BY JAY WEAVER

A spy case that exploded after Cuba's 1996 shoot-down of two Miami exile planes over the Florida Straits formally ended Tuesday, when a federal judge reduced the prison sentences of two convicted Castro agents.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard lowered Ramón Labañino's life sentence to 30 years in prison, based on an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant's attorney in the Cuban Five espionage case.

Lenard originally sentenced Labañino to life after his espionage conspiracy conviction in 2001. But an appellate court overturned the sentence because Labañino did not actually gather and send any classified materials to his handlers in Havana.

NO TO PARDON

Relatives of the shoot-down victims said Tuesday that they supported the judge's decision to resentence Labañino to 30 years, but they also said the U.S. government should never consider a pardon for any of the Cuban Five.

"I don't want a pardon, and I don't want a [prisoner] exchange,'' said Maggie Khuly, sister of victim Armando Alejandre Jr.

Mirta Mendez, sister of victim Carlos Costa, said the 30-year sentence for Labañino was akin to a life sentence.

"By the time he gets out of prison, a good portion of his life will be gone,'' said Mendez, who attended the sentencings with her parents. "But no matter what happens, it won't bring my brother back.''

Labañino was convicted of conspiring with four other Cuban government agents as he oversaw efforts to infiltrate the U.S. Southern Command in Miami and the Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West. He also was convicted of stealing the identities of deceased U.S. citizens that he and the others used for their spy mission.

Labañino's primary alias: Luis Medina.

Last year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Lenard to redo not only her sentence for Labañino, 46, but also for convicted spy Fernando González, 46. González got 19 years for acting as an unregistered agent of the Cuban government.

On Tuesday, Lenard reduced González's sentence only slightly, to about 18 years, saying, "He has quite an extensive history as an I.O. [intelligence officer] for Cuba.''

The judge likened him to Labañino and others who played supervisory roles in the spy ring. She described their plot to penetrate military installations, the Brothers to the Rescue exile group and the camps of anti-Castro politicians as "vigilantism.''

Prosecutor Caroline Heck Miller agreed. But González's lawyer, Joaquin Mendez, tried to downplay his client's role, saying he deserved a 15-year sentence because he didn't commit espionage.

'WASP' NETWORK

Both men were indicted and detained along with eight others as members of Cuba's ``Wasp'' spy network in 1998. Five of the original defendants pleaded guilty following the FBI investigation. The others, who became known as the Cuban Five, faced trial and were convicted.

While the appellate court upheld the convictions, it threw out the sentences of the two men and one other spy, Antonio Guerrero. In October, Lenard reduced his life term to 22 years.

The 11-year-old case has been mired in controversy because the Wasp spy network was linked to the Cuban government's 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes over international waters. Four pilots for Brothers to the Rescue, which flew missions searching for rafters in the Florida Straits, were killed.

Khuly, victim Alejandre's sister, said she was pleased that the appellate court did not overturn the life sentence of Gerardo Hernández, the only one convicted of murder conspiracy in the killings of the Brothers pilots. "I want him to serve his life sentence,'' she said.

Dozens of supporters for the Cuban Five said they saw the judge's reduction of Labañino's sentence as a step toward their next goal: seeking a pardon for him -- and the other four.

"This is the best that could be expected today, but not one day of this imprisonment is just,'' said Gloria La Riva, coordinator for the San Francisco-based group, Free the Cuban Five.