By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer

MIAMI, June 8 -- A federal jury today convicted five Cuban agents of espionage against the United States, concluding a six-month trial that showed a committed
band of spies working to infiltrate South Florida's military installations and Cuban exile community.

The leader of the group, Gerardo Hernandez, was found guilty of contributing to the death of four fliers from the Brothers to the Rescue exile group who were shot
down in 1996 in international airspace by Cuban MiGs. Prosecutors alleged that Hernandez steered fellow spies away from the targeted flights and delivered a
message to Havana that led to the shootdown. Hernandez faces life in prison.

There were no Cuban Americans or anyone with close ties to the large Cuban American community here on the 12-member jury, which deliberated for five days.

The agents were indicted in 1998 as part of the 14-member La Red Avispa, or the Wasp Network. According to prosecutors, they had fake names, fake life stories
and all the documents they needed as they followed through on assignments to infiltrate Cuban exile groups and the Southern Command, which supervises U.S.
military activities in the Caribbean and Latin America. They reported to superiors in Havana through short-wave radios and computers.

At some points during the lengthy trial here in U.S. District Court, it seemed that the testimony was as much about Jose Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue,
as it was about the five defendants. Families of the four dead fliers sat through much of the proceedings.

In closing arguments last week, Hernandez's attorney, Paul McKenna, said that Basulto had provoked the shootdown by entering Cuban airspace as his planes
dropped anti-communist leaflets. "Mr. Basulto is a known terrorist and a wanted man," McKenna said, adding that Cuban officials felt they were "dealing with a very,
very dangerous man in their eyes."

None of the five defendants, including Hernandez, who posed as a Puerto Rican named Manuel Viramontez, denied acting as spies. In three days of closing
arguments, their attorneys said that, in their minds, they were Cuban patriots, trying to protect their country from Cuban American extremists in South Florida.

Defense attorneys also said the spies had uncovered nothing at the military bases that threatened national security.

Prosecutors, however, countered that it did not matter if the spies had accomplished anything; they were still guilty of conspiracy. "They were answerable to the
foreign government, operating as a shadow force," said prosecutor Caroline Heck Miller.

Two of the defendants, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero, face life sentences for espionage conspiracy; the two were assigned to study American military
bases. Guerrero worked as a janitor for five years at a Key West air base, where he noted little beyond the comings and goings of airplanes at the installation, his
attorney said.

Labanino's attorney, William Norris, said that even the FBI agents who trailed the spies for several years did not seem worried about the reports they sent to
Havana.

Two other defendants, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, who are not related, face a maximum of 10 years in prison for conspiracy and failing to register as
foreign agents with the U.S. government. Rene Gonzalez used the name of a dead Texas youth in his work; Fernando Gonzalez pretended to be a sympathetic
member of Cuban exile groups.

Five other members of the spy ring who were indicted pleaded guilty in exchange for cooperation and were given lighter sentences. Four others fled to Cuba and
avoided prosecution.

                                               © 2001