Mr. David Landsberg, Publisher
The Miami Herald

Dear Mr. Landsberg:

Attached you will find a bilingual copy of an FBI debriefing report of
Jesús Raúl Pérez Méndez, taken when he defected in Miami on July 13,
1983. Pérez Méndez at the time was chief of the Department of the
Community Abroad of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples
(ICAP) and was also a captain in the Cuban Directorate General of
Intelligence (DGI).

In 1987, when I was the editor of Crónica Gráfica magazine in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, I was shown a copy of the original document, typed on a
sheet emblazoned with the FBI logo and routing markers, by an
intelligence officer of the Police of Puerto Rico. The policeman was
part of a Task Force on Terrorism between his agency and the FBI
investigating the Cuban connection in Puerto Rican terrorism. I was not
allowed to photocopy the original document, but was permited to
transcribe it as it appears attached here. I have made no omissions or
additions to the original draft as it was shown to me. The police
intelligence officer wanted my opinion regarding the authenticity of
the statements made by Pérez Méndez, since our magazine had published
various articles on Cuban espionage and subversion in the United States
and Puerto Rico. One of the Castro agents mentioned in the debriefing,
Raúl Alzaga Manresa, resided in Puerto Rico.

According to a recent statement by retired DEA agent Juan Pérez, who
lives in Miami, Pérez Méndez was supposed to defect to the DEA and the
CIA in New York City, but was handled by the FBI upon his arrival in
Miami in 1983. Pérez Méndez was immediately relocated under the federal
witness protection program. He publicly surfaced for the first time
after twnety-three years when he appeared on the Miami TV program
"Polos Opuestos" directed by María Elvira Salazar on November 9 and 10,
2006. he defector's face was blotted out during the interviews to
maintain his anonimity. He was accompanied on the program by retired
Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agent Sergio Piñón, who
resides in Miami.

Pérez Méndez stated during the TV interviews that he was asked by the
FBI to testify before the U.S. Congress soon after his arrival in
Miami, but feared doing so due to the retaliation that the Castro
regime would take against his family that remained in Cuba. He also
said that his U.S. government handlers moved him around various covert
locations after learning that Cuban and Soviet intelligence agents were
on his trail.

Pérez Méndez acknowleged during his TV interviews that he "gave birth"
to the Antonio Maceo Brigade (BAM). This group was created by the DGI
in 1977, with Cuban Americans under the age of thirty, whose mission
was to act as agents of influence in the United States on behalf of the
Cuban Revolution. Pérez Méndez added that he was also in charge of
recruiting agents of influence in U.S. academic circles. He refused to
mention during his TV interviews the names of those that he dealt with
in what amounted to espionage activities. Pérez Méndez concluded that
he is writing a book that will explain how Cuba uses agents of
influence in the United States.

Since Pérez Méndez is apparently still under the witness protection
program, I am sure that his handlers will edit his book. Therefore, I
have decided to publicly release the information that he provided
during his debriefing in 1983, in the hope that upon this becoming
public knowledge, he will be allowed to give a full account of
everything that he knows.

In 1993, I wrote an academic study entitled "Academic Espionage: U.S.
Taxpayer Funding of a Pro Castro Study" for the Institute for U.S. Cuba
Relations in Washington, D.C.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/FIU-espionage-1993.pdf
The report was translated into Spanish and published in Miami's "Diario
las Américas" newspaper. I used only one quote from the Pérez Méndez
debriefing, which indicated that one of the participants of that
project, Professor Marifeli Pérez-Stable, "was a DGI agent who
responded to Cuban intelligence officials Isidro Gómez and Jesús
Arboleya Cervera. Pérez-Stable, who had organized another DGI front
group called the Cuban Culture Circle, was receiving $100 for every
person that traveled to Cuba through that organization. According to
Pérez-Méndez, Pérez-Stable replaced DGI agent Lourdes Casal after her
death in Havana, and the DGI and ICAP prepared the yearly plans for
Pérez-Stable."

Pérez-Stable is currently on the board of contributors of the Miami
Herald and is also a professor at Florida International University
(FIU). Three other FIU professors, Carlos Alvarez, Lisandro Pérez, and
Guillermo Grenier, were founding members and/or collaborators with
Pérez-Stable in the DGI controlled Areito magazine, the BAM, and the
Cuban Culture Circle. Professor Alvarez and his wife Elsa Prieto, an
FIU employee, are presently awaiting trial in Miami under charges
stemming from his admission to FBI agents that for decades they were
spies for Cuban intelligence.

The possibility of Castro agents working at the Herald was recently
raised when El Nuevo Herald reporter Pablo Alfonso indicated in his
resignation letter of November 18, 2006, published in the Diario las
Américas, that the Herald "has not investigated how its special reports
have been filtrated to and continue being filtrated to the castroite
press before they reach the Herald readers." Pérez Méndez could shed
some light on this issue. He and the FBI can attest to the veracity of
the attached document. I believe that the Herald has the responsibility
to investigate the statements made by Pérez-Méndez, especially since he
indicated that an actual member of your board of contributors has been
controlled and financed by Cuban intelligence.

Sincerely,

Dr. Antonio de la Cova
Latino Studies
Indiana University, Bloomington