Former CIA agent attempts to draw U.S. tourists to Cuba over Internet

June 25, 2000
Web posted at: 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT)

In this story: From spy to travel agent

Agee's path from CIA to Havana

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From staff and wire reports

HAVANA (CNN) -- Philip Agee, a former CIA agent who in the 1970s wrote a book about the agency and its operations, is now telling Americans to break the law and take a vacation in Cuba. 

"Well, I would like to see people ignore the law, that is to the degree the law doesn't have any meaning anymore," said Agee, 65. 

The law Agee considers meaningless is the 38-year-old U.S. trade embargo, which prohibits Americans from doing business with or spending money in Cuba. 

Agee has compared breaking that law to people breaking the Prohibition laws against alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s. 

"The whole idea is to take a chance. I mean, what fun is life if you're not taking a chance. I've been
taking chances for a long, long time. I took a lot of chances when I was in the CIA," Agee said. 

And like the bootleggers who ignored Prohibition, Agee has financial reasons to urge others to break
the trade embargo against Cuba. 

From spy to travel agent 

Agee runs a travel Web site from Havana called Cubalinda.com, which translates to pretty Cuba. It books hotels and tours and answers e-mail questions, many that originate from the United States. 

With European investors and the state-run travel agent as his partner, Agee's Web site is targeting Americans. It is offering one- or two-week package deals, starting at $600, for this summer's carnival festivities in Havana. 

To skirt the U.S. trade embargo, Agee said payments must be made to Cubalinda accounts in Europe, which would allow U.S. citizens to avoid paying money directly to Cuban banks. 

But Americans would run afoul of U.S. laws if they spent any money while in Cuba. 

Agee's U.S. customers must arrange their own transportation to Cuba through a third country unless the visitor receives a Treasury Department license. 

Agee's path from CIA to Havana 

It is no surprise that Agee has surfaced in Cuba. He has openly supported Fidel Castro's revolution and has campaigned against the nearly four-decade old embargo. 

Agee has also been accused of receiving up to $1 million in payments from the Cuban intelligence service. He has denied the accusations, which were first made by a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer and defector in a 1992 Los Angeles Times report. 

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years with the agency, working mostly in Latin America. 

His 1975 book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary" cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in Latin America that included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives. 

Agee's U.S. passport was revoked in 1979. U.S. officials said he had threatened national security. 

After years of living in Hamburg, Germany -- occasionally underground, fearing CIA retribution -- Agee has decided to make Havana his home and the seat of his new business. 

By running a company in Cuba, Agee, a U.S. citizen, is breaking the law. 

But he said he has no intention of asking for permission to do business in Havana. The spy who came in from the cold said he's not worried about getting into hot water with Uncle Sam. 

Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella and The Associated Press contributed to this report.