Cuban spy officially stripped of US citizenship

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban intelligence agent who served 13 years in a U.S. prison has officially been stripped of his American citizenship.

Rene Gonzalez said Friday he received a certificate of loss of nationality from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana this week.

Gonzalez, who was a dual national, volunteered to give up his U.S. citizenship in return for being allowed to stay in Cuba with his family.

The 56-year-old is one of the so-called 'Cuban Five." The men were convicted in 2001 of spying on U.S. military installations as well as exile groups and politicians.

He was released from federal prison in 2011 but ordered to serve three years of probation. The U.S. dropped its opposition to his returning home earlier this year, allowing the deal to go through.

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Cuban spy unrepentant, but hopes for better ties

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban intelligence agent who spent 13 years in a U.S. prison said Monday he still has affection for America and hopes to see the two countries reconcile, but added that he does not regret for a moment his decision to spy for Cuba.

Rene Gonzalez also told The Associated Press he would welcome an exchange of prisoners that would send a jailed U.S. government subcontractor home in return for freedom for four other Cuban agents serving sentences in America.

Speaking soon after renouncing his U.S. citizenship, Gonzalez called on President Barack Obama to show "courage" in changing U.S. policy toward the Communist-run island.

"I would like to think that the North American government will meet the hopes of the whole world, which is telling it to change its policy toward Cuba," Gonzalez said. "Courage is what President Obama needs now."

The interview, conducted in the presence of his lawyer and a Cuban government representative, was Gonzalez's first since U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard ruled Friday that he could remain on the Communist-run island in return for renouncing his U.S. citizenship.

Gonzalez had asked for permission to do so several times, but the U.S. government initially refused.

Lenard had earlier granted the 56-year-old leave to travel to Cuba to attend a memorial for his father, the second trip home he had been allowed to make since his release in 2011.

Earlier Monday, Gonzalez arrived at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Havana accompanied by his wife and children to renounce his citizenship. He waved as onlookers shouted his name from surrounding buildings, then spent about 30 minutes inside completing the necessary paperwork.

Under U.S. law, Americans who choose to renounce their citizenship must do so at an overseas consular office. They are warned that the move is irrevocable, and must pay a $450 fee. Gonzalez's request must still be sent to Washington for approval, at which point he would receive a certificate of loss of nationality.

Gonzalez, who was born in Chicago before moving to Cuba as an infant, is one of the so-called "Cuban Five." The men were convicted in 2001 of spying on U.S. military installations in South Florida as well as exile groups and politicians.

Gonzalez was released about a year and a half ago but ordered to stay in the U.S. while he served a three-year probation. The other four agents remain in jail.

The Five are celebrated as heroes in Cuba, with their faces staring down from highway billboards and restaurant shrines. Their case has received renewed attention since the 2009 arrest of Alan Gross, a U.S. government subcontractor who is serving a 15-year sentence after he was caught bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally while on a USAID-funded democracy building program.

Cuba has suggested it would be willing to free the 64-year-old Maryland native in exchange for the five agents, something Washington has rejected, at least publically.

In the interview, Gonzalez said such an exchange would be "a good gesture on both sides in order to improve relations between Cuba and the United States."

He said he hoped his release would give hope to the other four agents and their families.

Of his four co-defendants, 49-year-old Fernando Gonzalez, also known as Ruben Campa, is scheduled for release from an Arizona prison Feb. 27, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Antonio Guerrero, 54, is set to walk out of a north Florida prison Sept. 18, 2017. The other two are serving much longer sentences.

Gonzalez flew to Florida in 1990 on a crop duster that he had supposedly hijacked in order to defect. In reality, he was a Cuban agent from the start.

Finally reunited permanently with his wife and two daughters, Gonzalez insisted on Monday that he had never second-guessed his actions.

"Nobody made me do it. They told me the risks, and I said 'Yes,'" he said. "I did it as a Cuban patriot and I don't have any regrets ... I've never doubted myself for a second."

