THEECONOMIST: “And then there were four” (Sobre la liberación del espía y las relaciones Cuba-EEUU)

BOTH the United States and Cuba have taken a hard line on punishing each others’ alleged spies. In March Cuba sentenced Alan Gross, an employee of a company working for the American government, to 15 years in jail for illegally distributing communications equipment. Mr Gross had no ties to American intelligence services, and United States officials called the decision “appalling”. But in recent years America has been no more forgiving of Cuban operatives working in its territory. In 2001 a Florida court gave harsh sentences, ranging from 15 years in prison to life, to five Cuban intelligence officers known as the “Cuban Five”, who had been spying on exile groups in Miami that opposed the government of Fidel Castro. The verdict was a break from America’s prior policy of quietly expelling Cuban agents, and has been widely criticised as unfair because of the allegedly biased jury pool in Miami. Cuban state propaganda and media call the group the “Five Heroes”.