Spy case shocks churchgoers

Posted on Sun, Jan. 15, 2006

CUBAN ESPIONAGE CASE
Spy case shocks churchgoers
Parishioners at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church are stunned about the possibilities of spies among them.
BY LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

Spy suspects Carlos M. and Elsa Alvarez may have found cover in the house of God.
The Alvarezes were more than Sunday visitors at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. They were church leaders, part of an elite group of longtime parishioners committed to serving the Lord at the spacious complex nestled in a well-heeled neighborhood off Sunset Drive.
Yet federal prosecutors say the couple worked for a communist regime -- a government that for decades banned religion in the lives of Cubans and even now closely monitors the activity of its churches.
How could this couple, so ostensibly devout, be working for a U.S. enemy?
Or do federal prosecutors have it all wrong?
Those are among the questions shocked parishioners must be asking themselves after the couple's arrest last week.
Federal prosecutors say Carlos M. Alvarez, 61, an associate professor at Florida International University, and his wife, Elsa, 55, a psychological counselor at the same school, were covert agents who for decades gathered information about Cuban exiles and passed it to the island government. They are charged with failing to register as foreign agents.
Were parishioners the couple's friends or spy targets?
At church events, the Alvarezes mingled with a largely affluent collection of Cuban Americans -- attorneys, doctors, businessmen, exile activists and perhaps even one television celebrity. Lili Estefan, the niece of Emilio, who co-hosts Univisión's daily gossip show, El Gordo y La Flaca, attends the church, according to other parishioners.
Estefan's publicist did not return a telephone call from The Miami Herald.
Past parishioners include Miami City Manager Joe Arriola, whose daughter attended the parish school, and developer Sergio Pino, who still prays there occasionally. Pino's father and brother are church members.
The Alvarezes also were acquainted with prominent churchgoers who are arch anti-Castro activists. Among them, the relatives of a Brothers to the Rescue flier shot down by Cuban fighter jets on Feb. 24, 1996.
On the 24th of each month the name of the late Armando Alejandre Jr. is read out loud during morning Mass at St. Thomas. His mother, a parishioner, sits in the pews. Each year, there is a special service to mark the anniversary.
''I can tell you I'm very uncomfortable with this Alvarez case, and I don't want to say much -- neither does anyone else,'' said Maggie Khuly, Alejandre's sister, who knows Carlos Alvarez.
That the two were on a similar spiritual path is all she will say.
''I just hope they had nothing to do with what happened to my brother,'' said Khuly, who is not a member of the church.
UNEASY MEMBERS
Others who attended religious weekends where everyone slept on the floor -- a retreat where parishioners expressed their innermost feelings to the group -- are uneasy. Did the Alvarezes abide like the other parishioners to the secrecy pact, or were those retreats an information gathering mission for them?
Federal agents said the Alvarezes were not after military secrets, more like boardroom and bedroom secrets.
José Basulto, founder of the brothers group and -- yes -- a St. Thomas parishioner, said Cuban spies dig for ''dirty little secrets they pass on to the Cuban government'' which then uses it to its advantage.
Basulto said he never got to know the Alvarezes, but did they watch him?
''Who knows?'' said Basulto, whose organization was infiltrated a decade ago by an admitted Cuban spy, Juan Pablo Roque.
At St. Thomas, at 7303 SW 64th St., the couple tidied up after church services, collected money for ''poor Guatemalan children'' and recruited others to serve the church -- whatever was needed, according to the handful of parishioners who spoke only under the condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting church leaders.
They said they are shocked by the charges the Alvarezes face. ''They were one of the goody, goody families,'' said one parishioner. The Alvarezes were known to receive visits to their home from parish priests, said other church members.
NO COMMENTS
One parish priest, Rev. Philip Fabiano, attended the couple's frenzied bond hearing in Miami federal court Monday. He declined to comment to reporters outside the courtroom. The head priest at St. Thomas, Rev. Daniel Kubala did not return telephone calls from The Miami Herald. A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami said Fabiano and Kubala did not have to discuss the Alvarezes, if they did not wish to do so.
Some parishioners are doing some soul searching, and they are trying to replay their conversations with the Alvarezes. Did they say anything that could be spy material? And what about the money Elsa Prieto Alvarez collected for Guatemalan children?
Some parishioners ask: Did the money reach the destination she claimed or was it diverted to Cuba?
''It's creepy,'' said one woman.
Khuly has a theory as to why people are uncomfortable talking about their contact with the Alvarezes, who seemed ''to know everybody,'' she said.
Up to now, unmasked Cuban spies have appeared to be outsiders trying to fit in. ''Carlos and Elsa Alvarez are too close to home,'' she said. ``They are too much like us.''

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