Alleged Cuba agents plead not guilty in Miami

MIAMI (Reuters) – Two Florida academics pleaded not guilty
on Thursday to charges of working as covert Cuban agents who
funneled information on government officials and Cuban exile
groups to Havana for nearly three decades.

Carlos Alvarez, a 61-year-old psychology professor at
Florida International University, and his wife, Elsa Alvarez,
55, a social worker at the school, entered the pleas before a
U.S. magistrate in Miami, a court official said.

Both naturalized U.S. citizens from Cuba, the couple was
indicted in December on charges of acting as foreign agents
without notifying the U.S. government.

Prosecutors say they used their positions at the university
to attempt to recruit potential spies for Cuba and informed
Havana on public attitudes and key players in Miami’s exile
community, the heart of opposition to Cuban President Fidel
Castro and his communist government.

The indictment marked the latest prosecution of suspected
Cuban spies.

The most prominent recent case was that of the “Cuban
five,” convicted in 2001 of infiltrating military bases and
exile groups. An appeals court has agreed to review the
convictions.

Carlos and Elsa Alvarez were being held without bond.