70 The New York Review
Castro: “I listened to the aging leader
in his baseball jacket for three hours,”
Garbus writes. “He knew the case thor-
oughly.... ‘I will take care of the poli-
ticians,’ Castro said. ‘You take care of
the law.’”
Garbus was amazed by the courage
and composure of Hernández, who had
not given in to the tremendous pres-
sures of solitary confinement:Gerardo was singled out for partic-
ularly brutal treatment: as the only
one of the five who had contact with
Havana prior to their arrest, offi-
cials apparently believed he could
testify against Havana officials who
ordered the shoot down and impli-
cate Fidel and Raúl Castro.The lawyer established a personal bond
with his defendant: “I was struck by his
quiet dignity and self-respect in the face
of unspeakable circumstances... A per-
fect example of Hemingway’s definition
of courage as grace under pressure.”Garbus comes off as a trustworthy
guide to the Cuban Five Case. I find his
recapitulation of the evidence honest
and his motivations for writing North
of Havana well intended, as he clearly
wanted to leave a testimony of this
unique case in the history of American
jurisprudence. Besides, the author is
clearly fascinated by the story he tells:
“It is, by turns, a spy story, a love story,
a portrait of a man who couldn’t be
broken, a tale of international intrigue,
and a legal thriller with several aston-
ishing surprises.”
In December 2009 a sixty-year-old
US government contractor named Alan
Gross was arrested in Havana and sen-
tenced to fifteen years in prison for espi-
onage. “Finally, finally,” Garbus writes,
“the Cuban Five got lucky. Very lucky.”
Gross had previously been a govern-
ment contractor with USAID in Iraq. In
2009 he decided to travel to Cuba and
established contact with the remnants of
its once- flourishing Jewish community,
which now included about 1,500 people.
His declared intention was to improve
overseas communication by providing
Cuban Jews with better Internet access
than they were receiving from the state.
Alarcón claimed that Gross was
“contracted to work for American in-
telligence services,” which Gross ve-
hemently denied: he said he was just
providing satellite telephones, comput-
ers, and external hard drives. He said
USAID never informed him that his
activities were illegal under Cuban law
(and he later sued the agency).
According to the Cubans, Gross was
looking to instigate a coup, by, in the
jargon of revolutionary propaganda,
undertaking a “subversive project of
the US government that aimed to de-
stroy the Revolution through the use
of communication systems out of the
control of authorities.” The Cubans
claimed that USAID was a CIA front
and Gross a spy. Some say that the
American—who lost a hundred pounds
during the five years he spent in jail—
had always been seen by the Cubans asa token to be exchanged for their own
imprisoned agents. “The Cuban regime
is obviously looking for some kind
of US concession, callously using the
contractor as a bargaining chip,” said
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a
Republican member of the House For-
eign Affairs Committee from Florida,
in 2010. The US continued to deny that
Gross was an intelligence agent. After
intense and secret negotiations that in-
cluded the mediation of the Vatican,
the parties agreed to exchange Gross
for the three Wasp Network agents who
were still imprisoned. (René González
had been freed in October 2011, and
Fernando González in February 2014;
in Cuba, both were received as heroes.)
On December 18, 2014, a photo of
the freed Cubans was printed on the
front page of Granma, the official
newspaper of the Central Committee of
the Cuban Communist Party, with the
banner headline “¡Volvieron!” (“They
Have Returned!”) Below it, there was
a photo of Raúl Castro and Barack
Obama during their historic speeches in
Havana announcing a reestablishment
of diplomatic ties between the two coun-
tries. The message was that Cuba was
more interested in the return of the spies
than the historic visit of an American
president, the first in eighty-eight years.
Havana cheered. The Five had returned
from the “entrañas del monstruo,” the
entrails of the monster—which is how
the United States is referred to in the
official discourse of the island.
During the official celebrations with
the Cuban agents upon their return,
Adriana Hernández, Gerardo Hernán-
dez’s wife, was in the late stages of a
pregnancy. Before Gerardo was re-
leased, the Obama administration, in
an unusual gesture of goodwill, had
allowed an artificial insemination pro-
cedure so that the couple could have
a baby. Journalists referred to it as
“sperm diplomacy.”
Today the Five are part of civilian life
and hold public office within the Cuban
nomenklatura: Hernández is the vice-di-
rector of the Higher Institute of Inter-
national Relations. They have become
celebrities. They travel around the world,
and Cuban children recognize them in
public and take photos with them. Be-
sides Garbus’s meticulous and fasci-
nating account, two other worthy books
have addressed the spies and their trial:
What Lies Across the Water: The Real
Story of the Cuban Five by the Canadian
journalist Stephen Kimber (2013) and
The Last Soldiers of the Cold War: The
Story of the Cuban Five by the Brazilian
journalist Fernando Morais (2011) and
translated into English by Robert Bal-
lantyne and Alex Olegnowicz in 2015.
