No one can match U.S. spying, Cuba retorts

The Miami Herald September 18, 1998 No one can match U.S. spying, Cuba retorts

From Herald Wire Services

             HAVANA -- The Cuban government on Thursday accused the United States of
             holding the world's record in espionage and declined again to acknowledge or
             deny involvement in an alleged Cuban spy network uncovered in Miami.

             ``When it comes to espionage to subvert the political stability of other countries,
             there are no world records like those amassed by the United States, especially in
             the case of Cuba,'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman said during a press briefing.

             Alejandro Gonzalez said that in the past four decades, Washington ``has been
             carrying out all kinds of covert and overt acts against the security, stability and
             well-being of the Cuban people.''

             On Monday, the FBI announced in Miami that it had arrested 10 people and
             charged them with providing the Cuban government with information about U.S.
             military installations and Cuban exile organizations.

             ``This is not the first time that all kinds of accusations are made'' by the Americans,
             Gonzalez said. They ``have called hundreds of people `spies' and have taken
             action against them. . . . We are used to all types of campaigns from the United
             States.''

The arrests have not been reported in the Cuban media.

Gonzalez said all he knew about the situation is what he read in the American
press, ``which we are watching.''

Asked if he would confirm or deny the FBI's allegations of espionage, he
answered: ``I have nothing more to say about this affair.''

             On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina told foreign journalists that he
             would ``neither confirm nor deny [the charges] but simply listen, so I can come to
             an opinion later.'' He told his listeners that ``that type of campaign, of manipulation,
             of orchestration, of ballyhoo, is a specialty of the American press.''