Castro's Spies (2020) Movie Script

1
[intensely pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
You have to lie in
order to do that job
and you have to be
somebody you are not.
I believe that for every Cuban
that is presented
with such a mission
it would be an honor
to accomplish.
"To do whatever is necessary
for the Revolution.'
That was my answer,
my response.
I knew for sure
any action that they
asked me to do...
I would do it.
[Ramn]
You have to use fake identities
to work inside
the United States.
Well, that's part
of the training.
In order to be successful
it has to be done quietly
and in silence.
It is not an easy
task, I can say.
[man] It's a disturbing
case to know
that we and our institutions
are being spied upon,
are being reported upon
and the information being
transmitted back
to the director of
intelligence over in Cuba.
We're not going
to stand for it.
This spy ring was
tasked by the Cuban government
to strike at the very heart
of our national security system
and our very democratic
process.
These charges against
these individuals
alleged actions
for the Republic of Cuba
against the government
of the United States.
[Fernando] We knew that we were
technically breaking that law
but it is the history.
It's not a game...
to protect Cuba,
that's our main mission.

[narrator] Cuban history
began when Columbus
discovered the island
on his first voyage
to the new world.
The Spaniards built
the Morro Castle
to defend the city of Havana
from the pirates
who pillaged the islands
of the West Indies.
[morose guitar instrumental]
[announcer] The tropical
island of Cuba
is only 90 miles from
the United States,
so near that the affairs
of the two countries
have always been
closely related.
Even though we have
a Cuban government here,
uh, since 1902
all the way to 1959
the people who really
do the shots here
were the American government.
Nothing happened in
the political life in Cuba
and in the economic
life in Cuba
that was not heavily influenced
by the government and the
interests of the United States.
Everything belonged to
the American businesses.
The rice company, the electric
company, everything.
The sugar company.
[announcer]
Cuba's beautiful beaches
and pleasant climate are
among the attractions
that bring tourists
from other lands,
many of them from
the United States.
At night, the city
takes on a new complexion.
Amid a blaze of lights,
the cabarets come to life.
Any excuse is reason enough
for a celebration.
You ask yourself, so why was
a revolution needed then?
[Keith] Havana was
like Las Vegas.
It had a lot of casinos,
nightclubs, prostitution
and it was all controlled
by the American mafia.
[Ramsey] Vacationers who
came down from the U.S.
weren't looking for a suntan.
They were looking
for a high time.
It was attracting a different
type of people
who wanted prostitution,
people who wanted gambling.
Corruption was great.
U.S. ownership was vast.
[music crescendos and fades]
[morose strings instrumental]
[Fernando]
A small group of Cubans
were profiting from this
special relationship
with the United States.
People that had huge
amounts of money.
I cannot tell you firsthand
because I was born in 1963
but, uh, my parents were
working class individuals.
According to what my parents
explained to me,
it was a very unequal
distribution of income
and wealth of the country.
It was really, really poor
you know, really, really poor.
My father was a farmer
and my mother was a farmer too.
They don't have money,
they don't have nothing to--
even to eat.
Well my father was
born in the 1930's.
From what he tells me,
working back then
was a privilege.
This gulf between
the rich and the poor
is the stuff
revolutions are made of.
[morose strings instrumental]
After 1953, when Fidel
attacked the Moncada garrison
there was that feeling,
according to what my parents,
uh, uh, explained to me,
there was that feeling in
the-- in the population
that something of importance
had happened.
It was something that sparked
the interest
of the population,
because we have to
understand also
that there was a feeling of
deception in politics
and in politicians.
[Ren] I would say
that most Cubans thought
that there was no
straightening out Cuba.
It was Fidel
Castro's revolution
that, uh-- that said wait
a minute, stop there.
This revolution
of Castro's
was the first in Cuban
history to base
its policies and its
power on the peasant.
They flocked to his support.
[Ren] Fidel, he called
the people to fight
and everything changed.
And all of a sudden,
that skeptical people who
didn't care about politics
became politicized
through the Revolution.
[uplifting synth instrumental]
[announcer] Joyous followers
of Fidel Castro
sweep triumphantly through
the Cuban capital
hours after their rebellion
had toppled
the regime
of Fulgencio Batista.

[Keith] Those who stayed
were the ones
who supported Cuban
national sovereignty
and who were the lower classes,
who were not the beneficiaries
of the society that
was controlled
by the United States of
America, previously.
[intensely pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
[Ren] When the Revolution
came to power,
it affected the interests
of those
with close ties to
the United States system.
[Phil] Shortly after
the Cuban revolution,
many people, especially
the upper
and middle class of Cuba,
left the country.
They lost everything they had:
Their homes, their property,
their possessions.
And a large percentage
of them came to Miami.
[Fernando]
They moved with the mentality
that the Revolution would not
last very long.

Many people said,
the Americans
are not going to allow
this revolution to happen.
[Ren] The U.S. decided to
apply to Cuba the same formula
that they had applied
to Guatemala
or different countries
in Latin America.
They would support
counter-revolution
through all means...
terrorism, armed invasion
and weaken the Revolution
to topple it down.
I got involved with the CIA
as a member of a group of
students in Cuba.
My father was in
the sugar industry,
he was an executive
for an American company.
The middle classes
didn't believe
that communism was
the best for Cuba.
The government of Cuba stole
from the people of Cuba
their own success.
[Phil] Jos Basulto, he thought
that his mission in life
was to oust Castro
and change the regime.
I would have fought
a war against them,
one, two, three
times if necessary,
had that produced the results
we were looking for.
He was... A fighter.
Let's put it that way--
Against Castro and against
the revolution.
We were invited to come
to the U.S.
with the CIA to receive
training.
We were trained on
multiple things--
like intelligence, propaganda,
psychological warfare,
guns, explosives.
[Antonio] Brigade 2506 was
trained to come to Cuba
in what later was known
as the Bay of Pigs invasion.
They were trying to, you know,
destroy the Revolution.
A small force of
invaders landed
at a semi isolated resort area
on the south coast of Cuba
on a strip of beach
called Playa Girn
at the Bay of Pigs.
[morose guitar instrumental]
[Ramn | At that moment
they were thinking
that the Revolution
don't have the support
from the population.
That was a mistake.
[Fernando]
They were defeated so fast.
[Ren] They didn't last
more than 72 hours.
Our plan failed.
We simply lost.
[Keith] Fidel was able to say,
"The Americans are trying
to overthrow us.
We've stopped them."
And so it actually helped
solidify the support
for the revolution.
[announcer]
The Bay of Pigs invasion
was a tragic experience,
both for
the anti-Castro Cubans
and the United States.

