Naemi Victoria investigates Castro’s Spies.
In the early morning hours of 12th September 1998, Olguita Salanueva’s apartment is raided by the FBI. Olguita’s husband, René González, is arrested. He belongs to a group known as the “Miami Five,” who will face trial in Miami, Florida, on charges of espionage against the United States. Gary Lennon and Ollie Aslin’s documentary Castro’s Spies takes a sobering yet intriguing look at the often glamourised world of espionage from the perspective of those involved in it. Its narrative investigates the spy ring’s activities in the U.S. through a variety of conflicting viewpoints that either celebrate the men as heroes or condemn them as criminals.
Opposition is a central theme of Castro’s Spies. Like a red thread, it connects the more abstract level of opposing political systems with the personal recollections of Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González. Their stories contrast with the action-driven spy adventures that frequently grace our screens. Filled with modest apartments, cheap meals, , and ageing cars, their description of everyday life is more mundane than one might have expected from secret agents. It makes you wonder what their social life was like in the U.S., if they had one aside from their assignments.
Castro’s Spies pays close attention to the toll that the men’s double life took on their families. Their responsibilities as husbands or fathers are constantly overshadowed by the duplicity that goes hand in hand with their chosen profession. Olguita, for instance, was led to believe that her husband, René, defected to the U.S., leaving her and their young daughter behind in Cuba. The men in turn describe how difficult it was for them to pretend to be someone else in front of their families, especially leading up to their departures to the U.S. A rather unexpected turn of events, however, unfolds in Olguita’s story. Against all odds, she starts investigating René’s defection and discovers his assignment as a spy. This brief glimpse at a single mother uncovering a secret government operation to solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance calls for its own feature film.
Since the release of Castro’s Spies, Gary Lennon and Ollie Aslin have co-directed another documentary project called I Dream in Photos (2023), centred around photojournalist Cathal McNaughton.
Overall, Castro’s Spies stands out as a documentary about espionage that does not just talk about secret agents, it is narrated by them. The editing skilfully complements the Miami Five’s recollections with archival footage from the Cuban Film Institute and commentary from other parties involved, like representatives of the Cuban and U.S. government or the anti-Castro community in Miami. Notably, the interviewees present their points of view with the firm conviction that their actions for or against the Cuban government were completely justified. With this in mind, the editing arranges their statements as fascinating, yet conflicting puzzle pieces into a broader picture capturing the Miami Five’s operation in the U.S.
Castro’s Spies is available to stream online now.
