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Wasp Network Dvd

A band of Cuban defectors infiltrates anti-Castro terrorist groups in Miami in the early 1990s.

199.00

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Wasp Network is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama film, written and directed by Olivier Assayas, based upon the book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War by Fernando Morais. It stars Penélope Cruz, Édgar Ramírez, Gael García Bernal, Ana de Armas and Wagner Moura. It tells the true story of Cuban spies in American territory during the 1990s.

The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2019. It was released in France on January 31, 2020, by Memento Films, and was released on June 19, 2020, by Netflix.

Plot

In Havana in the early 1990s, pilot René González leaves his wife Olga and daughter Irma in Cuba to start a new life in the United States. He secretly flies to Miami on a stolen plane (Antonov An-2). González soon joins a group of Cuban exiles and Castro opponents, Brothers to the Rescue, who operate from Florida and act against the Cuban government through military operations and also aim to disintegrate the Cuban tourism industry. They even fly over Cuban airspace. A Cuban secret organization named la Red Avispa, or the “Wasp Network,” is directed by Gerardo Hernández, also known as Manuel Viramontez.

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and Brothers to the Rescue not only launch propaganda brochures about Havana, and lead balseros from Cuba to the Florida shores, but also smuggle drugs and weapons. They also conduct terrorist activities in Cuba organised by Luis Posada Carriles. In 1996, two Cessna Skymaster from Brothers to the Rescue are shot down by Cuban MiGs over the Caribbean Sea, killing four aviators.

Juan Pablo Roque is another Cuban pilot who defects by swimming to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and asking for political asylum. He arrives in Miami, settles down and marries Ana Margarita Martínez, but after few years flies back to Havana making it very clear that he was a mole who had infiltrated anti-Castro associations.

After months and many bureaucratic procedures, Olga and her daughter are allowed to leave Cuba and rejoin René in Miami. But before their travel, Viramontez informs Olga that her husband is not a gusano (Spanish for worm) or a traitor to the Castro regime but indeed is a hero and a Cuban intelligence agent who infiltrated the CANF, which she must keep secret for the security of all of them and the Wasp Network.

In El Salvador in 1997, Raúl Cruz León is recruited by anti-Castroists to place C-4 bombs in Havana hotels. An Italian tourist dies and the same day he is caught by the Cuban police. After being caught the organization abandons him to his fate.

Finally, René González, Manuel Viramontez and the entire Wasp Network are captured by the FBI, all face charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States and face long prison terms if found guilty in the Federal Court of judge Joan A. Lenard. In an interview Fidel Castro defends the actions of the agents and their program.

Despite the fact that the FBI offers to reduce his sentence in exchange for information, René refuses to cooperate.

Aftermath
Olga Salanueva-González was deported to Cuba after 3 months in prison. She was reunited with her daughters Irma and Ivette. And campaigned for the liberation of her husband.
René González served 12 years in prison. He was released on October 7th, 2011.
Gerardo Hernández aka Manuel Viramontez got 2 life sentences. But was freed as a part of a spy swap after serving 15 years.
Ana Margarita Martínez sued the Cuban government. She was awarded $27 million dollars in punitive damages. To this day she has collected only $200,000.
Juan Pablo Roque was never a pilot again. Facing money problems, he sold his Rolex on eBay.
Raúl Cruz León is still serving a 30-year sentence.
Luis Posada Carriles died in 2018, aged 90. He was never prosecuted for the 1997 Cuba hotel bombings.

Cast

Penélope Cruz as Olga Salanueva-González
Édgar Ramírez as René González
Wagner Moura as Juan Pablo Roque
Gael García Bernal as Gerardo Hernández/Manuel Viramontez
Ana de Armas as Ana Magarita Martínez
Leonardo Sbaraglia as José Basulto
Nolan Guerra Fernández as Raúl Cruz León
Osdeymi Pastrana Miranda as Irma González
Tony Plana as Luis Posada Carriles
Julian Flynn as PUND’s pilot
Anel Perdomo as Adriana, Hernández’s/Viramontez’s wife
Julio Gabay as Juan Pablo Roque’s cousin
Amanda Morado as Teté
Carolina Peraza Matamoros as Irma (6 years old)
Omar Ali as Jorge Mas Canosa
Adria Carey Pérez as Judge Joan A. Lenard

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