[Keith] The majority of
those who left Cuba
after the revolution
were peaceful.
There was a small percentage
who had lost
their businesses, their homes
and their influence
in Cuba that turned violently
against the revolution.
This is [indistinct] in Miami.
Just five minutes away from
Miami Beach's
lush
multimillion dollar hotels,
men are training to fight
Fidel Castro's armies in Cuba.
These men are bankers,
lawyers,
former professional men.
There are even a couple of
bakers in the group.
[Paul] You have militant
exiles who formed groups,
militias and became an
offensive weapon
trying to overthrow the
government in Havana
by violent means.
They were involved in a crusade
against the Cuban government.
I was born
on June the 9th, 1963.
The life in Cuba at that time
was at the very beginning
of the revolution you know.
I grew up in the 60's.
There are hundreds of attacks,
there were bombs that were
placed in different areas
throughout the whole island.
[Ren] I remember clearly
when I was a kid
that one day the city
of Havana was, uh, shaken
by somebody who had come
to shoot at a hotel.
A hotel who was next to the
shore right here in Miramar,
with a boat and a cannon.
Yes, I shot the cannon.
I-- I-- I only fired, uh,
15 rounds
and then my, uh,
co-gunner if you may,
the one that brought
me the bullets, he said,
'I have to fire one',
and he shot one.
I had the FBI behind me
for at least a solid year.
They didn't do anything to me,
I wasn't even brought
for interrogation.
[Ramn | The government
of the United States,
they don't do nothing
if you are committing terrorism
against other countries.
[Gerardo]
We were a country under siege.
[Phil]
What we call today, IEDs,
the improvised explosive
devices.
That's exactly what
they were doing.
They were planting
explosive devices
or bombs in order
to create chaos.
[Fernando]
There are thousands of victims
in Cuba of those attacks.
We understand,
even being a child
that the revolution is under
aggression you know.
We always knew that
there were groups like that
and there were people in Miami
thinking of ways to harm us.
That is one of the reasons why
individuals like us
were needed in Miami.
In this war against communists
a lot of innocents
have been sacrificed.
And we know some
more has to be,
if we want to make
the victory,
the final victory.
[airplane engines hum]
A Cuban passenger jet
en route from Barbados
to Havana, crashed into the sea
following an on board explosion.
73 persons, 57 of them
Cuban, were Killed.
Cuban exile leader,
Orlando Bosch,
and several other persons
have been arrested
in Venezuela in connection
with that crash.
[somber piano instrumental]
At that time in 1976
that was the first time
an airplane was hit
by a terrorist group.
[Gerardo] When you see the
people that were in that plane,
young people,
it was a horrendous crime.
I was 11 years old.
In Revolution Square,
we were paying homage
to pieces, little pieces,
that could be recovered
from the people in the plane.
[Ren] The whole Cuban people
was there,
more than a million Cubans.
It had an impact on me,
as a-- as an adolescent,
I mean I was 13 years old
and I was in the Revolution
Square with my father,
my mother and my sisters.
[Ramn]
Everybody in Cuba was crying,
everybody was crying because
that was a terrible crime.
"We can't say that pain
is shared."
"Pain is multiplied."
"Millions of Cubans
are crying today
together with the loved ones
of the victims
of that horrible crime."
"And when an energetic
and virile people cry,
injustice trembles!"
[applause]
"Did they intimidate
the people?"
"No!"
"It's impossible."
"In the face of such cowardice
and monstrous crimes,
the people rise,
and each man and woman
becomes a ferocious and heroic
soldier willing to die."
[thunderous applause]
I don't think the Cuban people
has ever been after revenge.
We only want justice.
[intensely pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
A couple of years later,
there is this TV show.
ATV show reflecting
on the life of somebody
who was infiltrated
in the United States.
A Cuban infiltrating the CIA.
The title of the TV show,
'In Silence It Had To Be Done.'
Because in order
to be successful,
it has be done quietly
and in silence.
Remember back in those days,
that was the most-watched
TV show in Cuba.
Every Cuban identified
with, uh, with that character.
And it's a character
that is based on true facts.
It gave us a sense of well,
there is a way to face
these actions against Cuba.
Those who attacked us,
and that made me
think about that possibility.
It was something
that influenced me.
That is something
that I would like to do,
that is something that I wish
I had the opportunity to do.
Of course I didn't ask
for the opportunity,
because that's not the way
it works.
It's just the opportunity
came to me.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
I graduated
from college in 1987.
I studied International
Relations.
And then I went to Africa.
I was 24 when I went to Angola.
I was 20 years old
when I went to Angola.
I went there to defend
the right cause,
which was the independence
of Angola.
[Gerardo] I graduated,
I volunteered to go to Angola.
I was there as a Lieutenant
of a scout platoon.
[Ren] I was stricken
by the poverty, the misery,
that colonialism imposes
on people.
Not too different from
what was happening in Cuba
before the Revolution.
But at the same time
I could see
the appreciation and the love
that those people developed
for the Cubans,
because we went there and
treated them as human beings.
And it-- it was beautiful,
I learned a lot there.
[Fernando] It was really
a powerful experience.
The experience in Angola
really made me stronger
as a human being, as a man.
Cuban Intelligence start--
started observing me there.
I returned back to Cuba.
Somebody approached me
and I didn't even know
what it was for.
[Ramon]
One day somebody come to you
and tell you we need to have
a meeting with you.
[Fernando] Somebody went to
my house and left a message.
We need you to present
at some place,
some government place,
the next day.
So I went there, I didn't
know what it was about.
When I came back to Cuba
and I was about to start
working as a diplomat,
they approached me
and presented a mission.
My mission was to direct
in the field
a group of special agents that
had been located in Florida
and they said you know
we have people
coming from Florida to do
sabotage here
and some acts of terrorism.
And we need somebody
to go there
and infiltrate those people and
send the information here.
I saw enough of the crimes
committed against Cuba
during the years,
so as to be aware of
the need to defend it.
He asked me if I was willing
to be part of that.
He was very insistent, telling
me that I thought it over.
I believe that for every Cuban
that is presented with
such a mission
it would be an honor to
accomplish and I said yes.
I told him right away,
'If you believe
that you need my services,
I'm ready."
I said, 'tit's my duty.'
I knew for sure any action
that they asked me to do,
I would do it.
To do whatever is necessary
for the revolution,
that was my answer,
my response.
And then I started working
with the Secret Services.
After that, then you go
through a period of training.
Basically we have
to take classes
of work related issues,
like cryptography,
psychology, you have
to deal with many people.
You have to deal
with yourself too.
[Ramn]
Using different identities
and other kind
of personalities.
[Gerardo] We took all kind
of martial arts.
[Ramn] Things that prepare you
to be a secret agent.
This was a military operation
from day one.
We were running this operation
without a sing--
a single weapon.
[Fernando] The training
in my case,
it took a couple of years.
Of course we've got to do
it without people knowing.
It takes separation
from your family.
The separation was very hard.
I met Adriana in 1986.
She was studying to be
a chemical technician.
He knew I loved the sea.
He pointed to one side
and said,
"Look at that boat,
isn't it nice?"
I looked one way
and then when I turned my head
the other way,
he gave me a kiss and we have
been together ever since.
[Gerardo]
We married in 1988.
[Ren] Me and Olguita
we were very happy,
a very happy couple.
Ah...Ren was very handsome.
That's the truth I can say.
We had a daughter,
which we adored.
[Olguita] It was happiness
for us to have our daughter.
It was a very beautiful period.
We discussed having children,
but, um, first I was finishing
my studies
and then she was
finishing her studies.
Then Angola came and then
we decided to keep waiting.
I met Elizabeth in 1988.
I met her at one bus stop.
She was very beautiful
that day.
And asked her if she wanted
to have an ice cream with me.
We got married in a very...
I mean big ceremony in Malecon.
That was in 1990.
But what happened
at the same time,
I was working for
the Secret Services.
She didn't know nothing about
me, she didn't know
that I was working for
the Secret Service.
[Ren] I never told anybody in
my family what I was doing.
[Ramon]
For me it was very tough.
I was working supposedly for
the Foreign Affairs office.
Every day when you wake up
in the morning,
your wife asks you,
"Where are you going, what are
you going to do today,
at what time you coming back?"
You have to say, "Well, I don't
know where I'm going,
I don't know
when I'm coming back.
I don't know what time
I can come back."
Because that's the way it is.
If you say anything,
you jeopardize your mission.

I would consider
them brave men.
I mean, it takes some balls
to do what they did.
You are able to do something
that you understand
and believe is good.
You have to sacrifice
something for that, you know.
You have to lie in order
to do that job
um, and you have to be
somebody you are not.
And it takes a toll on you.
It's not easy.

You have to-- to detach from
your previous lives
and your previous ideas,
uh, so that people would see
an evolution of your thought.
Little by little, you start
speaking differently.
You are not as politicized
as you would be before.
You are more critical
of things.
I'm a very outspoken guy,
so becoming something different
and living through
a lie for me is not easy.
It's tough, little by little,
you have to be changing
in front of the people.
I had been already graduated
from aviation school.
I was a flight instructor
and I was flying a lot.
I was told to steal a plane.
They thought, with reason,
that it would give me on
my arrival some credibility
and some propaganda which would
be good for the mission.
[airplane whirring]
It was a little bit
traumatic that day.
That day was another day, just
another day like days before.
I had been trying to take
a plane to the U.S.
for, uh, for some months,
so I had
to do several attempts.
I had to go back to my house
and it was really stressing
because then you would go back
and you would feel,
on one hand you would
feel relieved
that you are going to see your
daughter and your wife again,
but on the other hand you
feel that you have to...
to com-- to fulfill the mission
and you can't,
it's complicated.
I left on December 8th, 1990.
I said goodbye to my wife.
And I remember exactly
how I left her,
standing in the middle
of a walkway...
Her dress with flowers.
[somber piano instrumental]
I looked at her and I--
and I thought,
"Well, I don't know whether I'm
going to see her again or not."
And Irmita, my daughter,
she fell asleep
and I-- I took her and put her
into the bed
and then-- then I look at her--
I remember her-- her--
Also her dress, a yellow dress.
And I left her there and stood
for a moment watching her,
until I just shake
my head and left.
But [stammering] it's some
things that you cannot forget.
And then when I went
to the airport,
I found the right moment
to, to take--
To stole--
to steal the plane and I left.
[airplane buzzing]
It was, it was...
it was really hard.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
The warning signs of fuel
started to tell me, you know,
you're running out of fuel.
It was very, very tense
at that moment.
And it was incredible.
After five minutes,
when I was about to return
I saw the Key West Naval
Station in front of my plane.
[airplane buzzing]
So I landed there with
the little fuel I had left
and-- and that was it.
There came one little truck
which said with a sign,
"follow me."

