A professor at Florida International University who is charged with spying for Cuba told a federal court on Thursday that FBI agents had pledged he would not be prosecuted if he talked to them. According to the Associated Press, the professor, Carlos Alvarez, said he had talked freely with the agents about his life, in part because he felt he would get into trouble if he refused.
During the conversation, he testified, “I said everything, basically.” But the agents said they had made no promises to him.
Mr. Alvarez was arrested in January with his wife, Elsa, also a Florida International employee, after an indictment said they had spied on Cuban exile groups in Florida for nearly 30 years (The Chronicle, January 10).
Mr. Alvarez’s testimony this week was part of efforts by his lawyers to have the conversations with FBI agents declared inadmissible as evidence in his espionage trial.
