Cuban-American Academics Get Prison For Reporting for Cuba

I was going to write a whole thing about the sentencing of a Cuban-American couple (Carlos and __ Alvarez) for what finally became a charge of "conspiracy to become a foreign agent," but I realized my original posting is still pretty spot on. Yesterday's verdict and release of the (supposedly) most incriminating evidence the US Govt. had against the couple only showed the flimsiness of the case and the apt comparision to "political prisoners" in Cuba.

As I said before the trial: The major difference between the 75 (Cuban "political prisoners") and these 2 is that the Alvarez's were not attempting to undermine the Government that charged them. The 75 were all connected to the US government, had recieved payment, resources or instruction - in order to justify an illegal blockade. If just working for an enemy government is enough to get arrested, then why don't Cuban-Americans understand that is why the 75 are in jail - and 12 million other are not.

The Florida judge said is pretty clearly: "As we know, a good motive is never an excuse for criminal conduct. Their behavior undermined U.S. foreign policy."

The sentencing document was even more explicitt: "Individuals who agree to clandestinely serve as agents of a foreign power, answering to that power and not to the laws of the United States, pose a grave risk.... Gathering information and carrying out tasks as directed by the foreign power, the individuals become instruments of that power's actions and policies in ways they cannot predict and damage the interests of the United States in ways they will never know. The risk is especially great where, as here, the foreign power is one whose interests are inimical to those of the United States."

Let us remember that AGENTS of a country do not have to send messages through encryption. The only thing they have to do is serve the interests of a nation other than their own, whom they have a relationship with. Nearly ALL of those supposed 75 "political prisoners" in Cuba fit that profile. That the US plan involves making up censorship stories by creating "independent libraries" - and not exile political gossip - means nothing.

And for the sake of finality, consider what US Supreme Court case law says about the the conspiring law the Alvarez's were charged under (18/371):For two or more to confederate and combine together to commit or cause to be committed a breach of the criminal laws, is an offense of the gravest character, sometimes quite outweighing, in injury to the public, the mere commission of the contemplated crime. It involves deliberate plotting to subvert the laws, educating and preparing the conspirators for further and habitual criminal practices. And it is characterized by secrecy, rendering it difficult of detection, requiring more time for its discovery, and adding to the importance of punishing it when discovered.