I was processed on the--
on the base.
They agreed that they would put
me in a motel in Key West.
And I spent my night
in the motel there
thinking of my family,
of Cuba, of everybody.
It was really hard,
to tell you the truth.
I remember that at one point,
I took off my identity card
from Cuba
where I had the pictures
of my wife and my daughter.
And I looked at them
and I started to cry.
I was thinking of what would
be happening in Cuba.
At the end I fall--
I fell asleep,
because I was so tired
that I couldn't remain...
Awaken, but it was
very rough for me.
The 8th of December of 1990,
I got surprised with the news
that Ren had left the country.
Then the next day,
I sent a letter to Olguita.
Full of BS, you know,
telling her why
I had left Cuba,
because it was better
in the United States,
that at last I was free,
in a democratic society
where I could become a pilot,
a well-paid pilot and do
whatever I wanted.
That someday we would
be together,
Irmita, herself and myself,
to be happy again.
All kinds of,
you know stupid stuff.
I didn't understand anything.
I always said it wasn't
him, it wasn't possible.
That was not Ren,
he was not the Ren I knew.
[Ren] Supposedly I was
a very happy deserter.
I waited for a reply.
With the pain in my soul,
I sat down
and wrote him a letter
telling him everything I felt.
I went to my room
to read the letter.
So I opened up and started
reading the letter--
Phew, and it killed me.
She said to me
all kinds of things,
that I wasn't a good father,
that I could keep
the United States for me.
I had nothing to do
with Ren anymore.
Ren left and he was a traitor.
She basically broke with me
and I was in shock
when I read that.

When you read it,
it it hurts.
You look at it now and
it's a very logical response
but even though I know-- I knew
it was logical, I mean...
I cried a lot
when I read that letter.
That was followed by
very difficult days,
very difficult for me.
It was a lonely time.
But on the other side you know,
it's your duty to do it.
To do my job as a Cuban agent.
[announcer]
Miami, one of the world's
hottest cities,
welcomes you.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
In Miami, the world
is your oyster.
[whistle blows]
So welcome to South Florida
and have a safe
and pleasant stay.

[Ren] I would be listening
to Miami radio stations.
They would do a radio program
from Little Havana
in a restaurant.
And they had invited
Capitan Eduardo Ferrer,
who was the head of the CUPA...
Cuban American
Pilots Association.
All of them fascist
right-wingers,
counter-revolutionaries...
Most full of hatred
against Cuba.
I located the restaurant.
And I went to the restaurant
and I presented myself,
'Listen I'm the pilot
who stole a plane.'
So they put me in touch
with Capitan Ferrer.

