By The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) --
Ten people were charged Monday in what prosecutors
said is the
largest Cuban spy ring ever uncovered in the United States
since Fidel
Castro came to power nearly 40 years ago.
The eight men
and two women tried to penetrate U.S. military bases,
infiltrate anti-Castro
groups and manipulate U.S. media and political
groups, federal
investigators said Monday.
The FBI said
the group's main target was the Miami-based U.S. Southern
Command, which
runs American military operations in Latin America and
the Caribbean.
``In scope and
in depth, this case, it is really unparalleled in recent years,''
said U.S. Attorney
Thomas E. Scott. ``This spy ring was cast by the
Cuban government
to strike at the very heart of our national security
system and our
very democratic process.''
The Cuban foreign ministry in Havana had no comment.
The suspects
were held without bond and face charges of espionage and
acting as unregistered
agents of the Cuban government. Prosecutors said
the investigation
is continuing, but would not say if more arrests were
anticipated.
Charges against
five of the suspects carry life sentences. Charges against
the other five
have maximum sentences of 15 years
According to
an FBI affidavit filed in support of the arrests, surveillance
dating back
to 1995 indicated all 10 members operated with code names
and had escape
plans and alibis.
FBI agent Raul
Fernandez said in the affidavit that the spy group was led
by Manuel Viramontes,
a Cuban military captain, and used computers
with coded material
on disk to communicate with each other.
Viramontes had
an apartment in Miami and it was there that the disks
were found,
investigators said.
The disks provided
a detailed overview of spy operations reminiscent of
Cold War-era
espionage, including references to agents as comrades.
``To say the least, folks, this operation was sophisticated,'' Scott said.
Two of those
arrested were identified as U.S. citizens and one as a
resident alien.
The citizenship of the others was not released, but the FBI
said some were
agents who slipped in and out of the United States.
Congressional
sources said the arrests made without incident Saturday
were timed to
avert an operation planned by the suspects. They provided
no further details.
Part of the operation
focused on infiltrating six exile groups, according to
the FBI.
Among those arrested
was Rene Gonzalez, who was formerly affiliated
with the Miami-based
Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. The
group is known
for flying mercy flights over the 90 miles of open water
between Florida
and Cuba, searching for rafters fleeing the communist
island nation.
Gonzalez has
been linked more recently to the group Democracy
Movement, which
sails flotillas in the Florida Straits to protest Cuba
government actions.
``This is the
tip of the iceberg,'' said Jose Basulto, founder of Brothers to
the Rescue.
Four Brothers
fliers, including three Americans, were killed in February
1996 when their
two planes were shot down by a Cuban MiG fighter jet
over international
waters.
Soon afterward,
federal officials acknowledged they were looking into
whether Cuban
spies played any part in the aerial attack, which was not
mentioned in
the FBI affidavit.
The affidavit
said two of the suspects set up a surveillance of the Southern
Command, MacDill
Air Force Base in Tampa and the Boca Chica Naval
Air Station
in Key West.
The two allegedly
produced detailed reports, complete with photos, on
the Southern
Command and were assigned to report any ``unusual
exercises, maneuvers,
and other activity related to combat readiness at
the Naval air
station.''
One of the suspects
was said to have reported on daily activities at Boca
Chica, including
types of aircraft being deployed and descriptions of a
facility suspected
of being prepared for top secret activity.
Although the
affidavit summary said the suspects tried to manipulate the
media, there
was no elaboration on how that happened.