-Caveat Lector-
Nominee for envoy bowed out after reports of link to Cuba
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By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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<Picture: P>resident Clinton's nominee for ambassador to the Dominican
Republic quietly withdrew last fall amid questions about a Cuban intelligence
scheme to recruit her as a spy within the White House.
Mari Carmen Aponte, a Hispanic community activist who helped raise funds
for Mr. Clinton and the Democratic National Committee in 1996, withdrew her
nomination in October after problems surfaced relating to her past
relationship with a Cuban-American who the FBI said had close ties to Cuba's
intelligence service.
The president is still considering Miss Aponte for a position on the
Federal Housing Finance Board, a regulatory agency. The post also requires
Senate confirmation.
-- Continued from Front Page --
While working as a volunteer in the White House Personnel Office in
November 1993, Miss Aponte was questioned by FBI agents about a plot by agents
of the Cuban intelligence service, known as the DGI, to recruit her as a spy,
according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
One State Department official said Miss Aponte had trouble receiving a
top-secret security clearance required for the diplomatic post because of
questions about her reliability. But a department spokesman said she
eventually received the clearance as part of the nomination screening process.
Miss Aponte has denied knowing about the recruitment effort. However, in
April 1994 she refused FBI requests to take a polygraph test after some of her
answers to the FBI's questions showed minor inconsistencies, the officials
said.
The FBI questioning began a short time after a 1993 story in Miami's
Diario Las Americas newspaper reported that a Cuban intelligence officer had
defected and revealed how the DGI was planning to target Miss Aponte at the
White House for recruitment.
The FBI believed Miss Aponte was targeted because of her close personal
relationship from 1986 to 1994 with Roberto Tamayo, a Cuban-American with
close ties to Cuban government and intelligence officials. Miss Aponte broke
off her relationship with Mr. Tamayo after he traveled to Cuba in 1994.
White House National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said Miss
Aponte withdrew her nomination Oct. 25, six months after the president
nominated her, for "personal reasons." He declined to comment when asked about
any Cuban spying scheme.
"There is still a strong belief within the administration that she could
be an asset and a productive public servant in the future," Mr. Leavy said.
Miss Aponte, a lawyer who helped raise funds in the Hispanic community
for the Clinton campaign in 1996, could not be reached for comment. A woman
who answered the telephone at her residence said Miss Aponte was in Argentina
and could not be reached.
Mr. Tamayo also could not be reached for comment.
Miss Aponte's withdrawal from consideration for the Dominican Republic
post came after she was questioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
about her contacts with Cuban government employees or agents.
She told the panel that her experience with Mr. Tamayo and Cuban agents
had sensitized her to future contacts that might involve Cuban influence.
According to the officials, Miss Aponte said she had no evidence Mr.
Tamayo was a Cuban agent, but told him after the FBI inquiries that she wanted
no further contacts with his "friends" in the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington.
Mr. Tamayo's regular contacts with the FBI apparently allayed Miss
Aponte's concerns about any ties to Cuban intelligence. However, Miss Aponte
said she had suspicions about Mr. Tamayo's intelligence connections after she
was contacted by the FBI in late 1993. She arranged a meeting between Mr.
Tamayo and FBI agents investigating the spy recruitment effort, the officials
said.
Miss Aponte said she confronted Mr. Tamayo about the ties to Cuban
intelligence and he denied any relationship with the Castro government, the
officials said.
Retired FBI Agent Ed Joyce said that while working as a counterspy he
questioned Mr. Tamayo regularly about his contacts with Cuban officials in
Cuba and at Havana's Interests Section in Washington during the late 1980s.
But he said he did not believe Mr. Tamayo was a professionally trained
intelligence officer working for the DGI.
"Roberto was a fellow who had interests in all camps," Mr. Joyce said.
Mr. Joyce said "the Cubans knew Roberto was talking to me" and he was wary of
doing anything that would anger the Cuban government and prevent him from
making visits to the island.
The former FBI agent said Mr. Tamayo was a valuable source of information
about some of the personalities within the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington and that he assumed Mr. Tamayo spoke to Cuban agents about his
conversations with the FBI. "I was getting information that I couldn't get
other places," Mr. Joyce said.
State Department, CIA and FBI spokesmen declined to comment. A Foreign
Relations Committee spokesman also declined to comment.
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