I went to see him to his house.
He, oh-- He gave me the welcome
you know, red carpet.
'Oh, the guy who stole
a plane from Cuba.
So what do you want to do,
how can I help you?'
I tell him,
'I want to be a pilot here.'
That's how I came into,
in contact with those people.
[Olguita] I had many hard
times like everybody else,
but in this case, I was alone.
I had no help from my husband,
I was a young person.
I was constantly trying
to protect Irmita.
First, I said her
dad went to study.
'Why didn't he tell me?
Why didn't he say goodbye?'
She would spend a lot of time
with her cousin, my nephew
and Irmita came crying.
'What happened with Michel?'
I asked.
'I don't love my cousin anymore
because he said that my dad
is a worm, she said.
In my family, to mention Ren
was to mention the man
who had abandoned me
with a little girl
and took a plane, left,
and became a
counter-revolutionary.
[Ren] Little by little I would
be infiltrating those groups
in order to get information
about the plans
of these organizations and send
information to Cuba.
You have to use
fake identities,
to work inside
the United States.
You are going to live
the life of somebody else.
You have to become
a person that you are not.
To know by heart the biography
of somebody else.
[Guy] They used dead--
for the most part--
Dead individuals,
using their passports,
had scoured, sort of,
the obituaries
"It's about my age.
Let's falsify his
identification papers,"
just like what you
see in the TV.
And you have to know everything
about that person,
the day he was born.
[Fernando]
Who his parents were.
[Ramn]
The schools he was attending.
[Gerardo] Name of the teachers,
names of your classmates.
[Fernando] And then you have
to start living that life.
It is not an easy task,
I can say.
[Gerardo] In my case,
I was Manuel Viramontez,
which was a Puerto Rican.
I was Puerto Rican,
so I have to learn
Puerto Rico,
everything.
I was using
the name Luis Medina.
I was a Puerto Rican.
And I know all the biography
of Luis Medina.
Well, my legend was,
I was Ruben Campa.
An individual that had been
born in the United States
of Mexican origins.
I was carrying identification
papers that were not mine.
False identity.
[Ramn] You have a social
security card,
you have a driver's license.
[Gerardo] The first time
that you go in the U.S.
with a fake ID, it's...
it's hard.
[Ramn]
The first time is terrible.
[Gerardo]
They asked me for my passport,
but Puerto Ricans
you could travel
just with your driver's license
and your birth certificate,
so I didn't have a passport.
And they started
interrogating me,
'Why you don't
have a passport?'
They give me a hard time.
It was a kind of
a scary moment.
[Fernando] You need to believe
it just to act that way.
It is very complicated
and it is something
that you
have to be
every day on top of it.
[Ramn] I remember that
I passed through Immigration
with no problem at all.
[Gerardo] Once you crossed that
line you said, 'I'm here.'
Once you are in the U.S,,
you have to start building
his-- his, uh, history.
You need to build your life.
[Ramn] I realized that it's
good to have pictures,
because you need to have
some history of life.
Because pictures
give you history.
How can I show people that
I am Luis Medina,
a citizen of the United States
for real for real?
With pictures.
I am Luis Medina the whole time
I am inside the United States.
He's exactly like me,
but different than me.
You can see the pictures.
You have to portray
a Puerto Rican,
the way they dress up,
you know, the Puerto Rican's
use big chains
and I received this one
from another officer.
This helped me a lot in my job,
it helped me a lot
because it helped me to be
Luis Medina,
uh, and to fulfill
many missions in my job.
And I feel like,
it's a lucky charm.
The Cubans were very
good at their trade craft.
I mean, they were very
good at spying.
[Gerardo] There is
a group of people
that are
infiltrated in the groups
and my task, my goal
my mission, was to handle
those individuals.
[Guy] Cuban spies
were trying to get
in to anti-Castro organizations
here in South Florida.
Who was doing what, reporting
back to their government.
[Ren] In my case,
once I started dealing
with those groups, I was given
a lot of liberty
to make assessments
and to decide who to approach,
who not to approach.
I didn't know them as spies.
I knew them as participants
in Brothers to the Rescue.
[Ren] I was together
with the President of CUPA,
Capitan Eduardo Ferrer.
He was consulting me
on how to launch
an unmanned airplane to Cuba
with explosives.
We were talking about
the feasibility of doing it
and all of a sudden
Basulto called on the phone.
And Basulto told this guy
that they were creating
Brothers to the Rescue
the next day
on Tamiami Airport.
And the guy told him, 'Oh, you
know who's with me here,
he's Ren Gonzalez, the guy who
stole a plane from Cuba.'
And Basulto of course,
he was excited
at the prospect of meeting me.
So he told him,
'Oh, invite him there,
I want to meet him,' whatever.
The next day I went
to Tamiami Airport.
I had already met
a couple of guys in Miami
and they greeted me
and one of them
introduced me to Basulto.
Ren Gonzalez.
He tell me how he got there
before everybody else,
I don't know.
But these people from Cuba,
I'm telling you, they're good.
[Guy] Brothers to the Rescue
in the early 1990s
was formed as a result
of the influx
of Cuban rafters into
the United States.
The Coast guard couldn't
find them all.
People were dying.
People were drowning.
We were willing to start
flying airplanes,
uh, to locate
the refugees at sea.
[Ren] Since the beginning,
I was involved
in most operations
of Brothers to the Rescue.
[Guy] They had a bunch of
Cessna airplanes.
They had volunteer pilots,
volunteer spotters.
They would radio the location
of the rafters
to the Coast Guard,
who at the time
would pick them up
and bring them
into the United States safely.
[Paul] At that point in time,
they weren't being
repatriated to Cuba.
They were being brought
to the United States.
[Guy] If they were picked up
on the sea or they made it
on to land in the United
States, they were given
permanent resident
status immediately.
Miami!
The number of Cuban rafters
is on the rise.
Nearly two dozen picked
up yesterday.
That's why Brothers
to the Rescue
is stepping up search
flights for rafters.
I realized that doing
sometimes good things,
have more impact than
doing bad things.
Right away he started
to receive funds,
people in Miami
gave their money
and all of a sudden he became
a personality in Miami.
To refugees, they are
heroes in the sky.
The Cuban exile group,
Brothers to the Rescue.
When he was doing just that in
the Florida Straits,
in international waters
rescuing the rafters,
Cuba just kept watching.
It was intelligence gathering.
That's all Ren really did.
He was good at it, too.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
[Gerardo] You have to set a way
to communicate with them.
It was the beeper time.
[pager beeping]
One of them would
send me a beeper
with a code saying,
'I need to talk to you.'
You have to get out
of your house.
Look for a safe public phone.
First you don't go
straight to a payphone.
You have to do, it's called
a counter-surveillance plan.
For me to be sure that
when I get to that phone,
nobody was following me.
So I call the beeper from
the public phone
and put in a number.
[pager beeping]
[Ren] They would beep you
and you would go to a place.
[Gerardo] I go to that place
and he goes to that place.
It is something
that is pre-arranged.
[Ren] I gave him a whole
report of the six months,
since I had been
in the United States.
About Brothers to the Rescue,
what they were doing,
my involvement with Basulto,
with CUPA.
Uh, of course the plot of the
airplane full of explosives.
And from there on, we started
to communicate regularly.
[Gerardo] And then I would have
to go right back
and send an urgent
communication to Cuba.
[phone dialing]
[dial-up internet sound]
We had a system
to transmit information.
Short messages to Cuba
through phone lines.
You pass on the information
and you are not responsible
with what is done
with that information.
You just pass it on to Cuba.
[Guy] Truly, it was a very
sophisticated operation
that was being run, not just
to provide protection,
as they would assert.
They were trying to get
into US army facilities.
[Phil] Ramon, for a time
lived in Tampa, Florida,
near MacDill Air Force Base.
And he had,
we called it the box of war.
Time Life Magazine Company,
[indistinct] these little--
They're like recipe cards,
And they have pictures
of the planes on them.
This is what an
F-16 looks like.
This is what an
A-10 looks like.
Basically little flash
flashcards for children
that are publicly available.
He watched planes take off
and identified the planes
with the box of war.
[Paul] Sitting around
counting planes
at MacDill Air Force
Base up in Tampa.
That's all they ever did.
And down in Boca Chica,
same thing.
[Guy] Tony was working at
the Naval Air Station
in Key West, Florida.
He was mainly employed
at the Public Works Department
on the base.
The labor shop,
that's where I worked.
[Gerardo]
He was a metal worker,
no access to any secret
information at all.
[Fernando]
He didn't have any clearance,
he just counted planes
something you could
do from the road.
[Phil] Planes can be seen
from the public highway,
which runs perpendicular
to the military base.
[Gerardo] If you get a car
and drive by U.S. 1,
close to the base,
you can see how many planes
there are there.
You don't even need
to work there.
You can go,
there's a sign there,
you can take a picture there
and record it.
[Guy] I'm convinced that
one of the goals
of this conspiracy
was to exploit,
to better understand how our
military would work--
Our assets, our capabilities,
trying to count planes,
see what planes were at
what Air Force bases.
The question is
why Cuba needed them?
[Ramn] For us it was very
important to see
what was happening
in Boca Chica,
because Boca Chica
is very close to Cuba--
The naval base closest to Cuba.
When the U.S. invaded Panama
in that Key West station,
there used to be 12 planes.
Days before
there were 60 or 70.
When the U.S. went to Haiti,
the forces in that Key West
station multiplied as well.
So Cuba wanted to have
an early eye
checking if one day instead
of 12 planes there are 60,
somethings going on
in the area.
We were afraid for an invasion
coming from Boca Chica.
[Paul] They would snoop
around, you know?
"What are you doing?
Where are your buildings?
You know? What are
you doing here?"
And they snooped around
this one building
that was going to be used to
hold classified information.
They making a renovation
of that building
the building 1125,
that was the number, A11 25.
Tony was working on that
building as a laborer.
And I hear somebody say,
'Oh, this building is something
for top secret.'
So I put that
in one of my reports,
'Oh, I work in the building
that somebody said that...'
[Paul] The Cuban Directorate
of Intelligence said,
"Tell us more about
that stuff."
And I never answer.
I don't know why
they said that.
In the law in the U.S.
says very clearly,
that in order for you to be
guilty of espionage,
you have to have gathered or
transmitted information
that is closely held,
that is secret.
And that thing was open.
Even a guy come with a machine
of Coca Cola. It was not like,
'Oh, this is closed,
this is something you know."
And that's not espionage,
because it's not secret.
[Guy] Who might have access--
In fact, more access
than the janitor who comes in
sort of unpretentious,
without notice and is able
to move around freely
inside a-- a base where
classified information is?
All spies aren't James Bond.
You need those others
that are available
and can get the job done.
We never tried to get
any classified document,
any top secret.
I didn't know what top secret
mean, really I didn't know.
It was illegal. It was in
violation of our laws.
But was it meant to harm
our national security?
No, I don't think so.
Is Cuba even a threat
to the United States?
What are they going
to do to us?
Cuba don't want any conflict.
If somebody said that Cuba
wanted conflict
with United States
it's, it's...
It's a crazy person,
it's not, you know.
I think all the Cubans really
were ever worried about
was, you know, would they ever
be invaded
by the United States?
It's all defensive, you know?
It's not offensive.
[confident horns instrumental]
[male reporter]
The news from ITN.
[female reporter]
The red flag came down
over the Kremlin tonight as
President Gorbachev resigned
and brought to
an end seven decades
of communist rule in
the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union
had disappeared,
Cuba went into very severe
economic crisis.
What we called,
"The Special Period', began.
[Ramn] 100% of the oil
that was coming from
the Soviet Union stopped
so we have zero energy,
the situation was terrible.
[Keith] The embargo
places incredible
economic limitations on
the Cuban population.
It's as harmful as any war.
It kills innocent civilians.
I spent a good part of
the Special Period
alone with my daughter.
Well, I think
that I was so skinny
and had endured
that much hardship.
Even my house had fallen,
the stairs in the house fell.
I ended up in a hostel.
People were desperate
to get out of there.
So there was an uptick
in the number of people
taking rafts and small boats
to get out of Cuba.
[reporter]
Rafters have, since 1991,
depended on being spotted
by Brothers to the Rescue.
We have to admit that thousands
of people were found.
They would fill the plane
with journalists from abroad
and they would go and look
for rafters.
[Jos] So that the people
throughout the world could see
what was happening with Cuba,
what pain and suffering
in the island,
the lack of liberty,
the lack of opportunity.
They would take advantage
of the flocks of rafters
to launch a propaganda campaign
against Cuba.
[reporter] Private donations
keep the brothers flying.
Even airplanes
have been donated.
It's a passion for founder,
Jos Basulto.
They're coming out not because
the United States
is here, but because Fidel
Castro is there.
And until that is so, uh,
they're going to continue
coming out of the island.
His goals are not public.
I knew because I was there,
but the public doesn't know
about that.
It was a very intelligently
devised operation.
It was a psych-op operation
based on the knowledge
he had acquired from the CIA.
Basulto never stopped first
thinking of terrorism.
He was a terrorist by--
by training.
To call me terrorist,
it's-- it's hilarious.
They try to portray me as
something that I am not.
Not that I wouldn't,
under the circumstances,
had taken arms in certain
circumstances against them,
because I saw it as
the only way.
We had an agent infiltrated
in Brothers to the Rescue
because we knew that they were
doing way more of that.
Basulto consulted with me
to land here in Cuba
with explosive,
I'm talking about 1992.
And I went to see him, he had a
map of the Cuban electric grid.
He wanted to see with me
whether he would be able
to land the plane next to one
of those grid towers
to put an explosive
and blow them up.
Ideas are ideas,
but plans is a different story.
Every time some of these
guys do something to me,
I wish I would be hitting
them in the head with a bat.
But that doesn't mean
that I'm gonna do it.
Rene's role was to infiltrate
Brothers to the Rescue
then report back to gerardo
so that that information
could be relayed to Cuba, so
that they could, you know,
be ready to deal
with incursions
by Brothers to the Rescue.
Fortunately I didn't
kill anybody.
Not once, no there is
not one person
that can be claimed that I...
He lost his life
on account of what I did.
Other people
cannot say the same thing.
By the way,
who trained us to kill?
Who trained us to do all
those things
that non-violence regrets
when they happen?
Were the United States.
We are the results
of U.S. foreign policy.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
[digitized Morse code sounds]
Cuba would send
an urgent communication.
[digitized Morse code sounds]
You could listen to
the short-wave transmissions
and receive
the information from Cuba.
Then after you have
the information,
you get it in a computer.
You had a disk that has
a special secret program
and that turn into a message.
We receive
the instruction from Cuba.
One of the missions
that we were working in,
was, um, was
called Morena Operation.
The mission was to
surveil Orlando Bosch.
He had a long history
of terrorism against Cuba.
Until the end,
we will keep trying.
We prefer a destroyed Cuba,
than a communist Cuba.
As some authorities in
the U.S. called him once,
"The worst terrorist
in the western hemisphere.'
He kept planning terrorist
attacks against Cuba
all the time.
[Fernando]
Nobody stopped him.
Cuba had information that
he was planning
to introduce some weapons
in Cuba.
We wanted to keep
a close eye on him.
[Fernando] To be aware of
what his movements were.
Who visited him,
what he was involved in.
[Gerardo] Basically that
included filming him.
[Fernando]
We never used anything
that was sophisticated,
that was something
like spyware.
We used commercial stuff.
A camera, regular camera,
video camera that anybody has.
He was meeting with individuals
to organize actions
against Cuba.
[Gerardo]
I had him very close,
I remember him being in
a supermarket parking lot
and I remember
thinking to myself,
you cannot imagine someone that
doesn't know who this guy is
could not imagine
how criminal his mind is
and how dangerous he is.
It's out of conscience,
out of heart,
that you can do a...
a job like this.
They were doing it
not for the money.
I mean, these were ideologues.
They were doing it for uh,
what they thought were uh,
political and,
and sort of reasons
associated with
their government.
As a matter of fact,
out of ethics,
Cuba had never paid an agent
just to be an agent.
The reason is simple, right?
If you do something for money,
you would do it for the people
that gives you the more money.
If you are, I don't know,
a baseball player
or a soccer player and
play for money,
you will play for the team
that pays you the most.
And on that logic,
if you are a spy for money,
then you'll spy for the country
that pays you the most.
And Cuba cannot compete with
anybody on money issues, right.
Gerardo and the others lived
in simple apartments.
I was living in
a very small apartment,
very small apartment.
[Gerardo] Very modest
individuals, modest means.
I was eating the basic
thing, you know?
Like one hamburger
with one Coca Cola,
90 cents with 35 cents.
That was my dinner.
[Jack]
Probably made more money
from the American government
working at Boca Chica
than he did
from the Cuban government
as an agent.
You watch movies
and agents have encounters
in fancy restaurants,
or hotels, or drive nice cars.
We were having problems
all the time with old cars.
Those were very
difficult years.
[Olguita]
Ren left in 1990.
And years begin to go by.
I knew that back then
at that time in Cuba,
there was turmoil
in the family.
My loved ones, my friends
that were all...
...all would be, you know,
thinking that I was a traitor
and it was really hard.
I began to think and to think.
She didn't believe deep
down that I was a traitor.
She started to follow
the traces that I left behind.
[Olguita] This man went to my
job to find something about me,
and tells me that...
he knew Ren since Angola.
And that he found out the news
and came to see how I was
and how the little girl was.
Somehow she... she felt that he
hadn't been with me in Angola.
She started to look at this guy
and followed that guy
and call him to his job.
[Olguita] "You weren't with
Ren in Angola.
You went to my job
looking for information
about me
and I have come to
a conclusion.
Ren is not a traitor
and you are the handler
looking after him.'
Well, the guy was in shock.
He was so insulted,
he told me lots of things,
'Don't say that,
you're going mad!
You're going to get
into trouble.'
He rang me by phone and said,
'I need to speak with you.'
At the end they had to call her
and tell her you know,
'Please leave us alone.
He's with us.'
I began to breathe and said,
'good, it's the same Ren
I knew.'
[Ren] I knew that at
some point she would join me
in the U.S. if I had to stay.
[Guy] We determined early
on that there were
a group of Cuban spies
operating here
in south Florida.
But you have to understand,
initially,
the FBI treated this
as sort of a separate
intelligence operation.
They were conducting sneak
and peek warrants,
basically going in,
looking, copying,
obtaining information,
putting it all back--
[chuckles] Just like
in the movies--
And then analyzing, exploiting
and continuing their
investigation.
Uh, intelligence had
been gathered.
People had been identified.
But really initially,
there was no contemplation
of a prosecution.
[announcer]
4 News Now continues.
It is the start
of Cuban rafter season
and today more
were spotted.
[Ren] In 1994, it was a period
of very economic crisis.
Fidel said 'Well, whoever wants
to go in a raft he can go.'
And thousands of people left.
[reporter] During
the 1994 rafter crisis,
Brothers to the Rescue
played a critical role,
directing the Coast guard
to thousands
of Cubans fleeing
the island nation.
[Ren] The rafters crisis
forced the U.S. government
to sign an agreement with Cuba.
[Paul] What became known as
"Wet foot, dry foot" policy
meant if you made it on to land
in the United States,
you were given permanent
resident status immediately.
If you were picked
up at the sea,
you were sent back to Cuba.
Now, this change in policy
creates big problems for the
Brothers to the Rescue.
They spot the rafters.
They call the Coast Guard.
[Fernando]
Who is he going to save,
if the rafters are going
to be sent back?
[Phil] There was no reason
for Brothers to Rescue to fly.
The public mission of Brothers
to the Rescue comes to an end.
[Phil] Then that policy
changed. Their mission changed.
We put together the idea
of a plan
on how to structure
a movement inside of Cuba,
uh, using non-violent means.
[Phil] They began to poke
the bear, as they say.
[airplane whirring]
[female reporter] Well, a
Brothers to the Rescue plane
flew right into Cuban airspace
and over Havana.
"This is an act of civil
disobedience."
"We realize what we are doing
and, uh, all we are doing
is signaling out
to the people of Cuba,
that, uh, civil disobedience
is possible."
[male reporter] The plane
roared at rooftop level
through downtown, banking
towards Havana Harbor.
[Phil] They threw leaflets
trying to encourage
the people to overthrow
the government.
We had a slogan.
"COMPANEROS! NO! HERMANOS."
Which means
"Comrades no, we're brothers.'
We flew by the Faro del Morro,
this structure that has
the lighthouse in Morro.
We went, buzz, next to it.
That really upset
the government too.
It was a provocation
to the Cuban government.
[reporter] The Cuban
government responded saying...
You do enter the airspace
or territorial waters,
or territory of another
country, you are subject
to the law enforcement agencies
of that country.
We were willing to take
the risks to bring about
a change in the island,
by using non-violence.
Remember, this is
the same terrorist
that fired a cannon against
a hotel in Cuba.
Never would have been tolerated
by our government.
If Cuba sent a, a light plane
over Washington, D.C.,
it would been pulverized.
[Ren] Unfortunately,
Basulto decided
to keep up that operations.
[Fernando] He overflew Havana
many times, many times.
[Jos] Those leaflets we had
dropped that went to Havana,
we did that at least
three times.
We dropped at one point,
like half a million of them.
[Fernando] Every time
that Basulto
violated Cuban airspace,
the Cuban government would
send a diplomatic note
to the United States with
the data about the overflight.
[Keith] The Cuban government
repeatedly asked
the US government
to stop the flights
from the Brothers
to the Rescue.
The American government
did nothing.
And he came, he did it again
and again. Until in 1996,
the Cuban government decided
to put an end to that.
We decided, well let's send
three airplanes
to fly the mission of seeing
if we find any rafters.
[reporter] 2 p.m. Saturday,
three small Cessna Sky Master
aircraft took off from
Opa-Lock a Airport near Miami.
[Ren] The flight plans
were provided to Cuba
by the U.S. authorities,
the FAA.
So everybody knew that
Basulto was flying to Cuba.
I called Havana center
and told them
that we were coming
on our mission and so on.
Instead of moving in this
direction, east west direction
to allegedly to watch
for rafters--
I don't know for what purpose--
He went straight
towards Havana.
[reporter] At 2:57,
one of the pilots
from the group,
Brothers to the Rescue,
tells the control tower in
Havana of their intention
to fly into airspace south
of the 24th parallel.
The pilot is warned of
possible danger--
They threatened us
like they always did.
"You are in Cuban airspace,
that's a forbidden zone.'
But we kept on going.
[reporter] At 3:09, two Cuban
military jets are airborne.
Well, all hell broke
loose very quickly.
[jet engines screaming]
I saw a Mig... zoom in front
of us from left to right.
[jet engines screaming]
I was in conversation
with the other two planes
and I lost contact
with one of them
and I could see
in the distance smoke.
Oh shit!
I was calling the other one.
The other one,
also lost contact with them,
again saw smoke.
[reporter]
Cuban fighter jets shot
two of Basulto's planes
out of the sky,
killing four people.
Flying a third plane,
Basulto barely escaped.
This has been assassination
in the high seas
The problem with the shoot down
is not so much that the
shoot down occurred--
I mean, on a human level,
of course it is.
Uh, uh, it's where it occurred.
The U.S. authorities
said that Basulto
had violated Cuban airspace,
but the other two planes
according to the U.S.
were shot down very close
to Cuban waters,
but inside international
waters, which would be a crime.
These planes, the incident
occurred over Cuban territory.
One plane was definitely
in Cuban airspace.
And I think that the
Cuban government
and their pilots believed
these aircraft
were in Cuban airspace.
Saturday's attack was an
appalling reminder
of the nature of
the Cuban regime.
The planes that were shot down
were U.S. flagged planes,
civilian planes.
The people inside
were Americans.
Personally, I don't think
it's ever justified
shooting down
a civilian aircraft
unless that aircraft is posing,
like, an imminent danger.
After so many air incursions
and after so many incidents,
the Cuban government
just felt that they
had to enforce
their border and they did this.
It's a duty,
it's the most fundamental
obligation
for any government on earth
to protect their population.
Who's at the fault here?
I say it has to be, you know,
a combination of
the US government
for not stopping these flights
and Basulto for undertaking
these reckless acts
where people got killed.
I think the President
has an excellent opportunity
to exercise leadership here
with Castro
and perhaps bring this to an
end once and for all.
Basulto hoped that the U.S.
would take action,
military action against Cuba.
I am not ruling out
any further steps
in the future should
they be required.
One of the options that the
U.S. administration considered
was a military option,
to retaliate.
And if that was a possibility,
maybe in Key West station, the
forces there would multiply.
An invasion might be coming.
[digitized Morse code sounds]
If you see something movement,
that is not the normal movement
you know?
So you report that.
Just to say,
'No, today the United States
is not invading Cuba.'
It's important for Cuba.
Our top story,
that confrontation with Cuba
over the downing of those two
light planes this weekend,
planes carrying members
of the Cuban exile group
called Brothers to the Rescue.
[reporter] In Miami today,
a moment of silence
for the four missing pilots
from Brothers to the Rescue.
They are the newest heroes
in the exile community.
[Guy] When the shoot
down occurred,
that's really when FBI
walks into our office,
the U.S. attorney's
office in Miami.
And says there is a potential
criminal case
of the most serious magnitude.
We stepped in and said,
"Hey, we've got to stop this."
They needed to have
a scapegoat.
Somebody had to
answer for this.
[Gerardo] It created an
atmosphere in Miami.
[Antonio]
I needed to be on alert
to see what
the reaction would be
by the U.S. government
and the groups.
I know that the reaction
in Miami was gonna be hate.
good evening. President Clinton
late today
announced a series
of moves against Cuba
for the shooting
down of two light planes.
But he stopped well short
of ordering
any military action against
Fidel Castro.
What did we do? You know,
we passed some silly laws.
I will move promptly
to reach agreement
with the Congress
on the pending
Helms-Burton Cuba legislation
so that it will enhance the
effectiveness of the embargo
in a way that advances the
cause of democracy in Cuba.
[Keith] The Helms-Burton Act
tightened the noose against
the Cuban government,
plunging the country into an
even deeper economic crisis.
The Cuban government
turned to tourism
for their economic salvation.
[glitzy 90s pop plays]
[Antonio] The tourist industry
would be a very important way
to bring some money, you know?
To buy oil in different
countries, food,
building new hotels, that was
to bring more tourists to Cuba.