Gonzalez insists his activities never aimed to harm the United States or its people, but only to protect Cuba from a wave of bombings perpetrated by militant exile groups that aimed to sabotage the island's tourism industry. An Italian man was killed.

He said he took no pleasure in renouncing his citizenship, though he has always felt more Cuban than American.

"I have family in the United States and I left many friends there," he said. "It is a country with a history that is admirable ... One realizes that there is more that we have in common than what separates us."

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Associated Press writer Paul Haven contributed to this report.

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Andrea Rodriguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

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Cuban spy renouncing US citizenship to stay home

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban spy who spent 13 years in a U.S. prison renounced his American citizenship Monday, part of a deal that allows him to avoid returning to the United States to serve out the remainder of his probation.

Rene Gonzalez arrived at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Havana accompanied by his wife and children as well as an American lawyer. He waved as onlookers shouted his name from surrounding buildings, but did not make any statement.

The 56-year-old is one of the so-called "Cuban Five," intelligence agents convicted in 2001 of spying on U.S. military installations in South Florida, exile groups and politicians. Gonzalez was released in 2011 but ordered to remain in the U.S. while he served out three years of probation.

The other four agents remain in jail.

The five are celebrated as heroes in Cuba, with their faces staring down from highway billboards and out of shrines at government offices and state-owned restaurants.

Their case has received renewed attention since the 2009 arrest of a U.S. government subcontractor, Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence after he was caught bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally while on a USAID-funded democracy building program.

Cuba has suggested it would be willing to free Gross in exchange for the five agents, something Washington has rejected, at least publically.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez reiterated his government's position Monday.

"The Cuban government has informed the North American government of its complete willingness to start serious and respectful conversations to try to find a solution to the case of Mr. Alan Gross," Rodriguez said in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.

But he added such talks must "take into account the humanitarian concerns of our country in the case of Cuban citizens that are serving sentences in the United States."

Last month U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard granted Gonzalez, a dual U.S.-Cuban national, leave to travel to Cuba to attend a memorial for his father. Once here, Lenard agreed to let him stay on the island if he renounced his American citizenship.

Gonzalez had asked for permission to do that several times, but the U.S. government initially refused.

Under U.S. law, Americans who choose to renounce their citizenship must do so at an overseas consular office. They are warned that the move is irrevocable, and must pay a $450 fee. Gonzalez's request must still be sent to Washington for approval, at which point he would receive a certificate of loss of nationality.

Of his four co-defendants, 49-year-old Fernando Gonzalez, also known as Ruben Campa, is scheduled for release from an Arizona prison Feb. 27, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Antonio Guerrero, 54, is set to walk out of a north Florida prison Sept. 18, 2017. The other two are serving much longer sentences.

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Associated Press writers Paul Haven in Havana and Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Brazil, contributed to this report.

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Cuban spy renouncing US citizenship

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban spy who served a long jail term in the United States has arrived at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana to renounce his American citizenship.

The move by Rene Gonzalez is part of a deal by Federal Judge Joan Lenard to allow him to stay in Cuba rather than complete the probation he was serving in the U.S.

Gonzalez arrived Monday afternoon at the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains instead of an embassy.

The 56-year-old is one of the so-called "Cuban Five," intelligence agents convicted in 2001 of spying on U.S. military installations in South Florida, as well as exile groups and politicians.

The men are celebrated as heroes in Cuba, which says they were trying to prevent a wave of bombings by Miami-based militant groups.

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In Miami, Cuban dissident blogger calls for unity

MIAMI (AP) — They came from all over to hear her speak. Old Cuban ladies with wrinkled faces and pristine makeup. Young students with iPhones and digital cameras. Men and women who fled Cuba decades ago and just last year, on makeshift rafts and planes.

When Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sanchez entered the room to speak Monday, dressed simply in white, they all stood up in applause and the politics that divide Cubans, even here in Miami, temporarily disappeared.

"In the Cuba that so many of us dream of, there is no need to clarify what type of Cuban you are," she said. "We'll be just Cubans. Cubans, period."

The crowd of several hundred stood on their feet, chanted "Freedom!" and applauded.

