• Submitted by: lena campos
• Society
• 05 / 04 / 2013

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One of the convicted spies known as the “Cuban Five” will be able to permanently remain in Cuba in exchange for renouncing his U.S. citizenship, a federal judge ruled Friday after U.S. officials dropped their initial opposition.

Rene Gonzalez, 56, has been in Cuba since April 22 to attend memorial services for his father, who died last month. Gonzalez was released from U.S. prison in October 2011 but was still serving three years’ probation, which the Justice Department had previously insisted must be completed in the U.S.

This week, however, the Justice Department reversed its position, leading to U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard’s ruling accepting Gonzalez’s offer to give up U.S. citizenship.

Reached in Havana, Gonzalez told The Associated Press he was thrilled but wanted a chance to review the judge’s decision.

“First I have to read the order,” he said. “If the order is real, it will be a great relief to me.”

It was not clear what effect, if any, the decision would have on the status of Alan Gross, an American contractor jailed in Cuba. Officials in Cuba have indicated they might release Gross in exchange for the liberation of the Cuban Five. The four other members of the Cuban Five are still imprisoned in the U.S. and also must serve probation terms if they are released.

The U.S. has said the cases are not linked and the State Department declined comment Friday. Cuba’s government issued a brief statement under the headline “Rene can stay in Cuba.” The statement lays out the steps Gonzalez must take in order to renounce his U.S. citizenship, but makes no mention of whether the decision will affect the Gross case or have any larger impact on U.S.-Cuba ties.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican from Miami, said it was “tragic” that Gonzalez would go free in Cuba while Gross remained imprisoned, but she said the spies should not be involved in a deal for him.

“This decision is a dangerous mistake that may jeopardize our national security,” she said. “I sincerely hope that there is no quid pro quo being discussed regarding the five convicted Cuban spies and the Alan Gross case.”

Gross, who’s from Maryland, is serving a 15-year-sentence for bringing communications equipment to the island illegally while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program.

Gonzalez and the others were convicted in 2001 of being part of a ring known as the “Wasp Network,” tasked by Cuba’s communist government with spying on U.S. military installations in South Florida, Cuban exile groups and politicians opposed to the government of then-President Fidel Castro.

The men are celebrated by some as heroes in Cuba, which has portrayed them as agents dedicated to preventing violent attacks against their country by Miami-based militant exile groups. Still, one member of the group was convicted of murder conspiracy for the 1996 downing by Cuban fighter jets of a plane operated by “Brothers to the Rescue,” which dropped pro-democracy leaflets over Cuba and assisted Cuban migrants attempting to reach U.S. shores.

Source: Washington Post