[explosion booms]
[tense music]
[explosion booms]
-[glass shattering]
-[people screaming]
[male reporter] A series
of bombings in Havana.
[female reporter]
Havana's luxury hotels,
a vital source of
foreign currency
have been hit by a
spate of bombings.
The latest one claiming
the life
of an Italian tourist.
[Paul] They were able to
tie that explosive device
to the exile community
in Miami.
-[explosion booms]
-[people scream]
[Antonio] There were bombs
that were placed
in different areas throughout
the whole island.
[Guy] There were people
that were killed,
maimed and injured
in these explosions.
[indistinct yelling ]
[Gerardo] We were immediately
tasked with finding out
about the bombs, where
the money was coming from.
[man] Fire!
[reporter]
35 year old Jesus Hoyas
is military commander
of Alpha 66.
He's led three raids on
Cuba's beach resorts,
targeting the one and
a half billion dollar
a year tourism industry
that is now Cuba's
economic lifeline.
-What are you trying to do?
-I'm trying to get uh,
tourism to stop going in Cuba,
trying to spend money
uh, going there,
economy-wise,
trying to stop that
so we can liberate Cuba.
This is aimed at the
tourist business.
Do you think that's important?
That's good?
That's a good target?
When a country like Cuba
has been suffering so much
for many years,
I mean, I don't think the
tourists should go there
to co-operate with
the Castro Government.
People would say,
"No, I don't go to Cuba
because it's not safe.
You know?
[Ramn]
You use all your abilities
to stop any kind of plot
to set up a bomb.
I'm talking about terrorists
for real. It's not a game.
They can kill your people,
they can kill your wife.
To protect Cuba,
that's our main mission.
[Paul] Groups were coming
in and setting off
bombs in hotels and
restaurants.
You know, you can be damn sure
that our country
is going to be, you
know, sending spies
to figure out who's doing
this, you know,
who's funding it.
Who's behind this stuff.
[Ren] Every single day
of my life, I was reaffirmed
in the need that Cuba had
to have individuals doing what
we were doing.
[Jack] Everything that these
agents were doing,
the FBI knew about.
There was a lot of the reports
which were being transmitted
back to Cuba, which were
all being intercepted.
[Guy] The investigation had
been going on for years.
[Jack] There was a lot
of surveillance.
[Ren] There were some signs.
Somebody who saw
something here,
somebody who believed
that his apartment was broke
into there...
Spaced in time maybe,
so much as to
not raise an alarm.
[Gerardo] I was suspicious of
the apartment in front of mine,
because there was a person
that used to live there
and suddenly he moved.
And the apartment
continued to be empty,
which is weird in that part
of Miami Beach,
where I used to live.
And something tells me
there might be
surveillance there.
[woman]
Breaker, breaker, all units
subject is back in view at
the bus stop, standing on it.
[Ramon] I was supposed
to wait for my contact
and I was supposed
to stay in-- in this bus stop.
But when I watch outside,
I see the one window move
like this, you know?
I say well, somebody
is watching me from--
From that place.
[Gerardo]
You detect some signs
but you couldn't tell for sure
and you couldn't
abort a mission
just for some minor signs.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
[Ramn] I move out
of that position,
so I move to another position.

