U.S. says contractor arrested in Cuba is no spy

[Jimmy2]

This much is certain about the U.S. contractor arrested in Cuba last month: He gave civilian groups communications gear.

But the specific nature of the equipment, which remains a mystery, threatens to complicate his legal case in Cuba -- and some experts say it could bolster the Castro government's contention that he was a spy on a mission to destabilize the regime.

It's unclear what Cuba ultimately plans to do with the contractor, whose name has not been released, but experts say that he could be used as a bargaining chip in future discussions between the United States and Cuba.

Washington has long supplied Cuban dissidents with laptop computers and cell phones. But the Development Alternatives Inc. subcontractor arrested Dec. 5 in Havana worked with sophisticated telecommunications equipment.

Analysts say the gear was probably designed to help Cubans talk or surf the web via satellite, circumventing the government network. Critics of U.S. policy say that makes his legal status there murky.

``The detained DAI subcontractor was not working for any intelligence service,'' company president and CEO James Boomgard said in a statement Thursday. ``He was working with a peaceful, non-dissident civic group -- a religious and cultural group recognized by the Cuban government -- to improve its ability to communicate with its members across the island and overseas.''

On Wednesday, the Cuban government publicly accused the contractor, whose name has not been released, of working for U.S. intelligence services. In a December speech, Cuban leader Raúl Castro referred to the man's ``sophisticated satellite communications equipment,'' and added: ``the enemy is as active as ever.''

The U.S. State Department denied the accusation.

``Cuba has a history of mischaracterizing what Americans and NGOs in Cuba are doing,'' State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. ``This person is not associated with our intelligence services.''

Boomgard called the man ``a committed development professional with many years of experience providing humanitarian and development assistance worldwide.''

He was a subcontractor to DAI on a U.S. Agency for International Development program aimed at providing humanitarian assistance to Cubans, Boomgard said in his most detailed statement since the arrest.

The Cuba program is meant to hasten a ``transition to democracy'' by chipping away at the government's information restrictions with computers and cell phones. Budgeted at $3.5 million a decade ago, Congress approved $45 million in 2008. Development Alternatives Inc. manages a portion totaling $8.6 million.

But it's illegal to participate in U.S. AID projects in Cuba.

``This was an accident waiting to happen,'' said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia think tank. ``It's right there in black and white written in American law: the intent of this program is to overthrow the government. `Transition' is a nice word, but the intent is `overthrow.' People sent in are at risk because of that factor.''

If the man distributed satellite phones and other high-tech equipment, Washington could have a hard time arguing his case, said Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat who headed the American mission in Havana during the Mariel boatlift.

``If he was caught with simply a cell phone, even if he didn't have proper documents, they would have just expelled him,'' said Smith, who remains close to Havana government officials. ``I'm struck by the fact that the United States has not raised hell over this. If I were down there handling the case, and the guy hadn't done much, I'd be making noise.

``Maybe he was up to something he shouldn't have been up to.''

People who support the programs insist that it doesn't much matter what the man did, because he's a pawn in a bigger game who will be used as a bargaining chip in future Washington-Havana dialogue.

Five Cuban intelligence agents are currently jailed in federal prisons in the United States, and Cuba has long made it clear that the government wants them returned.

``It's easy to make the contractor appear quite sinister,'' said former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Chris Simmons. ``In terms of leverage, Cuba has the upper hand.''

Simmons believes the man would have been in just as much trouble if he'd been caught with cell phones.

Center for a Free Cuba director Frank Calzón, who distributed short wave programs under the AID program, said Cubans are threatened by any device.

``A few years ago, they had a whole news program about the shortwave radios,'' Calzón said. ``They showed how they have batteries and -- oh my God -- earphones. They claimed they were a violation of international human rights.''

Christopher Sabatini, who oversaw similar programs at the National Endowment for Democracy, agrees.

``A satellite phone allows people to communicate. It's a phone,'' Sabatini said. ``If you see a phone as a threat, then I guess it's a threat. The Cuban government is in a time warp when it comes to IT. What they think is a threat are things we see every day in a meeting, like a Blackberry.''