MIAMI -- (AP) -- The relatives of four men convicted of spying for Cuba called their sons ``patriots'' Monday and said the American justice system was flawed for allowing the trial to be held in Cuban-exile dominated South Florida.

 The women said their sons were battling terrorists waging war against their country and that America could have avoided the Sept. 11 attacks if it had men watching
 al-Qaida as their sons watched Florida's Cuban exile groups.

 "Our sons did nothing wrong,'' said 62-year-old Magali Llort, mother of Fernando Gonzalez, who faces up to 15 years in prison. "They were defending their country from the Cuban mafia here in Miami. They are patriots.''

 Hernandez, Gonzalez and three others -- Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labonino and Antonio Guerrero -- were found guilty in June of espionage and are to be sentenced
 beginning this week. Hernandez also was convicted of murder conspiracy for providing information that led to the shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes by Cuban fighter jets over international waters in 1996.

 Four Miami men died in the incident.

 Carmen Nordela, Hernandez's mother, said her son ``was not capable of doing anything to hurt the United States'' and that her son ``was just trying to protect his country. He is not a criminal.''

 Nordela, Llort and two other mothers -- Guerrero's mother Mirta Rodriguez, 69, and Rene Gonzalez's mother Irma Sewerert, 63 -- spoke to The Associated Press Monday night, hours before sentencing was to begin.

 Hernandez will go before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard on Tuesday, followed by Ramon Labanino on Wednesday, Rene Gonzalez on Thursday and Fernando Gonzalez, no relation, on Monday. Guerrero's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 27.

 Hernandez, Guerrero and Labonino each face possible life prison terms, while the Gonzalezes face up to 10 years behind bars.

 Labonino's relatives were awaiting visas and did not make the trip to the United States.

 The women said they don't begrudge the U.S. government for prosecuting their sons, but the trial should have been held outside Miami.

 ``The jury was not impartial,'' Irma Gonzalez said. ``There is no way you can be given instructions by a judge and not have questions. They (jurors) didn't ask anything because their minds were already made up.''

 The women said Americans were uninformed about life in Cuba, and that U.S. newspapers portrayed a false picture of government corruption and brutality. They also lashed out at Cuban exiles in Miami, calling them the ``mafia'' and accusing anti-Castro groups here of being the real terrorists.

 ``If this country had people like our sons doing what they did, what happened Sept. 11 probably would not have occurred,'' Llort said. ``The pain Americans are feeling because of that day would not have been necessary had they had people like our sons.''

 All said they had no knowledge of the group's activities in America until the five were arrested.

 Cuban government television on Monday reiterated its insistence that the spies were simply collecting information from ``terrorist groups'' and not the United States.

 Prosecutors charged the group with trying to penetrate U.S. military bases, though they didn't obtain any secret documents. Hernandez also had prior warning from
 Havana that the Brothers to the Rescue planes were going to be shot down.

 Also Monday, lawyers on both sides argued whether the men should get leniency because of the 18 months they served in solitary confinement.

 Defense attorneys said their clients were separated from general population because of the spy charges, and were denied proper medical attention and adequate access to their families.

 ``My client saw his 2-year-old daughter twice (during that time),'' said Phil Horowitz, Rene Gonzalez's attorney. ``The government called that a minor inconvenience.''

 Prosecutors argued that other than the toothache one of the men had, they suffered no ``emotional or physiological damage.''

 Lenard said she will review the arguments before Tuesday's hearing.

 Meantime, the relatives said they are confident ``justice will be served.''

 ``The right thing will be done because they did nothing wrong,'' Llort said. ``If it isn't done now, it will another time.''

                                    © 2001