[indistinct radio chatter]
[man] ...Enter via
a Wendy's location.
[woman]
Okay, all units,
subject is moving
towards the Wendy's.
I went inside the bathroom
of that place.
We changed the materials,
we changed the suitcases.
We-- we fled.
[Keith] There was information
sent back
to Cuba by the Cuban spies
regarding the activities
of the anti-Castro
organizations based in Florida.
[man] Hut!
[Ricardo] Technically speaking,
it was a mission
that should have been performed
by the U.S. authorities.
The U.S. law enforcement
agencies were the ones
that were supposed
to disarm violent people,
not to permit, um, terrorist
plots in that territory.
But they didn't!
It's not
something that our government
should have ever, you know,
turned a blind eye to.
[Gerardo] Cuba had this
information about bombs,
wanted to be placed even
in U.S. planes.
They decided to--to call for
a secret meeting
with the-- with the FBI.
In July 1998,
some FBI officers
were secretly sent
to Havana and had a meeting
with the Cuban Security
of State.
And, uh, Cuba presented a lot
of information to the FBI
about those terrorist
organizations, who they are...
Hoping that they finally would
act against those people.
[Ricardo]
They did nothing.
That was in the summer of 1998.
I was traveling, I was tired.
And I rented this hotel,
it was very cheap.
I went to my room, I put
the computer in one place.
I came back to my car.
And when I came back,
I didn't see my computer.
Somebody stole my computer.
I was afraid it was the FBI.
So I sent that information
to Cuba,
and Cuba sent me back
the instruction to go to Miami,
close down all my apartment
and go to Cuba.
I came back to Miami
on September 11th.
I was in the process of closing
down my apartment...
The following day, I was
leaving the United States.
[Ren]
It was all full of happiness.
[Olguita]
Ren said, 'I'm not going
to miss anything
from this one.'
Because he had missed out
a good part of Irmita's
childhood.
Olguita was working,
she finished at 11 o'clock.
I used to give milk
with Ivette on my thighs.
That night when I finished up
giving her the milk,
she fell asleep.
I thought it was beautiful
to have her asleep over me,
so I put her on top of me.
When I arrived
and saw him I said,
'Oh Ren, she looks so cute
on top of you.
I'm going to take a picture.'
We had a small camera.
And she took the picture.
[Olguita] I left the camera
on the cabinet
and we went to bed.
[radio host]
The time now, 6:04.
[reporter] Reporting live
from downtown Miami.
[weatherman]
I got a beautiful sunrise
Just around the corner here.
[radio host 2] One of those
days you just want
to curl up with a good book--
[man over radio]
Echo team to command,
echo team at location.
We have eyes on target.
[ominous instrumental]
I heard a lot of noise
and people screaming.
[Ren]
They threw me on the floor.
They had him handcuffed and
they were helping him get up.
It was really brutal.
When they saw me,
they grabbed me by one hand
and threw me against the wall.
They didn't give us time
for anything else.
We waved each other goodbye
and they took him.
[Keith] There was
a series of raids
the United States
government conducted
against the Cuban agents.
Suddenly it was boom.
They busted the door.
[Gerardo] They said,
'Freeze, freeze, FBI.'
[Fernando] And they were
already on top of me.
And a lot of guns
you know, pointing at me.
They arrest me, they put
me in the handcuffs.
Guerrero lived here,
in this quiet neighborhood
on Big Pine Key.
It was here where the
FBI took him down.

