Edition: U.S. / Global

Former Wife of Cuban Spy Lays Claim to Hijacked Plane

Published: March 23, 2003

The former wife of a Cuban spy is trying to claim ownership of a hijacked Cuban airliner to help satisfy a $27 million judgment she won against the Cuban government, officials said today.

Sheriff's officials in Key West seized the plane, a decades-old DC-3 at Key West International Airport on Friday, two days after six hijackers diverted the plane and its 31 passengers and crew from the Cuba to Florida. The plane was flown by the Cuban state airline Aerotaxi.

''We served papers to seize the plane on behalf of Ana Margarita Martinez,'' said Becky Herrin, a Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, referring to the spy's former wife.

The Cuban government has demanded that the United States return the hijackers, the plane and the passengers and crew.

In the past, the United States government has handed hijacked planes and vessels back to Havana.

In 2001, Ms. Martinez won the $27 million judgment against the Cuban government under federal laws that allow victims to sue foreign countries for civil damages. Ms. Martinez said she had been duped into marrying Juan Pablo Roque, a Cuban spy who was sent to Miami by Havana to infiltrate south Florida's anti-Communist exile community.

Six men remain in a Key West jail awaiting arraignment on charges of air piracy in connection with the hijacking on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Becerra, a spokeswoman for the United States Attorney's Office in Miami, said some of the 24 passengers and 6 crew members would return, but did not specify how many.

A Customs spokeswoman, Barbara Gonzalez, said a small number of the Cubans had decided to stay in the United States.