Sanchez, a Cuban mother and wife who turned to blogging just five years ago, has gained a following and accolades worldwide for her candid descriptions of modern life in Cuba on her blog Generation Y. In 2008, she was named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time magazine. She is currently on an international tour that has taken her to three continents after being allowed to leave Cuba for the first time in nearly a decade.

She went to Brazil, where boisterous protesters backing the Cuban government called her a "mercenary" financed by the CIA and even tugged at her hair. She incited controversy when, in an ironic tone, she suggested the U.S. should let five Cuban men convicted in 2001 of attempting to infiltrate military installations in South Florida free because of all the money Cuba could save and spend on more important matters than campaigning for their release.

She has met with young Cuban-Americans born in the U.S. with dreams of a homeland they have known only in photographs and stories. And she has shaken hands with some of the most powerful politicians in Washington, while calling on the U.S. to end its longstanding embargo against the communist island.

But the most anticipated stop of her 80-day tour has been Miami, the heart of the exile community.

When she arrived last Thursday, one of Sanchez's first stops was to La Ermita de la Caridad, a shrine to our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba's patron saint. She walked along a stretch of Miami's shoreline she called the city's "Malecon," a reference to Havana's coastal boulevard.

After spending the weekend catching up with her sister, brother-in-law and niece, Sanchez made her first public appearance. The site was aptly chosen: Miami's Freedom Tower, a golden yellow Mediterranean style building where thousands of Cubans fleeing the 1959 communist revolution were processed, given food and connected with social services. A line of men and women who did not have tickets but hoped to still get in stretched down the block.

Among them were sisters Magaly Consuegra, 65, and Maria Santa Cruz, 74.

"This is a historical building for us," said Consuegra, who remembered standing in a line in that same spot, when she first arrived five decades ago. "I admire her so much because she had the courage that so many Cubans don't have."

Consuegra came when she was 15 and sometimes, she regrets that she did not stay or go back, like Sanchez has vowed to do. There are an estimated 1 million Cubans in exile in the U.S., most in Miami, almost one-tenth the size of the island's population.

Enormous box trucks drove by repeatedly, the words, "Welcome Yoani Sanchez" stretching along the side. Others held signs calling for Raul Castro to step down as president and for the years of communist rule to end.

Just one small group of about a dozen exiles held a protest, demonstrating against Sanchez's position against the embargo and her comments on the Cuban spies. But they dispersed before the event began as a few rain clouds rolled in.

Sanchez told the story of leaving Berlin on a train the first time she left Cuba years ago. She struck up a conversation with a young man who asked her, "You're from Cuba? From the Cuba of Fidel or from the Cuba of Miami?"

"My face turned red, I forgot all of the little German I knew and I answered him in my best Central Havana Spanish, 'Chico, I'm from the Cuba of Jose Marti,'" Sanchez said, referring to Cuba's most famous national hero and poet.

"That ended our brief conversation," Sanchez said. "But for the rest of my life, that conversation stayed in my mind. I've asked myself many times what led that Berliner and so many other people in the world to see Cubans inside and outside the island as two separate worlds, two irreconcilable worlds."

While she is widely read outside her country, within Cuba she is less well known and has been publicly chastized by the government.

She said she was standing there, before exiles, "to make sure that no one, ever again, can divide us between one type of Cuban or another."

"Without you our country would be incomplete, as if someone had amputated its limbs," she said.

Sanchez lived in Switzerland in 2002, but soon decided to return, believing she was better off with her family and vowing to live in Cuba freely. Since starting her blog in 2007, she had tried to leave dozens of times to accept prizes and speak at universities, but was consistently denied an exit permit. In October, Cuba eliminated the permit that had been required of islanders for five decades and she was allowed to leave.

Cuban authorities can still deny travel in cases of defense and "national security," and some dissidents face restrictions. Her visit has been seen as a test of the new law, one of the most significant reforms Castro has made in his ongoing revision of the economy, government and society.

