Evidence against suspected woman spy 'not very strong'
News Desk
United States - Elsa Alvarez's lawyer, Jane Moscowitz, said her
client, who suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain illness, was
resting at home after being released. ... Woman Accused of Being Spy
for Cuba Freed ForbesWoman charged as Cuban agent free on bond The
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Evidence against suspected woman spy 'not very strong'
CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
MIAMI - Prosecutors don't have a very convincing case against a
Cuban-American university employee charged along with her professor
husband of being longtime secret agents of Cuba's communist government,
a federal judge said in a ruling releasing the wife on bail.
In fact, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said in the 14-page
ruling, the evidence shows that Elsa Alvarez had no contact with Cuban
government officials for at least a decade and that she tried on
numerous occasions to stop her husband, Carlos Alvarez, from continuing
his work for Cuba's intelligence service.
"The weight of the evidence against defendant (Elsa Alvarez) is not
strong," Moore said in a decision dated last Friday.
Elsa Alvarez, 55, was released Monday from the federal detention center
where she and her husband had been held since January after prosecutors
said they would not appeal Moore's decision. Family members put up
their homes as collateral for her $400,000 bail, and she must also
observe a curfew, submit to electronic monitoring and cannot leave
Miami without permission.
Elsa and Carlos Alvarez have pleaded not guilty to charges of failing
to register as agents of a foreign government. Prosecutors say they
spied for Cuban President Fidel Castro's government for decades, mainly
reporting on activities of Miami's large Cuban-American exile community
and U.S. political developments.
Elsa Alvarez is a social work program coordinator at Florida
International University, where Carlos Alvarez is a psychology
professor. The charges against them include allegations they used their
university positions as cover to travel to Cuba, Mexico and within the
United States to meet Cuban intelligence agents and exchange
information.
Elsa Alvarez's lawyer, Jane Moscowitz, said her client, who suffers
from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain illness, was resting at home after
being released.
"She is trying to recover after five months of being incarcerated and
getting to know her family again," Moscowitz said Wednesday.
Steven Chaykin, attorney for Carlos Alvarez, said his client also was
seeking a hearing before Moore to gain release on bail.
"We think we have an equally compelling argument and are optimistic in
light of the favorable ruling for Elsa," Chaykin said.
In his order, Moore noted that Elsa Alvarez never used a shortwave
radio provided by Cuba for her husband to send coded messages and that
the information she did provide was usually publicly available and
generally "benign."
When Elsa Alvarez was given the code name "Deborah" by a Cuban
intelligence agent during a 1987 trip to Mexico, Moore wrote, "she did
not know why she was given a code name since she wanted out of her
participation with the government of Cuba."
Her last trip to Cuba was in 1991, when she and her husband were given
medals by the Cuban government for their work. Elsa Alvarez has not
been back since, the judge found.
The U.S. attorney's office in Miami declined comment.
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