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Latin America Blog

One of 'Cuban Five' spies to walk free today in Florida

But where will Rene Gonzalez, convicted of spying for the Cuban government, go? A Florida judge has ordered he must serve three years of probation in the US, after spending 13 years behind bars.

By Anya Landau FrenchGuest blogger / October 7, 2011

Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez, a Cuban citizen imprisoned in the US, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011. Rene Gonzalez and four others, collectively known as the "Cuban Five," were convicted in 2001 of attempting to infiltrate US military installations in South Florida. Gonzalez, who holds dual US-Cuban citizenship, is set for release on Friday Oct. 7 from a federal prison in Marianna, Florida.

Franklin Reyes/AP

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When Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cuban agents reviled by Miami hardliners and celebrated by the Havana government and its supporters, walks out of a Miami prison today after serving 13 years of a 15 year sentence, where will he go and who will be there to greet him? This is a question someone in the Obama administration surely must have considered, because how they answer could cost them – and the Miami Dade Police Department – dearly.

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The options seem relatively clear: either he goes home to Cuba and stays there (Mr. Gonzalez, who is a dual citizen, could remain in Cuba if he renounces his US citizenship), or he stays in Miami to serve out his probation. A Miami judge denied his request to serve out his parole in Cuba, but I’m not sure that ends the matter. Surely the administration has other means to bypass Miami and give Gonzalez the boot? It’s not hard to imagine the headache those who revile him most will create not just for Gonzalez but for the Miami-Dade police, and even for the administration. And here's a high-ranking member of the US Congress (Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) who isn't afraid to stir the pot:

Rene Gonzalez, like the regime he serves, is an enemy of America. He has American blood on his hands and dedicated his life to harming our country on behalf of a regime that is a State Sponsor of Terrorism . . . The Obama administration needs to take every precaution to protect US security and the American people from this enemy of our nation.

(Incidentally, a day after the 35th anniversary of the 1976 Cubana airliner bombing, one has to ask whether Ms. Ros-Lehtinen has ever used the phrase “blood on his hands” to describe the masterminds of the October 6, 1976, Cubana airliner bombing, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, both of whom eluded justice and lived out their days as free men in Miami.)

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