US judge jails Cuba spying couple

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

A US judge has sentenced a retired State Department worker to life in prison without the possibility of parole for spying for Cuba.

Walter Kendall Myers' wife Gwendolyn was also sentenced to 81 months for helping her husband steal US secrets.

US District Judge Reggie Walton said the pair deserved heavy punishment for betraying the United States.
...
"The Cuban people feel threatened," said Mr Myers in a 10-minute explanation to the judge of his conduct. Adding that Cubans had "good reason to feel threatened" by the US.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10668331

---

wow. self-claiming a hero, almost.
nothing but a spy.

[GOPNotForMe]

1. Wow lots of spy stories lately.

The more things change the more they stay the same I suppose.

[Bobbieo]

3. What as Cuba going to do with the spying couples info?

[Judi Lynn]

2. The 62 year old man is the great grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. Interesting.

From the article:

Mr Myers, who is the great grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, was contacted by the Cuban intelligence service to be a covert agent.

He recruited Ms Myers in 1979, and the two married three years later.

Mr Myers said he stole secrets, but had no intent to harm the United States.

Judge Walton said he was "perplexed" how Mr Myers could think he was not hurting US, considering the level of antagonism between the two countries.

"The Cuban people feel threatened," said Mr Myers in a 10-minute explanation to the judge of his conduct. Adding that Cubans had "good reason to feel threatened" by the US.

Myers was known as Agent 202, while his wife was Agent 123, according to court documents.

The couple were originally arrested in June 2009, following an undercover FBI sting operation.

The two asked to be sent to prisons near one another so their six children and seven grandchildren could visit more easily.

For people interested in sending a message to their representatives, please visit link by flamingdem:

Witness for Peace urging action for Cuba Travel Bill
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x38707

Thank you!

[defendandprotect]

4. "The Cubans are Coming!, The Cubans are Coming!" -- Overturn the ridiculous Embargo . . .

Any chance Obama was thinking of overturning the embargo on Cuba?

[Judi Lynn]

6. That would have the right-wing reactionary Miami Cubans pitching fits,

shredding the curtains, and staging more riots in the streets, which the politicians wouldn't mind a bit, but these creepy little political tyrants know they wield an inordinate amoung of political power, can control all 29 electoral votes which come with control of Florida politics, and no politician wants to take these grubby, pudgy little grifters head-on. It almost looks as if politicians have simply been waiting for them to all die off, leaving only the off-spring's children and their progeny who couldn't care less what the hell happens, and won't want to spend THEIR entire life standing over Cuba and growling like a vicious dog with a bone for their life's work.

The embargo is close to their hearts. They can try to starve out the Cubans who get along with their country just fine, the people who are NOT INTERESTED in overthrowing their government and handing it back to the original thugs who got overthrown themselves. They send their own relatives gifts, money, which allow them to live with a certain amount of luxery in a country which has been squeezed but HARD by the U.S. The embargo is more complex than most of our rightie posters seem to grasp, since it has tentacles which reach far into the business OTHER countries want to do with Cuba themselves. Other countries protested this from the first, claiming the embargo is illegal in international law.

If the travel ban goes, however, there will be large numbers of U.S. Americans who can join the tourists from all over the world who have ALREADY been going there always, and they will get their first chance to see for themselves just how true what they have been told really is, and how true is the spew they've been handed by our very own patriotic, America-loving corporate media.

THIS is going to embarrass the holy hell out of LOT of manipulative people who have believed they would have the upper hand forever. I can't wait! ####'em. I hope they sell tickets to their great humiliation. Sure wish it could be done publicly.

[defendandprotect]

7. My impression is that the time of the right wing Cuban has passed . . .

That would have the right-wing reactionary Miami Cubans pitching fits,
shredding the curtains, and staging more riots in the streets, which the politicians wouldn't mind a bit, but these creepy little political tyrants know they wield an inordinate amoung of political power, can control all 29 electoral votes which come with control of Florida politics, and no politician wants to take these grubby, pudgy little grifters head-on. It almost looks as if politicians have simply been waiting for them to all die off, leaving only the off-spring's children though we have quite a few of their pitbulls in Congress . . . you may have noticed?

