Carlos AlvarezFlorida couple to plead on links to Cuba
By Jon Burstein
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(MCT)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A longtime Florida International University professor and his wife accused of being illegal Cuban agents are scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday to reduced charges, according to sources familiar with the case.
Psychology professor Carlos Alvarez, 61, faces up to five years in prison if he goes forward with a plea to conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of Cuba. His wife, Elsa Alvarez, 56, is ready to plead guilty to knowing about her husband's communications with Cuba and failing to report them to law enforcement, the sources said. She could face a maximum three-year prison sentence.
The couple's January arrests made international news with federal authorities accusing them of providing information to Havana for decades about prominent Cuban exiles. The couple was not charged with sharing any classified or government information.
A federal grand jury indicted them on charges of acting as unregistered agents of the communist regime, with both facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The Alvarezes' attorneys, Jane Moscowitz and Steven Chaykin, and federal prosecutors declined to comment Friday about the expected pleas. A change of plea hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami federal court.
A month ago, a federal magistrate judge refused to toss out the lengthy statements Carlos Alvarez gave FBI agents last year that formed the core of the government's case against him. Alvarez spoke about code names, clandestine meetings and safe houses, according to transcripts of his accounts.
Alvarez said he provided information about Cuban-American exile groups, scholars and politicians, including FIU President Modesto Maidique and former U.S. State Department official Lula Rodriguez.
The Cuban government never paid him for information, Alvarez said. He said he initially saw the communication as a harmless way to open a dialogue between Cuba and the United States, but eventually became disillusioned and uneasy about his dealings with Cuban intelligence.
He testified in an August court hearing he stopped providing information in 1998. He had been charged in the indictment as acting as an illegal Cuban agent from 1977 to 2005.
Carlos Alvarez, a father of five, has been behind bars without bond since his arrest. Moore denied releasing him in October, finding that prosecutors had proved he posed a flight risk.
Elsa Alvarez, an FIU counselor, spent six months behind bars before her June release on $400,000 bond. Moore voiced concern in May that the accusations against her husband may have been spilling over to her. The judge wrote that it appeared she tried to dissuade her husband from dealing with Cuban intelligence.
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© 2006 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
By Jon Burstein
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(MCT)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A longtime Florida International University professor and his wife accused of being illegal Cuban agents are scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday to reduced charges, according to sources familiar with the case.
Psychology professor Carlos Alvarez, 61, faces up to five years in prison if he goes forward with a plea to conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of Cuba. His wife, Elsa Alvarez, 56, is ready to plead guilty to knowing about her husband's communications with Cuba and failing to report them to law enforcement, the sources said. She could face a maximum three-year prison sentence.
The couple's January arrests made international news with federal authorities accusing them of providing information to Havana for decades about prominent Cuban exiles. The couple was not charged with sharing any classified or government information.
A federal grand jury indicted them on charges of acting as unregistered agents of the communist regime, with both facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The Alvarezes' attorneys, Jane Moscowitz and Steven Chaykin, and federal prosecutors declined to comment Friday about the expected pleas. A change of plea hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami federal court.
A month ago, a federal magistrate judge refused to toss out the lengthy statements Carlos Alvarez gave FBI agents last year that formed the core of the government's case against him. Alvarez spoke about code names, clandestine meetings and safe houses, according to transcripts of his accounts.
Alvarez said he provided information about Cuban-American exile groups, scholars and politicians, including FIU President Modesto Maidique and former U.S. State Department official Lula Rodriguez.
The Cuban government never paid him for information, Alvarez said. He said he initially saw the communication as a harmless way to open a dialogue between Cuba and the United States, but eventually became disillusioned and uneasy about his dealings with Cuban intelligence.
He testified in an August court hearing he stopped providing information in 1998. He had been charged in the indictment as acting as an illegal Cuban agent from 1977 to 2005.
Carlos Alvarez, a father of five, has been behind bars without bond since his arrest. Moore denied releasing him in October, finding that prosecutors had proved he posed a flight risk.
Elsa Alvarez, an FIU counselor, spent six months behind bars before her June release on $400,000 bond. Moore voiced concern in May that the accusations against her husband may have been spilling over to her. The judge wrote that it appeared she tried to dissuade her husband from dealing with Cuban intelligence.
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© 2006 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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