They took me to, uh,
the FBI office.
In the FBI Headquarters,
I saw Gerardo, I saw Ren.
[Ren] And they started
to interrogate me.
They played good cop,
bad cop strategy.
Some people come and say,
"You just co-operate with us,
your best chance now
is to switch sides.'
Basically they wanted me
to accept
that I was a Cuban agent,
that I was infiltrating
the U.S.
And then
the other cop comes
and, "You're gonna rot
in the U.S. prison.'
They opened up my wallet,
they took my driver's license,
"Are you Ruben Campa?'
'Yes, I am.
And I told them,
'Well, my name is Luis Medina.
I was born in Houston, Texas
and I was raised
in Puerto Rico.'
He said, 'Too many dead ends,
that story is not true.'
I said,
'Well, that's the story.'
'We can even arrange for you
to go free now,
you can have another identity.'
'We put you in a big house,
we bring you your son.'
I believe that if you start
thinking of that,
maybe you can fall.
I don't know, I didn't try.
'I'm just giving you
the opportunity
to tell me the truth to see
if you really want to
collaborate with us.'
And I said, 'Well, okay.
I'm going to give you
the truth.
Well, my name is Luis Medina
I, uh,
I was born in Houston, Texas
and grew up in Puerto Rico.
And the man started
to be like...
And they got very upset
when we didn't do it.
Then the interview ended
right there.
[Fernando]
So he put me in a car
and took me to
a Federal Detention Center.
When we're getting into
the Federal Detention Center,
there is a sliding door.
They know that's
a very vulnerable moment
for an individual
because, I mean, you know
when you're going in there,
but you don't know
when you're going out.
So when the door is open,
he tells me,
"You know you're Cuban
and Fidel Castro is not gonna
move a finger for you,
so you're losing
the opportunity
to live in the land
of the free.'
And I told him,
'Listen, I don't know
what the fuck
you're talking about.'
[indistinct]
I'm sorry about the language
but that's what I said,
'I don't know what
you're talking about.'
So that was it.
[man] We have invited
you here today
to announce the arrest
of 10 individuals
in the South Florida area.
These charges against these
individual allege actions
for the Republic
of Cuba,
against the government of
the United States.
It was the front page,
the lead story.
"Castro is infiltrating
the United States."
"He's sending spies to Miami."
You know, my, my
initial reaction
when upon reading it was,
"Oh, god, these guys
are screwed."
[chuckles]
These charges
include conspiracy,
espionage, operating illegally
in the United States
as a foreign agent.
[Guy] It's a disturbing case
to know that we
and our institutions
are being spied upon,
are being reported upon,
and the information
being transmitted back
to the director
of intelligence over in Cuba.

If you say you're guilty,
that's it.
You collaborate with
the government and that's it,
it's different,
you get less time.
You can go free or whatever.
You say not guilty because
you're going to trial.

Since we refused to co-operate,
we were placed in what
prisoners call, 'the hole',
or SHU, Special Housing Unit.
Oh, it's very difficult, if you
don't have a strong mind...
you get lost.

[Paul] The trial took
place in Miami
against the objections
of the defense lawyers
who wanted to move the trial
outside of the Miami area.
[Phil] This was the wrong
place to try the case.
We had a virulent
exile community
who wanted to just put
all of these guys away
for the rest of their life.
Forget the allegations,
forget the fact that they're
presumed innocent.
We always, uh, suppose
that Castro
will have uh, a--
Agents in the groups
[indistinct] are trying to
neutralize our activities.
-Hi. How are you--
-[man] How are you, sir?
-good.
-Ah--
I-- I can't. I'm-- No comment.
I can't comment on the case.
[indistinct chatter]
Cuban spies connotes
you're spying.
They were never charged
with spying.
There's no such crime as being
a spy, doesn't exist.
Failure to register
as a foreign agent.
In other words, this
country requires
all foreign agents, be they
spies or friendly, to register.
That's not being a spy.
There was no question
they were unregistered
foreign agents.
We didn't really care too much
about that because
that only carried
a maximum of five years.

[rapid typing]
[Phil] Conspiracy to
commit espionage.
It is a rare charge.
They were charged with not
stealing military secrets.
Not actually doing so,
but agreeing to do so.
That's not being a spy.