A dangerous handful of them --


The embargo is close to their hearts. They can try to starve out the Cubans who get along with their country just fine, the people who are NOT INTERESTED in overthrowing their government and handing it back to the original thugs who got overthrown themselves. They send their own relatives gifts, money, which allow them to live with a certain amount of luxery in a country which has been squeezed but HARD by the U.S. The embargo is more complex than most of our rightie posters seem to grasp, since it has tentacles which reach far into the business OTHER countries want to do with Cuba themselves. Other countries protested this from the first, claiming the embargo is illegal in international law.

So true --

and remember that Cuban resistance on the very most personal levels was so enfuriating to W

and right wing that they had to try to stop even the smallest flow of person-to-person dollars

into Cuba!!

Completely agree with all you are saying -- and bears repeating!!

If the travel ban goes, however, there will be large numbers of U.S. Americans who can join the tourists from all over the world who have ALREADY been going there always, and they will get their first chance to see for themselves just how true what they have been told really is, and how true is the spew they've been handed by our very own patriotic, America-loving corporate media.

THIS is going to embarrass the holy hell out of LOT of manipulative people who have believed they would have the upper hand forever. I can't wait! ####'em. I hope they sell tickets to their great humiliation. Sure wish it could be done publicly.



:)

[ngant17]

20. the long record of US terrorism against Cuba

has been well-documented, and this is going back from a half-century of non-stop terrorism by a superpower against a relatively small country, not much bigger than Florida in population but with about twice its area.

Imagine if Florida was an island, and it was subjected to 50 years of non-stop terrorism by Russia or China. It would collapse into anarchy without some sort of authoritarian command and control in place. It would only survive with an organized militia and a dedicated citizenry. Would I blame anyone coming from China or Russia, some selfless soul who would choose to spy on behalf of Florida, to help provide a small additional element of security in Florida's struggle against Russian or Chinese terrorism? Certainly not, it would be a humanitarian act.

So there is an obvious injustice here, from the bigger perspective of the struggle against international terrorism, of which the US is an adept to this politically-inspired violence against the Republic of Cuba.

The US incorporates double-standards on all levels, in its judicial, executive and legislative branches. It's becoming rotten to its core.

I think Pres. Obama could be more assertive in defending the right of Cuba to protect itself from terrorism, but he takes the easy way out and ignores the obvious truths. He may have been a civil rights lawyer but he lacks any sense of understanding of fairness and justice in international affairs.

[cowman]

5. Jeeeez

where agents 86 and 99 involved also?
For those not old enough to remember, they were from the sitcom Get Smart.

[David__77]

8. Spies, or scouts for peace?

Just a question...

[Robb]

9. Spies.

"Scounts for peace" don't do a lot of yachting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8371798.stm

[demoleft]

18. liars, to the american people - in this case. so you should ask the americans about how they feel...

...about the man.

just a spy. he got busted, and silence would be more decent than self-celebration in the face of the people he was supposed to be faithful to and whose "empire" dollars he did not refuse to enjoy.

[Billy Burnett]

10. If we call US paid spies and those who aid and abet the US in Cuba "dissidents", then....

.... then this couple are classic "dissidents".

Pot, meet kettle. (Except that the intent of US spies in Cuba is to overthrow Cuba's government, while the intent of Cuban spies in the US is to defend against such US activities - Cuba has no intention of overthrowing the US gov.)

Like the Cuban Five were convicted for defending Cuba against illegal Miami exile attacks that the US gov refused to stop (violating the US's own Neutrality Act). www.freethefive.org

---

[friendly_iconoclast]

11. Spies are spies, whether you like the government they work for or not.

And if US agents do in Cuba what these two (or the Cuban Five) did in the States, they're spies as well.

It's a hard world, and if you get caught working for a government not your own, it'll get even harder...

