The Miami Herald
Sat, Dec. 31, 2005

'Confidential source' turns evidence against his friend

BY OSCAR CORRAL

Given the choice between loyalty that could lead to imprisonment and betrayal that would secure freedom, Gilberto Abascal chose to turn state's evidence against a man who friends say treated him like a son.

''If you had to choose between one side or the other, who would you choose?'' Abascal told The Miami Herald in an exclusive interview.

Labeled a ''confidential source of previous proven reliability'' in the government's case against Santiago Alvarez, Abascal admits he helped the federal government in the weapons case against Alvarez and is now being protected by U.S. officials.

Alvarez, 64, the benefactor of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, was arrested in November on federal weapons charges along with his friend, Osvaldo Mitat, 63.

''I feel what I did was right,'' Abascal said by phone from an undisclosed location.

Court records note the ''confidential source,'' phoned federal agents to tip them off that Alvarez ordered him to deliver the weapons to Mitat.

Abascal said he did not call federal agents about the cache of weapons. He said agents did not pressure or coerce him into cooperating.

Abascal also denied accusations by supporters of Alvarez and Posada that he is working for the U.S. and Cuban governments as a double agent.

''Those are all lies,'' Abascal said, adding he has been denied entry into Cuba to visit family. ``If I were a double agent, I'd be in Cuba already.''

Alvarez's friends paint a picture of a troubled Abascal who needed medication to deal with life's challenges.

Abascal told The Miami Herald he only takes pills for insomnia: ``I can't sleep if I don't take medicine.''