Last month, U.S. Army counterintelligence officer Lt. Chris Simmons appeared on various Miami Spanish language television and radio stations to denounce Cuban spies in the United States.
Simmons accused two Florida International University professors, FIU Professor Lisandro Perez and Professor Marifeli Perez-Stable, of being Cuban spies. Both are linked to the Miami Herald, Perez-Stable as a current contributor and board member, and Lisandro Perez as a previous board member. Simmons says Cuba has had an agent of influence in The Miami Herald for more than 20 years.
Two Cuban Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) defectors, debriefed by the FBI, apparently exposed Perez-Stable as a spy.
When both professors were previously identified as Castro agents, they threatened to take legal action but failed to do so. Lisandro Perez suggested legal action in a 1993 letter and ACLU attorney John de Leon wrote on behalf of Marifeli Perez-Stable.
Marifeli Perez-Stable has previously said that her support of the Cuban regime ended in the eighties, but her Cuban case officer recalled a 1991 meeting with her in Ottawa, Canada.
Simmons says that so far, none of those unmasked by him have used the legal system to redeem their honor, integrity, and reputation.
Simmons also points to the Miami Herald’s continuing decline in circulation, explaining its loss of credibility. The decline is more likely related to the state of the economy and in line with losses at many other print newspapers.