Before she left the Freedom Tower, she was bestowed with keys to the city of Miami, perhaps the only Cuban still living on the island to receive such an honor. And in a display of the unity she'd just spoken on, people in the audience commented how it seemed to be the first time they could recall where Cubans from so many different generations, who had arrived at different times, and had different opinions on the embargo were all under one roof, applauding the same speech.

Alejandro Barreras, who runs a blog in Miami called On Two Shores, said he sat behind a man who had yelled at him not so long ago for attending a concert of Carlos Varela, a Cuban folk musician. Now they were sitting one behind the other, equally captivated by Sanchez's words.

"You can't help but feel hopeful," he said.

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Follow Christine Armario on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cearmario

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Cuban media carry rare interview with US diplomat

HAVANA (AP) — Communist Party newspaper Granma published a lengthy interview with a U.S. diplomat Monday, making for highly unusual reading in a country where the official media routinely depict Washington envoys as hostile agents in cahoots with enemies of the Cuban government.

In the full-page article, Granma journalists quizzed Consul General Timothy Roche about the requirements and procedures for obtaining a U.S. visa, and more generally about U.S. migratory policy for islanders. The U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Havana instead of an embassy since the countries do not have formal diplomatic relations, has fielded increased inquires about the subject since a new Cuban travel law took effect Jan. 14.

Roche was quoted as saying that the U.S. government "looks positively" on the reform, which eased bureaucratic hurdles to overseas travel and ended a long-detested exit visa requirement, and that U.S. migratory regulations "have not changed in any aspect."

It was the first time in many years that a U.S. diplomat conducted such an interview with local media, underscoring the importance that both of the Cold War rivals place on the migration issue despite more than five decades of bad blood.

"It highlights the fact that even though the political relationship is very tough, there's a lot of travel back and forth, and the U.S. consulate is large and is processing applications for visas every day," said Philip Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Virginia-based Lexington Institute think tank.

"I think it (the article) serves both countries' interests," Peters added. "But yeah, it's certainly unusual."

Roche declined to answer Granma's questions about the Cuban Adjustment Act, which lets islanders who reach the United States stay and fast-tracks them for residency, or a program designed to entice Cuban medical professionals to defect.

Havana often complains about those rules, saying they encourage islanders to attempt dangerous sea crossings and cause "theft of talent," Cuban government-speak for brain-drain.

Granma listed the State Department webpage where people can file applications and a phone number where family members in the United States can call to schedule appointments. Some content from the interview was aired on the afternoon news broadcast.

The Interests Section approached Granma earlier this year and offered the interview, which took place in late February. Most Cubans do not have Internet access and thus are unable to view the Section's website.

"We had all this inquiry, and information that we wanted to get out to Cubans about the visa process, and we don't have a way to do that," a U.S. official in Havana told The Associated Press. The official had not been authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This time we just said, well, let's just treat this like we would ... in any other country," the official said. "Write a letter to the newspaper and say, 'Here's what we would like to offer because we think it's important to your audience.'"

The affirmative reply was surprising, the official added: "Maybe they also think it's important that people have the information. They see the lines every day" that form outside the Interests Section of people waiting for visa appointments.

The U.S. charges $160 per visa application and the wait can be up to 18 months. Cubans seeking immigrant visas to reunite with family in the United States must show an invitation from a relative who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, while would-be tourists must demonstrate strong ties to the island.

"Consular officials assume that all applicants for temporary visas are possible immigrants," Roche said.

It's exceedingly rare for U.S. envoys to appear in such a way in Cuba's government-controlled media. In 1994, then-Interests Section chief Joseph Sullivan spoke for about 15 minutes on state TV to explain U.S. migration policies. And during a migratory crisis in 2003, local media published a statement from then-chief James Cason discouraging Cubans from hijacking planes or boats.

But usually Cuban newspapers and state TV are in the business of demonizing U.S. diplomats, accusing them of paying for and orchestrating the "subversive" activities of anti-government dissidents.

The official described the interview as a respectful give-and-take and said the Granma article accurately reflected the conversation.

"It was all quite normal," the official said.

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Associated Press Writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.

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Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

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