Conspiracy to commit murder
has nothing to do with spying.
They were never charged
with being spies.
There's no such crime.
The main count which was
the essence of this case,
was conspiracy to commit murder
because of the shoot down.
[Guy] The shoot down.
February 1996.
Clear and compelling evidence
that a foreign government
had conspired
to murder one or
more of our own.
The only one that
was ever charged
with anything to do with the
shoot down was Gerardo.
There was not a plan
to shoot down the planes.
[Phil] government's evidence
was Gerardo's reports
and they used these reports
to show that Gerardo
had ordered Ren not to fly
with the Brothers
to the Rescue.
[Paul] The government
argued that that had
to make Gerardo 100%
aware that they were
going to shoot the planes down.
My argument to that was,
where does it say that?
[Phil] Conspiracy is basically
just an agreement
to commit an illegal act.
Nobody knew what exactly
they were going to do.
There was nothing written
that they were
going to shoot these
planes down.
There was no, like, smoking
gun against my client.
It was an extremely
circumstantial case.
This happened because
people were reckless
and people did things
that were illegal.
And the US government turned
a blind eye to it.
[Phil] The trial really took a
change when they started
to call some of the Brothers
to the Rescue members.
[reporter]
Lawyer McKenna detailed
Basulto's exploits
as a CIA operative.
The jury and defense listened
as the defense
labeled Basulto as a
CIA trained saboteur.
I needed to show the jury
who this guy really was
and what he had been up to.
[reporter]
Today in federal court,
things got very heated
between Jos Basulto
and defense attorney,
Paul McKenna.
They grilled me
as if I was the spy,
as if I was the one provoking
that whole thing.
After, like, two hours of
questioning, he said to me--
"Stop the trial!"
You know, "Take the jury out."
[reporter]
Defense lawyers stunned,
the judge
reprimanding Basulto.
They were serving the enemy.
[reporter] Another defense
attorney accused Basulto
of red baiting,
saying if the jury
found the accused not guilty,
they'd be accused of
being communist.
That's good enough to declare
a mistrial,
but the judge
just didn't do it.
The circus without
the elephants.
That's exactly what it was.
There it was, you know,
that was part of the trial.
We just kept going.
The rest of them were just
agents of a government.
[Phil] We had put forward a
defense of necessity.
[Paul] To gather intelligence
so that there won't be a 911,
so there won't be
a terrorist attack.
That's what the Cubans
were doing.
When do we try foreign spies?
We send them back.
Do you know how many agents
we have all over the world,
gathering information for us?
Like Castro once said,
"In industrial quantities."
[Fernando]
We wanted to say
and to leave there
for everybody to see,
the history of terrorism
against Cuba.
[Paul] Under normal
circumstances,
reasonable doubt
protects Americans
and non-Americans alike
in a US courtroom
from a conviction.
We thought that
some of the jury members
would understand some
of what we were presenting.
[Guy] That jury sat through
months and months of evidence.
We had won the trial
overwhelmingly.
Lawyers thought that we had
won the trial,
attorneys, translators thought
we had won the trial.
Even the marshals thought
that we had won the trial.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
This afternoon,
the jury returned
guilty verdicts as
to all counts,
as to all defendants.
The jury found them guilty
of all 26 counts,
including conspiracy
to commit espionage,
conspiracy to commit murder.
I think the jury got it wrong.
[Guy] This shut down
an entire cell
that had tentacles throughout
South Florida.
And so it was, without
doubt in my mind,
a successful prosecution.
[Fernando]
We knew that to be acquitted
in a courtroom in Miami
would be almost impossible.
I hope sincerely that
today's verdict
provides some sense of justice.
It's probably the only case
in the U.S. history
where somebody is found guilty
of conspiracy
to commit espionage
without one single piece
of secret information anywhere.
I'm shaking my head
and Ren Gonzalez
looks at me and says,
"Paul, what did you expect?
This is Miami." And I was
like, "Yeah, he's right.
This is Miami."
We were found guilty
of every single count
and we were given
the maximum sentence.
[reporter ]
Fernando and Ren Gonzalez
have got 19 and 15 years.
I wasn't sad. More than
being sad I was outraged.
To tell you the truth, I didn't
care about the sentence.
I knew what it was gonna be.
I didn't do anything
to harm anybody.
I just was defending
human beings.
[reporter] Antonio guerrero
and Ramon Labarino
got life in prison.
I never had in my head
that somebody can picture
what I'm doing as a bad thing.
In Miami we knew
from the very beginning
we were going
to lose the trial.
[reporter] Gerardo Hernandez
received two life sentences
to be served consecutively.
Two life sentences
plus 15 years.
So I have to die twice and
still have 15 more years to go.
I mean, it was effectively
a death sentence
um, and I thought that
was appropriate.
They had the intention to
return Gerardo in a coffin,
if they did return him.
[Phil] 2002,
they were finally moved
to various federal prisons
and they were separated
by hundreds
and thousands of miles.
[Gerardo] To die in prison
is relatively easy.
We saw many people
getting killed.
[Ramn] The life in prison is
very tough, very, very tough.
[Antonio] So the first
resolution I made, it was...
If I had to die here,
I will die happy.
That's it.
[Ramn] From the very beginning
we knew,
that the government of Cuba
would never abandon us, never.
"I only tell you one thing."
"They will be back."
Cuba would do
as much as possible
to-- to take us back to Cuba.
He never seemed to
lose his belief
that everything would be okay.
[indistinct] "I can't wait
to see my wife again."
And when I saw his wife,
the same thing.
We knew their return
was not going to be easy.
Fidel had already said when he
made it public,
that it was not going to be
a battle of days,
it was going to be a battle
of years.
I used to go away thinking,
don't these people
realize he's never going
to get out?
He's going to serve the rest of
his life in a US penitentiary.

[Fernando]
As soon as the trial finished,
we started already
receiving mail
from different parts
of the world.
[Keith] The plight
of the Cuban Five
was becoming more and more
known internationally.
Though the efforts
of international
Cuban solidarity groups,
the efforts of
the Cuban government,
there was pressure put on
the American government
to either re-try the Five
or release them outright.
[chanting "Release the Five!"]
How could we convince
the Court of Appeals
to undo this thing?
And then, miracle of
miracles, we did.
[Phil] The case was argued for
the U.S. Court of Appeals
in 2004.
In 2005, they issued
a 90 plus page opinion agreeing
with the defense position,
saying that the venue
was improper so that
they could not--
The Five could not have gotten
a fair trial in Miami.
And the events surrounding the
trial formed a perfect storm.
And they overturned the--
the convictions.
And everybody was
very happy at that time.
[Paul] I got to tell you,
though, that when
that Court of Appeals
reversed the verdict,
I had kind of a renewed faith
in the entire federal
system of laws.
I was like,
"What an amazing country."
Gerardo said to me, 'Are you
okay my queen, are you happy?'
I said, 'Yes Gerardo, I am now,
we won, it's what we wanted."
He very calmly replied,
'Be careful,
do you see the light at
the end of the tunnel now?'
I said, 'Yes, now we can see
the light at the end
of the tunnel.'
And he replied,
"Be very careful my queen,
because it could be the light
of a train turning back.'
We were really excited waiting
for the new trial and, uh...
...things started
to get cold,
you know, like nothing
was happening.
When the unbound
court reversed it
that kind of like,
all washed out of me.
[chuckles] And I was back to,
"Well, I guess, you know,
it's not the way
I thought it was."
For us that was the moment
when we saw that
all the legal doors were shut.

[Phil] Ren was released
in October of 2011.
My sister ran
and I ran after her
and we just hugged him,
really, really, really hard.
One of the Five is finally
back in Cuba
after 13 years in jail.
His name is Ren Gonzalez
and he is embraced
by the Cuban people
as a national hero.

And a second member of the
Cuban Five spy ring
was released today
from a U.S. prison.
50 year old Fernando Gonzalez--
[Fernando] I saw my family,
my wife, my mother, my sisters
and the families
of my four brothers
they were all of them--
they were also there.
[Ren]
It was a day of joy also for me
to go there to the airport
and receive him
and give him a hug.
And at the same time,
both Fernando and myself
we had the same... feeling
of-- of still being
a little bit in prison.
When Fernando returned,
we were missing the three
that had life sentences.
I always hoped that the five
of us would come together.
[Ivette]
He never felt quite free.
On one side you have to...
uh, keep your hope.
One day I'm going to be
in Cuba with my family.
Because that's the only way
to keep your spirits up.
But on the other side
you have to be realistic too,
you might spend here the
rest of your life.
But then you said,
'I'm not here for stealing
or killing anybody or for...
selling drugs.
I'm here for a cause for
defending my people
so, if I have to die here...
That's the way it is.'

Today, the
United States of America
is changing its relationship
with the people of Cuba.
Earlier today, a prisoner swap
between the United
States and Cuba
set off the most
significant warming
in relations between
our two countries
in over half a century.
Completely shocked.
I-- I couldn't believe it.
[reporter] President Obama
made his decision
to release three Cuban
spies convicted
of espionage on American soil.
We were given the news that
we were getting back to Cuba.
got into a plane and...
back to Cuba.
[upbeat pensive 80s
synth instrumental]
The first one getting
down was Antonio.
And then Ramn.
And I was the last one.
It was a very emotional moment.
[Ramn | We felt that we were
the happiest men in the world
at that time.
[Ren] The three together
you know,
there's no words for that.
[Adriana] Until I hugged him,
until we saw each other,
I felt the happiest I had ever
felt in my life.
[Gerardo]
It was amazing.
[man] Gerardo, who was in jail
for two life sentences,
came back to
the announcement that his wife
was giving birth
to his first child.
Most of the people in Cuba
didn't know,
even most of her family.
Watching her on TV with
a big belly, everybody goes,
'What...
what is going on here?'
That was the closure.
[Gerardo]
We came back in December 17th
and then the baby was
born January 6th.
Being able to father a child,
that was probably the happiest
moment in my life.
Very emotional moment.
It's a moment the people
of Cuba are expressing
through that medal
how they feel about you.
[Guy] Are they heroes?
No.
The answer clearly is no,
from my perspective.
I think they should still
be in the United States
uh, serving their, their time.
[Gerado] We are not
five individuals
that are exceptional in Cuba.
We know that millions
of Cubans
would have done the same thing
that we did.
[Fernando] My conscience is
clear, it's clean.
If I had to do it,
I'd do it again.
[Ramn] I would do it again
exactly the way I did I,
but much, much better.
[Antonio] Any action that
they asked me to do
I would do it,
I would try to do it,
the best I can do it.
[Ren] It takes a toll on you,
it's not easy.
But on the other side you
know, it's your duty to do it.
[Gerardo] If my country
asked me to do that,
I assume it's because
it would be needed
and I would do it again.

You can take people
that are true heroes,
[chuckles], that have
done something
extraordinary to advance
humankind.
That's not who these five
individuals were.

That meeting was, first, a
celebration of a big victory.
One of the last victories
that Fidel claimed against
the United States government.

I haven't lost
a night of sleep
on account of any of the things
that I have done
throughout my involvement
since the beginning
to this day with Cuba.