Cuban spy Ramón Labañino, the second-in-command of a South Florida spy network who once pledged, ``From this trench, we will give imperialism the blow it deserves,'' was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for espionage conspiracy.

 Labañino, 38, became the second Cuban spy to receive a life sentence in as many days.

 Trial observers had followed the decision closely because Labañino -- unlike Gerardo Hernández, the first spy to be sentenced Wednesday -- was not implicated in the 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes.

 Four men perished in the attacks.

 SUPERVISED SPIES

 But evidence showed that Labañino supervised other spies in their efforts to infiltrate U.S. military installations -- an offense that U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard found worthy of the maximum punishment as recommended under federal sentencing guidelines.

 The proceedings continue today with the sentencing of spy René González.

 Labañino, in a politically charged 47-minute speech, said he and his fellow spies were defending Cuba's interests by monitoring for a possible U.S. invasion and by
 countering exile-sponsored ``terrorism'' against the island.

 But Lenard, who presided over the six-month spy trial which ended in June, was unmoved.

 ``That does not give the right to this defendant to come to this country and enter into a conspiracy to provide national security secrets to a hostile power,'' she said.

 William Norris, Labañino's defense lawyer, said the life sentence was disappointing even though he and his client expected it.

 An appeal is planned.

 ``Everybody loves their own spies and hates the other guys','' Norris said.

 PRAISING SENTENCE

 Caroline Heck Miller, lead prosecutor in the case, said the sentence was just.

 ``An important statement was made: Don't come on our military bases to do us harm,'' she said after the proceedings. ``The United States will find, prosecute and seek maximum punishment for any who do.''

 Cuban officials criticized the proceedings Thursday as they continued to react to Hernández's sentence.

 President Fidel Castro called Hernández a ``hero'' and denounced U.S. claims that he and the four other Cubans had threatened U.S. security.

 ``These boys are five heroes, and they've treated them with incredible brutality,'' Castro told reporters Thursday in Porlamar, Venezuela, after a summit of Caribbean leaders.

 Castro also condemned the ``credibility'' of everyone involved in the trial.

 Of the defendants, he added: ``Their honor and dignity have been stripped away with the help of . . . North American attorneys.''

 Before the spies were arrested in September 1998, Labañino went by the name Luis Medina and shared a downtown Hollywood apartment with fellow spy Fernándo González.

 Their landlord remembered Labañino as a friendly tenant who claimed to be a Mexican dishware salesman.

 In reality he was a Havana-born intelligence agent and father of three who helped run a South Florida-based spy ring that the Cubans named the Wasp Network.

 Prosecutors said Labañino had reported to Havana on flights from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa since 1992.

 He was transferred to Miami to lead the infiltration of U.S. Southern Command, the military's nerve center for Latin America and the Caribbean.

 Labañino directed other spies in their efforts to get hired at SouthCom, evidence showed.

 He also supervised Antonio Guerrero, who got a job at Key West's Boca Chica Naval Air Station and filed voluminous reports to Havana outlining the number and types of military airplanes using the base.

 `POLITICAL PRISONERS'

 Labañino did not directly address that evidence in his speech. Instead, he denounced federal prosecutors and the FBI.

 ``I will wear the inmates' uniform with the same pride as a soldier wears his most valued badges,'' he said, standing tall in front of a podium, his feet shackled.

 ``This has been a political trial, and as such, we are political prisoners,'' he said.

 After the sentence was pronounced, Norris patted Labañino on the back.

 Labañino then turned to face the mothers of the four other spies -- who were flown in from Cuba for the sentencings -- and gave them a nod and a wink before exiting the courtroom.

 Labañino's mother is dead. His wife applied for a visa, but it was not granted.

                                    © 2001