renÉ gonzalez was released in october 2011 after being jailed in the u.s. for 13 years. er 2 thousand 13, just over a year ago, i spoke to reÉe gonzalez in havana via democracynow video stream. i began asking him why he came to the u.s. to investigate militant cuban exile groups. cubans,y generation of it was part of our development, our common experience, to see people coming from miami, raiding our shores, killing people in cuba, blowing up familiar, so we were with the activities that the cuban people have been suffering for almost four years back then. to accept hard for me the mission of going there and monitoring the activities of some of those people who had been trained by the cia in the 1960's. some of them had participated in bay of pigs. some of them, after that, went to south america, as part of operation condor. if you look at the history of those people, you can see them linked to the worst actions of the u.s. government. even the kennedy assassination was linked to them. it was not hard for me to accept the mission and to go there could -- to protect the cu

the firstre we go to of the cuban five who were released, renÉ gonzalez, who are interviewed when heurned to cuba, martin garbus, if you could talk about these five men convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in the united states and yet they said they were here, yes, spying, but spying on violent anti-cuba groups. >> they were here working with the u.s. government to try to stop the right-wing groups in florida from continuing to , sending arms to cuba, from flying over the island and from actually killing people. there was an explosion at a hotel in many people were killed. they were working with the cooperation of the american government. let me say one thing before i get into that. glass, a lawyer, whom you know well, and before me, he were 10 years on the cuban five case. whatever the result here is, he is certainly owed something for it>> he died. >> a few years ago. wonderful lawyer. at the same time as you had the bush gore vote in florida, it became necessary to find someone to blame for some killings which occurred in 1996. my client was ultimately arrested and convicte

streets very happy about this announcement, and one of the jailed men, he was released in 2011, renÉe gonzalezhe writes, we'll all be together for christmas with our families and cubans. >> ines, thank you very much. antonio, you were three years old when your family left havana. an economic opportunity for cubans and the united states. >> it's interesting, the economic reasons behind all this are really not being talked about very much, and the reality is that the conversation seemed to have been going on for quite awhile, but the cuban economy has been a mess for decades, and they face a really serious threat because the price of oil is plunging, and venezuela has been subsidizing oil, the venezuelan economy is suffer something much they may not be able to support the cubans in the way they're doing, there might have been extra yo on raul castro to bring more money to cuba. there is an american side, too. there are a lot of american businesses, very strongly supporting this and calling for an end of the embargo because this could bring a lot of jobs to the united states if there is openness

skew ban five member, rene gonzalez, told cnn he can't disclose how a pregnancy worthy of a spy thrillerled off. [ indiscernible ] >> in a statement released to cnn, a justice department spokesman said, we can confirm the united states facilitated mrs. hernandez's request to have a baby with her husband in light of mr. hernandez's two life sentences. the request was passed along by senator leahy seeking to improve conditions for mr. gross while imprisoned in cuba. herrardo received a double life sentence for downing of two planes by cuban air force that killed four cuban americans. the u.s. officials helped him conceived a child is sure to add salt to the wounds of cuban exiles, enraged and rekindled u.s. cuban relations. the couple say in two week's time they're due to have a baby girl. and thanked the u.s. officials who made this unlikely pregnant see possible. definitive proof of the old saying that politics really do make strange bedfellows. >>> well, devil offing out of sydney, australian court has revoked bail for the wife of the sydney siege gunman. the widow of the gunman. she wa

louise medina and antonio guerarro, and you have renee gonzalez, fernando gonzalez. to tie up what you are saying, it's not like this was an even swap for humanitarian aid workers that we were for some reason holding in the united states. >> look, it sounds like this was a pretext for doing what the president wanted to do all along in terms of changing the broader policy toward cuba. again, it's great to have mr. gross back on american soil, but it sounds like he was a human pawn for doing what the president wanted to do anyway. there is a case to be made, gretchen, for the listing of the cuban trade embargo, but this is not it. what did we get in exchange, gretchen? we got nothing. we got no concessions from this regime at all. >> correct. the president said the new policy will make it easier for americans to travel to cuba. he doesn't talk about the cubans who are still there under a dictator. >> well, look, there have been a lot of people on both sides of the aisle arguing for many years that this trade embargo has outlived its usefulness, including my old boss in

cuban five member rene gonzalez said he can't disclose how a pregnancy worthy of a spy thriller was pulled> it was accomplished with good will of the u.s. government. that's important. >> reporter: in a statement released to cnn, a justice department spokesman said we can confirm the united states facilitated mrs. hernandez's request to have a baby with her husband in light of mr. hernandez's two life sentences. the request was passed along by senator leahy seeking to improve conditions for mr. gross while in prison in cuba. he received a double life sentence for his role in the downing of two planes by the cuban air force that killed four cuban americans. the u.s. officials helped him conceive a child is sure to add salt to the wounds of cuban exiles already enraged at rekindled u.s./cuba relations. in two week's time they're due to have a baby girl and thanked the u.s. officials who made this unlikely pregnancy possible. definitive proof of the old saying that politics really do make strange bedfellows. >> coming up, we're minutes away from a news conference. new york city mayor bill de

rene gonzalez and fernando gonzalez were released earlier this year. do the men acknowledge they were, in fact, spies? >> yes. they were not technically dealing with espionage but if you refer to a secret intelligence agent, yes, they have always admitted that. at the start of the trial they admitted that. that's one of the things that made it so difficult to get a fair trial in cuba -- i'm sorry, in miami, which was that the very beginning of the case, all of the defendants admitted they were agentings here working in cuba. what they were disputing at trial and what we continue to litigate up until today was whether they did commit the particular violations they were accused of, which includes national security violations and this incorrect and really tragic charge that was placed on gerardo's shoulders. >> there are other things of a violent nature they were accused of. this group called the wasp network was credit the -- credited with foiling a 1994 plot to set off bombs in havana's iconic tropicana nightclub and other plots, bomb attacks on havana