Cuban agent starts process for surrender of US citizenship

Reuters/HavanaA Cuban agent who served 13 years behind bars in the US for his role in an espionage ring began the process of renouncing his US citizenship on so he can stay in Cuba.Rene Gonzalez was one of five men convicted in a controversial 2001 trial of conspiring to spy on Cuban exile groups and US military activities in Florida as part of an espionage ring called the “Wasp Network.”The case has long plagued US-Cuba relations.Gonzalez, who was born in Chicago and held dual US-Cuba citizenship, told reporters after emerging from the US Interests Section in Havana that he had filled out forms and answered questions, and that the process was not yet complete.He will still have to formally renounce his citizenship before officials at the US diplomatic post and then await approval, which he said should happen before May 16.“I feel happy to be in Cuba, to be with my family and incorporate myself to the society I belong to,” he said as bystanders in the streets and on apartment balconies above applauded and called his name.When he first arrived at the US diplomatic post in a black government car, Gonzalez waved to the three dozen or so onlookers and clasped his hands above his head in victory. He was dressed informally in a short-sleeve blue plaid shirt and black pants.He was the first of what Cuba calls the “Five Heroes” to complete his sentence and return to the communist-led island. The 56-year-old Gonzalez, who has a wife and two children in Havana, left prison in October 2011 and has been serving a three-year probation in Florida. He returned to the communist-led island temporarily on April 22 to attend a memorial service for his deceased father.US district judge Joan Lenard had granted the visit a few weeks ago on condition that he return to Florida within two weeks. But on Friday, in ruling on a motion by his lawyer, she said he could stay in Cuba for good if he renounced his US citizenship.By doing so, he foreswears the right to return to the US, where he spent the first few years of his life.In a reversal of its previous position that Gonzalez had to complete his full three years’ probation, the US government did not object.Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, speaking to reporters during a visit to Brazil, gave no indication that the resolution of the case would effect the status of US contractor Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Havana for illegally installing Internet service for Cuban Jewish groups. Some had hoped it might help Gross get more lenient treatment, but Rodriguez said Gonzalez had served his sentence, while Gross, jailed since December 2009, has not.“It’s a case of application of the law. I see no relation therefore between the two cases,” he said in Brasilia.Cuba has hinted at a possible swap of the “Cuban Five” for Gross, but the US has rejected the idea.Rodriguez, repeating what the government has disclosed before, said Cuba has told Washington it is open to talks to find a humanitarian solution to the cases of Gross and the four Cubans.The Cuban Five case is little known outside the Cuban exile community in the US, but the Cuban government has made their release a national cause, plastering the country with pictures of the men, with the word “Volveran” - they will return - beneath their images.