, four Cuban officials were flown
to
Miami in 1997 to testify at the trial of a freighter crew after U.S. authorities
chased
the vessel with 6,000 kilograms of cocaine into Cuban waters. The boat
captain
was convicted and is serving 28 years in prison.
Evidence from Cuba was also central in the Tampa trial of three Cubans
who
commandered a Cuban airplane to escape the island. The three were found
not
guilty.
In a speech Wednesday to 5,000 members of Cuba's law enforcement
community, Castro suggested a far more sweeping cooperation -- an idea
welcomed by families of those who have served time in Cuban prison.
``Since they are residents of the United States, we are willing to return
them to be
punished there, in their courts,'' Castro said. ``We believe [the U.S.]
must judge
them. We need the room in our prisons for drug traffickers.''
Cuban exile groups argue any information provided by Cuba is tainted.
``It's a legal monstrosity to even consider it,'' said U.S. Rep. Lincoln
Diaz-Balart,
R-Miami. ``A system that abides by the rule of law cannot cooperate with
a
gangster regime.''
But federal authorities say informal cooperation with Cuban authorities
has led to
many successful prosecutions, from drug smuggling to alien smuggling to
piracy.
``When the Cuban border guards call the Coast Guard to tell them a shipment
of
drugs or aliens is on its way to the Florida coast, we can't ignore that,''
said one
federal law enforcement official. ``It's not common, but it's not exactly
rare either.''
Only recently, however, have federal prosecutors been calling on Cuban
authorities as witnesses.
``It's suspect from the outset,'' said Philip Horowitz, a Miami lawyer
who
represented one of the crew members convicted in Miami on evidence confiscated
in Cuba. ``For instance, when the DEA finds dope, they have to put it in
a locked
evidence locker.
``The Cubans put the dope in a jail cell sealed with string and ceiling wax,'' he said.
State Department authorities say the issue is not whether the prisoners
should be
released, but Castro's ``unrealistic'' condition that they be prosecuted
in the United
States.
``We are stepping into a void here, and we have no information,'' said
one State
Department official. ``We don't know how many. We don't know the cases.
We
don't even know any names. I can tell you whatever we do will be based
on U.S.
law.''
Because families are often encouraged to keep quiet for fear of angering
the
Cuban government, no accurate lists exists of those imprisoned in Cuba
for
smuggling people off the island. And Cuba reports to the United States
only the
arrests of U.S. citizens.
Since most arrested on people-smuggling charges are Cuban exiles, they
are still
considered by Cuba to be citizens of the island.
A review of Herald newspapers for the past five years found 13 South Florida
residents who were arrested on such charges and never reported released.
Cuban
exile groups estimate there could be dozens more.
CHRONOLOGY
Since 1993, The Herald has reported 15 arrests of Miami-Dade residents
charged
in Cuba with smuggling people off the island. At least two have since been
released.
July 1, 1993: Hugo Portilla, 40, of Miami and Ricky Hoddinott, 33, of Stock
Island are jailed after Cuban authorities open fire on the 30-foot speedboat
Midnight Express after it slipped into Cojimar Harbor to pick up would-be
refugees. Three Cubans are killed and more than 20 wounded in the hail
of gunfire.
Hoddinott, who was an immigrant in the 1980 Mariel boatlifts, is released
the
following October. Portilla, a Cuban citizen who escaped the island in
1992, is
released after 2 1/2 years in prison.
July 2, 1993: Four Cuban exiles -- David Barrios Martinez, Jose Javier
Gutierrez Mojena, Jesus Antonio Rodriguez Llanes and Aurelio Martin Gonzalez
-- are captured and arrested by Cuban authorities aboard the 36-foot Scorpion
just six hours after a fusillade of bullets killed three people and wounded
10 others
on another boat attempting to flee the island.
July 5, 1993: Cuban authorities announce the arrests of Jose Maria Garcia
Vega, Ernesto Wilfredo Bourzac Nieto and Jose Fari Groua -- three Cuban
exiles
from Miami -- after their speedboat runs aground east of Havana in an apparent
effort to pick up family members.
Jan. 6, 1994: Felix Lima and Argelio Chaviano are imprisoned in Cuba on
charges of illegal smuggling after a failed attempt to smuggle their families
off the
island in a borrowed boat.
Aug. 9, 1998: Ramon Diaz, 39, and Jorge Rodriguez, both of Hialeah, leave
Miami for a Bahamas fishing trip and never return. Cuban authorities announce
they are in custody and their boat seized on suspicion of smuggling Cubans.
Aug. 16, 1998: Two Hialeah men are reported missing after failing to return
from a 24-hour fishing trip to the Bahamas. Several days later, Cuban authorities
tell the United States that Emanuel Hernandez, 60, and Jorge Mateos, 40,
were
arrested and their boat seized on suspicion of smuggling Cubans.