Morais’s book is the basis for Wasp Net-
work, a feature film directed by Olivier
Assayas and starring Gael García Bernal
and Penélope Cruz that was screened at
international film festivals in 2019 and
acquired by Netflix earlier this year.
The Cuban Five have now been immor-
talized in a movie, the ultimate conse-
cration for the accused spies the Castro
regime turned into heroes. Q
—Translated from the Spanish
by Regina GalassoSubscribe to The New York Review of Books®
on the Web: http://www.nybooks.comSUMMER PROGRAMS IN NEW YORK, PARIS, AND FLORENCE
Four-week summer intensives for undergraduate writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.WRITE IN NEW YORK
M.F.A. Degree in Creative Writing
For over thirty years, NYU has distinguished itself as a national
center for the study of writing and literature. All graduate
students receive fellowship support and the opportunity to
teach. Join a serious community of writers and engage in an
exceptional program of study.
Faculty includes Catherine Barnett, Anne Carson, Jeffrey
Eugenides, Jonathan Safran Foer, Terrance Hayes, Edward
Hirsch, Uzodinma Iweala, Katie Kitamura, Yusef Komunyakaa,
Hari Kunzru, Nick Laird, Meghan O’Rourke, Joyce Carol Oates,
Sharon Olds, Claudia Rankine, Matthew Rohrer, Parul Sehgal,
Zadie Smith, Darin Strauss, and Deborah Landau (Director)WRITE IN PARIS
Low-Residency M.F.A. Writers Workshop in Paris
Work under the guidance of internationally acclaimed faculty
in one of the world’s most inspiring cities. The low-residency
M.F.A. offers both freedom and rigor, balancing intense and
stimulating ten-day residencies with sustained independent
work completed in the intervals between.
Faculty includes Catherine Barnett, Nathan Englander, John
Freeman, Ishion Hutchinson, Katie Kitamura, Hari Kunzru,
Nick Laird, Robin Coste Lewis, Meghan O’Rourke, Matthew
Rohrer, Helen Schulman, Zadie Smith, Darin Strauss, and
Deborah Landau (Director)NYU CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM
Poetry, Fiction, and NonfictionFor more information visit
as.nyu.edu/cwpPrinceton University
Program in American Studies
Anschutz Distinguished Fellowship
in American Studies 2021–2022The Program in American Studies at Princeton University, founded in 1943, sponsors teaching, research,
and public discussion about the history, literature, art, and culture of the United States, in ways that
transcend the traditional disciplines.
The Anschutz Distinguished Fellowship, created through an endowment by the Anschutz family, will be
awarded in the academic year 2021-22 to a distinguished writer, critic, journalist, musician, artist, or other
contributor to the arts, letters, public service, or commerce. The fellowship holder need not be an academic
scholar. However, the selection committee will place great weight on indicia of the candidate’s teaching
ability as well as the rigor, innovation, and interdisciplinary emphasis of the proposed seminar course.
The appointment period will be for one semester only: Fall 2021 or Spring 2022. Appointees “in
residence” will reside in Princeton or the local vicinity, and demonstrate to the program’s satisfaction
the ability to be on campus on a daily basis and on short notice in order to fulfill responsibilities.
“Commuting” appointees will live within daily commuting distance of Princeton’s campus and will not
be expected to be on campus on a daily basis. Both types of appointees will be expected to perform the
following, core duties:
The Anschutz Distinguished Fellow will teach one interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar course for
the American studies program during this one-semester appointment. The seminar will be composed of
not more than 15 students, and will meet for three hours weekly over the 12-week teaching semester. In
addition to teaching and holding weekly office hours to meet with enrolled students, the fellow will be
expected to contribute to the intellectual life of the American studies program, including participation
in a wide range of events and activities on campus (such as participating in the American Studies
Workshop). The fellow will also deliver at least one public lecture to the University. The fellow will enjoy
full access to Firestone Library, a computer-equipped campus office during the appointment period, and
access to various University facilities.
A fellow who must relocate to Princeton or the local vicinity will receive a salary of $90,000, plus
benefits eligibility. A fellow who commutes to campus will receive a salary of $60,000, plus benefits
eligibility.
To apply, please visit https://www.princeton.edu/acad-positions/position/17121 and submit the following
materials by no later than 11:59pm EST on December 1, 2020: A cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a
preliminary syllabus, and a short statement describing your proposed seminar and public lecture. A short
list of finalists will be asked to submit further materials later. For additional information, please see our
website, https://ams.princeton.edu/ or call (609) 258-6771.Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration
for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin,
disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.