FBI arrests the Cuban Five for espionage tied to Brothers to the Rescue

The FBI arrested five Cuban intelligence officers — Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González — in Miami on September 12, 1998, charging them with espionage conspiracy, acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government, and related offenses. The five were members of La Red Avispa, a Cuban spy network of at least 27 agents, tasked with infiltrating Brothers to the Rescue and other Cuban-American exile organizations. Gerardo Hernández faced the additional charge of conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role in coordinating the intelligence that preceded the 1996 shootdown. Cuba denied the five were intelligence agents for three years before acknowledging their status in 2001.