[Billy Burnett]

12. I hear ya. I was really directing my comments at the US paid "dissidents" in Cuba.

If the US is going to jail Cuban spies (justly, according to US law), then when US spies are jailed in Cuba for the same shit, then we shouldn't be calling them "dissidents". That's all.

:hi:

[davidinalameda]

13. paid dissidents?

this is a new one

[Judi Lynn]

14. It's a new one because you haven't bothered to find out anything about the subject,

unlike those who DO know what they're talking about when they discuss things important to them.

It most clearly is NOT a new one.

You put in the work, do your reading, your research, stay awake, and don't troll boards trying to get others to do it for you.

[davidinalameda]

15. this is the first I've heard of it

silly me

I thought all those political prisoners that don't exist in Cuba were working for free

[Judi Lynn]

16. The political dissidents, famous ones who DON'T work for US interests,

are not in the slammer.

The ones who break Cuban law, very similar to the one like it in the U.S., get arrested.

PAID provocateurs are different from political prisoners.

Use your head, if you've got the time.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

17. "Silly me"? You may want to make a choice some day between childish egocentr ic gibberish,

and serious, awakened, honest searching for information, or exchanging information you have.

Since you gibbered it's the first you've heard of it, which seems only a result of your indifference to the truth, I took the liberty of making a quick look for information which might serve to inform you, or at least give something to consider to the people who ARE legitimately looking for the real information in order to have a clearer understanding:

April 26, 2003

Cuba Crackdown:
A Revolt Against the National Security Strategy?
By ROBERT SANDELS

Since becoming principal officer at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana in September 2002, James Cason has increased official U.S. connections with Cuban dissidents. Entering directly into Cuba domestic politics, Cason helped launch the youth wing of the dissident Partido Liberal Cubano. Nowhere in the world, said Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, would it be legal for a foreigner to participate in the formation of a political party. In October 2002, Cason invited a group of dissidents to meet with U.S. newspaper editors at his residence in Havana. Although it has become routine for heads of the U.S. mission to seek out dissidents, it was unusual to meet them at home.

Feb. 24 of this year, he participated in a meeting of the dissident Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society at the home of prominent dissident Marta Beatriz Roque. Also present at the meeting were several reporters to whom Cason repeated his criticisms of President Fidel Castro's government and reaffirmed U.S. support for dissidents.

Cason organized two other such meetings at his residence in March even after receiving a formal complaint from the Foreign Ministry.

In a recent television interview in Miami, Cason said the help he gave dissidents was "moral and spiritual" in nature. But, according to the testimony of several Cuban security agents who infiltrated the organizations that received U.S. support, the Interests Section became a general headquarters and office space for dissidents. Some of them, including Marta Beatriz Roque, had passes signed by Cason that allowed them free access to the Interests Section where they could use computers, telephones, and office machines.

The State Department calls these activities "outreach." However, under the United States Code, similar "outreach" by a foreign diplomat in the United States could result in criminal prosecution and a 10-year prison sentence for anyone "who agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official (Title 18, section 951 of the United States Code).

~snip~
Part of the case against Hector Palacios, a Varela Project supporter sentenced to a 25-year prison term, was that he had received US$3,000 in remittances from organizations in the United States as well as computers and other equipment donated by the Interests Section. Investigators found US$5,000 in cash hidden in a medicine bottle in his house. Another of the prominent writers arrested was Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who received a 20-year sentence. Interviewed on the Pacifica network's radio program Democracy Now (04/09/03), Miriam Leyva, Espinosa Chepe's wife, denied he had collaborated with the United States. She said he had only received US$15 per article from CubaNet in Miami. During the April 9 news conference, Foreign Minister Perez Roque displayed receipts indicating that Espinosa Chepe had received US$7,154 in such payments during 2002. At US$15 per article, Espinosa Chepe would have had to sell 477 articles or 10 every week that year. Perez Roque said that investigators found US$13,660 in Espinosa Chepe's closet and that he had not held a job in 10 years.

Dissidents were often paid with U.S. funds channeled through a Canadian bank. The bank allows Cubans to access U.S.-supplied funds with a Transcard (debit card).More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/sandels04262003.html