“Burned” Cuban Agent Moves From Miami to the Big Apple 6

Dr. Lisandro Pérez, formerly a Sociology professor at Florida International University (FIU), has moved to John Jay College in New York City.  Identified as a Cuban Intelligence agent by no less than three separate sources, Perez was first “outed” 32 years old.

In 1974, the trimester Areito magazine was founded, which boasted of its support for Castro’s Cuban Revolution.  Four founders and collaborators of Areito were Jorge Dominguez, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Lisandro Pérez & Marifeli Perez-Stable.  In 1980, Committee of 75 leader, Reverend Manuel Espinosa, publicly denounced Areito as front organizations for DGI espionage and recruitment campaign in the United States.  In March 1982, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, that Areito was “DGI propaganda.”  Then, in July 1983, DGI Captain Jesus Perez-Mendez defected to the United States and also confirmed Areito’s ties to Cuban Intelligence.

Background

Pérez was formerly a Sociology professor at Florida International University (FIU) and the founder of the Cuban Research Institute (CRI).  He established CRI in 1991 and developed it into the premier academic center in the US for the study of Cuba and Cuban Americans.  He served as its director until 2003.  CRI has a relationship with the influential Inter-American Dialogue and they co-sponsor Cuba-related events in DC.  He is also a long-time supporter of dialogue w/dialog with Cuba.

Pérez has a lifelong interest in Cuban migration to the U.S., the dynamics of the Cuban-American community, and social change in Cuba. For several years, he was the author of the journal Cuban Studies, which has been published annually by the University of Pittsburgh   Press since 1985. It is the preeminent journal for scholarly work on Cuba.  He has contributed to several edited collections and has written articles for journals such as Columbia Journal of World Business, International Migration Review, the Latin American Research Review, Los Angeles Times, and the Journal of Latin American Studies. He has appeared on PBS’ Frontline, at the Woodrow Wilson Int’l Center for Scholars, at the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE).

See the full article here:  Burned Cuban Agent Moves From Miami to the Big Apple

McCarthyism and Castroism: A Case Study 1

By Miguel Fernandez

Soon after Professor Carlos Alvarez (Florida International University- FIU) and his wife, Elsa Prieto, were arrested on espionage charges, the Castroite parliamentary speaker Ricardo Alarcon branded this FBI operation as a move to create a sort of “McCarthyist atmosphere” in order to have an influence on the Cuban Five’s case.  The last Antonio Maceo Brigade militant, Andres Gomez, pealed the bell in Areito Digital.  He stated that the alleged guilt of Alvarez and Prieto was the base for “a dangerous McCarthyist campaign” against those who advocate the normalization of Cuba-U.S. relations.  Alvarez’s lawyer, Steven Chaykin, argued that the reputation of his client and his wife was being destroyed by “the McCarthy-like hysteria” stirred up by the prosecutor.  “This kind of hysteria also grows in the Hispanic media from Miami,” remarked the Castroite agitprop cadre Max Lesnik. Nevertheless, Alvarez and Prieto ended up pleading guilty. Since the first Alvarez’s debriefing by the FBI on June 23 and 24, 2005, the case did not anything to do with the late Senator Joseph McCarthy, but with the still alive Fidel Castro.

Every time Castroite espionage becomes an issue in the U.S. academic world, McCarthyism is the quick response.  The doctoral candidate Arturo Lopez-Levy gave a sort of updated operational definition:  McCarthyism is “the use of anonymous reports, which mix defamation with half-truths, for condemning and persecuting those who dissent from the undemocratic right.” Thus, the report with full names and truths, without any intention beyond the clarification of the issue, seems to be no McCarthyist at all.

See the entire article here:  McCarthyism and Castroism