Castro’s Spies
A documentary exploring the lives of a group of Cuban intelligence agents operating undercover in 90s Miami during US-Cuba tensions.
In the early 1950s, Cuba was governed by a US-backed president and had a hedonistic reputation as the ‘Las Vegas by the sea’ where wealthy Americans would flock to party and gamble, made easy by the island nation’s close proximity to the south-east of the USA – namely Miami. The influx of the United States dollar made a small group of upper class Cubans extremely wealthy. At the same time, poverty amongst native Cubans was widespread and the economic boost from US tourism did not trickle down to improve the lives of most of the country’s working class. The growing discontent for the rich was used by Fidel Castro to empower and mobilise thousands of citizens in what would become the Cuban Revolution.
By 1959, Castro and his revolutionaries had overthrown the US-backed military dictatorship, established a one-party communist state and nationalised virtually all private industry in the country. This allowed the USA to invoke their old foe - the phantom of Communism - to justify a trade embargo between the countries, stifling Cuba’s access to essential supplies. Cuba responded by entering in to a trade relationship with the United States’ Cold War enemy, the USSR, and tensions continued to escalate due to the now infamous botched Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. A year later, the American public faced up to the real prospect of all-out nuclear war when the USSR utilised their new ally to move a fleet of ballistic missile-carrying warships to Cuban waters, in what became to be known as the Cuban missile crisis. While the use of nuclear weapons was avoided, the relationship between Cuba and the US remained hostile and US-backed attacks on Cuba continued in to the 1970s. In 1976, a Cuban passenger airline was destroyed by a bomb in the first terrorist attack to involve the destruction of an aircraft, killing all 73 people on board. A group of Cuban exiles and known CIA operatives were deemed responsible and Cuba openly accused the US government of being an accomplice in the attack.
“We don’t want revenge, we only want justice”
– Fernando González, one of Castro’s spies
Castro’s Spies, a documentary from Irish filmmakers Ollie Aslin and Gary Lennon, focuses on the story of 5 Cubans who, motivated to help their country after years of perceived injustices at the hands of the United States, faked defection from their country and fled to Miami. They assumed the identities of recently deceased US citizens with Latin heritage and were tasked with gathering information on US military activity that might suggest an imminent attack on Cuba. Through on-screen interviews, the documentary has access to the 5 spies and their families, plus their defence lawyer and supporters, as well as a selection of opposing anti-Castro voices, such as the US attorney who is still vocal about the group’s wrongdoing.
The 5 spies left their families under the pretence of defecting from Cuba due to opposition to the Castro regime, fleeing the country without disclosing their real motivations. They settled in Miami’s Cuban community, working menial jobs that allowed them to operate low-key surveillance activity around US military locations and in anti-Castro group meetings. Eventually, some of their family were able to join them after uncovering the real reason for their ‘exile’. The spies were beginning to build their lives in Miami, but Cuba-US tensions rose again in 1996 when 2 light aircraft marked with US flags were shot down for flying in Cuban airspace, killing four. Cuba disputed America’s account of the incident, but President Bill Clinton looked to capitalise on the situation by taking a heavy-handed approach, with all people suspected of pro-Cuba activity in Miami being arrested. The 5 spies were tried and the US courts made an example of the men, handing down sentences ranging from 15 years to two consecutive life sentences, despite the charges centring on ‘conspiracy’ and no implication of any actual wrongdoing. In 2016, Barack Obama reversed the United States’ position on Cuba and released the Cuban Five after nearly 20 years in prison. The men returned to their homeland and were hailed as heroes.
The subject of Castro’s Spies is engaging, and the documentary provides a slick potted history of US-Cuban relations via archive footage and talking heads. The access to all five spies means we are given a detailed insight in to their motivations for their fake defection, and interviews with their family helps provide the human dimension that is sometimes missing from other documentaries of this kind. The film also cuts scenes from a popular Cuban television series, about an undercover spy, over audio of the spies recounting their story – a nice touch to keep the viewer engaged instead of staying on the standard on-camera interview approach.
‘There was no smoking gun for their conviction’
- Defence lawyer for the Cuban Five
My main issue with the film is that the activity that the spies were engaged in was very mundane and closer to birdwatching than it was to espionage. The spies would observe the number of US military planes present at a Florida naval base, looking for a sign of increased activity. An exponential increase to the number of planes would likely suggest an attack or invasion of Cuba was being planned, and they would alert their contact back in their mother country. Amusingly, the spies confirm that this took place from behind the base’s perimeter fence, next to a sign that confirmed photography was allowed from where they stood. Without undermining their decision to leave their families or devaluing the valuable information they may have sent back to Cuba, these guys were barely engaging in any real spy activity. After the interesting history of 20th century Cuba leading to the spies’ voluntary defection, I was geared for nail-biting John Le Carré-esque espionage, but unfortunately the moments of unbelievable tension or shock that you now associate with documentaries in the Netflix cliff-hanger era didn’t materialise.
When discussing their trial, a quote from the spies’ defence lawyer perfectly articulates the shortcomings of the documentary: ‘there was no smoking gun’.