5+5 = 5: Castro's Orwellian Efforts to Rewrite WASP Spy Network

Ten spies that were captured and charged back in 1998 not five, but for the Castro regime the five that pled guilty and became witnesses for the prosecution are unpersons. They no longer exist in the official discourse of the dictatorship. They have been erased. As have the consequences of other Cuban intelligence operations on United States territory.

Alejandro Alonso, Linda Hernandez, Nilo Hernandez Mederos pled guilty and were all sentenced to seven years in prison. Joseph Santos Cecilia pled guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison and Amarylis Silverio Garcia de Santos pled guilty and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

The Cuban "WASP" spies arrested in 1998 used coded material on computer disks to communicate with other members of the spy network. From the 1,300 pages taken from those diskettes translated and used during the spy trial the criminal and terrorist nature of the Cuban regime's operation in South Florida emerges. The networks primary objective was "penetrating and obtaining information on the naval station located in that city." Intelligence operatives communicated about "burning down the warehouse" that housed the nonviolent organization Brothers to the Rescue and sabotaging their equipment. The spies also helped to identify who would be flying at certain times.

In addition the spies were ordered to prepare a "book bomb" so that it evade post office security while at the same time phoning death threats to a man they described as a CIA agent and then having him killed via the mail bomb.

The seriousness of these planned action items would be confirmed by the February 24, 1996 shoot down where two MiGs hunted Brothers to the Rescue planes in international airspace and used air to air missiles to destroy two of the planes killing two pilots and two passengers based on intelligence supplied by the WASP network.

International organizations recognized that Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales were murdered by agents of the Cuban government on February 24, 1996. The first of the participants in the conspiracy to be held accountable for his actions was Gerardo Hernandez who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. 

What was broken up in South Florida on September 12, 1998 was a terror spy network with plans to damage property and kill persons with the objective of planting terror. The network achieved part of their objective in providing information that led to four extrajudicial killings. George Orwell could have cited the so-called "Cuban Five" campaign as an example of newspeak on the order of "War is Peace" only that it in this case the Castro regime declares "Terrorism is Anti-Terrorism" "Lies are Truth"and "Terrorists are Heroes." 

Meanwhile in Cuba, Lady in White, Sonia Garro, and her husband, Ramon Munoz, after being imprisoned without charges since March 18, 2012 now face a show trial and 12 and 14 year prison sentences respectively. 

Truth and reconciliation also requires a measure of justice and agreement on the facts. Imprisoning nonviolent activists while celebrating terrorists as heroes are just two of many signs that the current dictatorship in Cuba is a long ways away from that.