3 Indicted in $1-Million Sales of Advanced Computers to Cuba

Three men were indicted Friday for allegedly selling more than $1 million in sophisticated computer equipment to a company for shipment to Cuba, violating the U.S. Trading With the Enemy Act.

“This should be the first of many cases like this down here,” said Pat O’Brien, a U.S. Customs Service special agent in Miami.

The 13-count indictment charges sales of more than $1 million worth of computers and related equipment in 1985 to Siboney International in Panama for shipment to Cuba. The Siboney company also was indicted.

In an affidavit, customs investigator James Kilfoil described Siboney International as “a Cuban government front company used to acquire technology articles.”

IBM-Compatible Systems

“They sold a lot of stuff, computers, a lot of chips, equipment for interfacing computer systems,” O’Brien said. He said the equipment sold was IBM-compatible because Soviet Bloc countries use the Ryad 1 and Ryad 3 computer systems, which were copied from International Business Machines systems.

The equipment could be adapted to military use, O’Brien said.

The investigation represents a new emphasis by customs agents here on Operation Exodus, the Reagan Administration effort begun in 1982 to halt the sales of high-tech equipment and munitions to Soviet Bloc countries, Iran and other unfriendly nations, O’Brien said.

The indictment states that Siboney was set up by Roberto Roque, said by investigators to be a long-time supporter of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Called Cuban Operative

“He is a confirmed operative of the Cuban government,” O’Brien said. “I doubt if we’ll be able to get him. He may be back in Cuba now.”

Federal agents on Friday arrested Gary Emert, who investigators said made the sales to Cuba while working for a Fort Lauderdale computer company.

Venezuelan national Remo Geovanni DiBartolomeo had been arrested on March 3 at Miami International Airport and is being held on $200,000 bond, authorities said. DiBartolomeo was paid by Siboney International to assist in the purchase and transportation of computers, the indictment says.

The Trading With the Enemy Act carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.