• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 10 / 09 / 2011

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Mexico City. Associated Press. President of the Cuban parliament chief, Ricardo Alarcón urges Obama to let freed spy ring member and return him to the island. Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon said that Rene Gonzalez is at risk of attack in the United States, where a judge has ordered him to serve three years probation before he can go to Cuba.

One of the so-called “Cuban Five,” 55-year-old Rene Gonzalez, served about 13 years on a conviction for participating in a scheme to infiltrate and keep tabs on Cuban exiles for Fidel Castro’s government. He must now serve three years’ probation in the U.S., unless his attorney can persuade a federal judge to let him return to Cuba where he’s hailed as a hero.

Alarcon also told a news conference in Mexico City on Friday that Gonzalez’s request to return to Cuba was a “very concrete” opportunity for Obama to show he heads a government of change. He also called for Obama to free four other members of the ring who are still in prison.

The five were convicted in 2001 of being part of the “Wasp Network” that sought to monitor in South Florida, Cuban exile groups and politicians opposed to the island’s communist government.

The Cuban government hails the men as heroes and says they only were trying to detect and prevent terror attacks against Cuba, mainly by Miami-based exile groups.

Gonzalez, 55, was released Friday after serving about 13 years on a 15-year sentence. A Chicago native, he has dual U.S. and Cuban citizenship.

Alarcon denounced recent comments by Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who said Gonzalez “has American blood on his hands.” Alarcon said that was “practically an exhortation, an appeal for a crime.”

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/