BY JAY WEAVER AND OSCAR CORRAL

jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

A key witness in a major weapons case against one of Fidel Castro's sworn enemies was stopped by the Coast Guard 40 miles from Key West in 1999 as he attempted to return to Cuba. With him were a crock pot, a VCR and photographs of a Cuban exile paramilitary training camp in Miami-Dade County.

Was Gilberto Abascal spying for Cuba?

At the time, U.S. officials determined that Abascal and a married couple with him who brought along their 3-year-old, U.S.-born daughter on the ''small pleasure craft'' were simply homesick, disillusioned expatriates, according to federal court records filed Friday. The FBI decided there was no nefarious reason for the group to have photos of Alpha 66's Miami-Dade operations.

Abascal and his friends were returned to Miami after they maintained that the photos were only meant to show dissidents on the island that exiles in Miami were continuing their fight to help free the country from communist rule.

But Alpha 66's leader and the widow of the group's former leader disputed that notion Friday.

This latest twist in the weapons case against Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat comes as a grand jury convenes in Texas to evaluate how Alvarez's friend, former CIA-trained operative and exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, entered the United States last year.

Defense attorneys say Abascal's explanation for the Alpha 66 pictures is ''preposterous.'' They said a declassified FBI document on Abascal's trip on Dec. 7, 1999, is further proof that he was cooperating with the Cuban government to target Alvarez and Mitat, whose federal trial has been delayed until July 17 in Fort Lauderdale.

''This recently received FBI report presents important new evidence of the government informant's links to the Castro regime's intelligence service,'' Miami attorney Arturo Hernandez said. ``It shows not only a long-standing intent to provide information to Castro, but it also shows the informant's manipulative nature and his capacity for fabrication.''

`NEVER IN MY LIFE'

Abascal said in an interview Friday that he could not answer questions about the 1999 trip, whether he shot the photos or their intended use.

''I have never had anything to do with the Cuban government in my life,'' Abascal said. ``They can say what they want. I have more evidence than they do.''

Federal prosecutors in Miami say the defense team is dirtying Abascal's image to detract from evidence that shows Alvarez and Mitat were caught red-handed last fall with a cache of firearms -- machine guns, rifles, a silencer and a grenade launcher.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy Hummel and Jacqueline Arango cited the declassified FBI report dated March 10, 2000, in which the prosecutors say federal agents wrote about Abascal and his shipmates:

• ``Their desire to return to Cuba appeared to be sincere.''

• 'It was highly unlikely that the three adults were Cuban agents, given their circumstances and the circumstances of their interdicted trip, but mused that they may have been, or could have been, planning to use the photographs to `ingratiate themselves' with authorities in Cuba.''

In the declassified FBI report, Abascal called a picture showing an Alpha 66 vessel's registration number ``a mistake by the photographer.''

The FBI report is the latest explosive document to surface in the government's case against Alvarez, a wealthy Miami real estate developer, and Mitat, a handyman who worked for him.

Last month, the Herald reported that Abascal spoke with a Cuban government official about Miami exiles as far back as 2001. That year, a Castro official identified only as ''Daniel'' had phone contacts with Abascal in the aftermath of a failed incursion against Castro that allegedly had been financed by Alvarez, according to court records.

The latest information about Abascal fueled speculation about the Cuban national, who first came to the United States by boat on Aug. 5, 1999, barely four months before he tried to head back on Dec. 7, 1999.

According to the FBI report, Abascal said that he and his wife had grown apart and he was homesick. He joined the couple, Ketty Aramileidy Mederos and Jorge Luis Lopez, because he had known Mederos from childhood.

The couple had come to the United States in 1996. They said they belonged to a little-known dissident organization in Cuba called ''Maseitos por la Dignidad,'' or Maseitos for Dignity, a possible reference to a Cuban founding father, Antonio Maceo, who fought Spanish rule. Asked by FBI agents if she knew any ''Maseitos'' members, Mederos mentioned the names of ''Rosa,'' ''Humberto'' and ''Titi,'' but not their last names.

CLAIMED EXILE ROLE

The couple told agents they belonged to Alpha 66. They said they had taken several pictures at the camp with members including its late leader, Andres Nazario Sargen. They said he was fully aware they meant to take the pictures to dissidents in Cuba.

Abascal echoed their statements to authorities, saying that Nazario ``was aware of what they had planned to do with the photographs.''

The FBI agents, in their report, said Nazario confirmed what the three exiles told them. But people close to Nazario -- including his widow -- strongly doubted that he would have authorized picture-taking of the camp.

Ernesto Diaz, head of Alpha 66, said he never met Abascal, stressing that the group never would have given him or the couple permission to take any pictures.

''There's no doubt anymore,'' Diaz said. ``He [Abascal] was spying and taking pictures for Cuba. Nazario would have told me if someone was taking pictures.''

Diaz said he doesn't understand how the U.S. government can be hinging its case on a person who seems to be an agent for Cuba, which the State Department considers a sponsor of international terrorism.

''[The Alpha 66 camp] is not a tourist site,'' Diaz said. ``No one is allowed to take photos inside the camp. . . . What was his objective? Spy for Cuba.''

WIDOW'S DOUBTS

Nazario's widow, Olga Nazario Torrens, whom Nazario confided in, said he never mentioned Abascal to her and that Abascal never belonged to Alpha 66.

''Outsiders are not allowed to take pictures of the camp,'' she said. ``If he had photos of Alpha, it was not with the consent of Alpha.''

Jose ''Pepin'' Pujol, a longtime supporter of Posada and friend of Alvarez and Mitat, said it appears obvious that Abascal was sent by Cuba to Miami to infiltrate exile groups.

''What does one win by taking pictures to Cuba that can fall into the hands of an enemy?'' Pujol said. ``He is a double agent.''

Castro -- along with Abascal -- claim Pujol captained a boat called the Santrina that brought Posada from Isla Mujeras in March 2005. Posada said he came through the Mexican-Texas border.

Posada remains in federal detention in El Paso. Posada's lawyer, Eduardo Soto, confirmed that a grand jury has convened in Texas and added that he believes it has to do with Posada. He said Posada has not been subpoenaed and he doesn't know what the grand jury is investigating.

Read Oscar Corral's blog Miami's Cuban Connection in the blogs section of MiamiHerald.com or at http://blogs.herald.com/

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