USG spying on supporters of Cuba

[Partridge: Can't say I'm surprised at all, but its interesting nonetheless]

Government spying and the Miami Two
Left I on the News blog

Back in January I wrote about a case which has received, for all intents and purposes, zero coverage: the arrest of Florida International University Professor Carlos Alvarez and his counselor wife, Elsa Alvarez, on charges of spying for Cuba. As I wrote at the time, you could get an idea of the "seriousness" of the government's case by the headline that the Miami Herald ran on the story: "Couple spied on president of FIU, FBI says." Yes, it was alleged that this couple informed the Cuban government that the President of FIU had received an invitation to the White House.

And now there's a new development (Miami Herald) - it has been revealed that the government had planted a bug in their bedroom (!), and wiretapped their phones, for years (!). Were they plotting terrorist attacks? Stealing military secrets? Not even close. "The couple...are suspected of reporting on the exile community and its leaders to Cuban leader Fidel Castro's government." Read that again. Even if you didn't know that the "exile community" has been a source of terrorist acts against Cuba for more than 40 years, one thing you know for sure -- they aren't the U.S. government or the U.S. military. On what possible grounds does the U.S. get to bug and wiretap people for years because they are reporting on the activities of the Cuban exile community? And, to ask a not entirely irrelevant question, what would have happened if they had simply started a blog on which they published their observations, rather than allegedly communicating them directly to members of the Cuban government?

You all know I'm no lawyer. Here are the statutes relating to being an "agent of a foreign power." The statutes talk about "violating the criminal statutes of the United States," which there is no indication this couple is accused of doing, they talk about engaging in "clandestine intelligence gathering activities," which again there is no indication this couple was doing, they talk about engaging in sabotage or terrorism (again, not relevant), and on and on. I can't see the slightest indication that these statutes have the slightest bearing on this case. Yet here they are, having been spied on for years by the U.S. government, and now having been jailed for several months.