Following are edited excerpts from some of the letters I received in response to my Oct. 18 column on how The Herald should respond to accusations that a contributing columnist, Marifeli Pérez-Stable, is a Cuban spy. Nothing in what I received changes my conclusion that there is insufficient evidence for The Herald to pull her column or investigate further. Pérez-Stable wrote her own defense in a separate column. Readers can read it all and decide for themselves. Antonio de la Cova, one of her principle accusers, declined to allow his letter to me to be printed. He wanted a column of his own. Almost all his points are covered in the letters below. All editing was for space and clarity.

I am appalled at The Herald's disregard for Marifeli Pérez-Stable's ties to Cuban intelligence. Retired editor Joe Oglesby twice asked her if she had been a spy and ``she denied it both times.'' As a result, he felt the ``charges were not credible enough to pursue further.'' When did The Herald pursue them at all? The Herald never interviewed the Cuban intelligence defector who met with Pérez-Stable at an academic conference in Ottawa in mid-1991. It also proved unable to identify this forum even with its date and location.

The FBI identified Pérez-Stable's close friend, Mercedes Arce, as a Cuban agent in the Carlos Alvarez confession. Professor Maria de la Angeles Torres identified Arce as the former head of the Center for the Study of Alternative Policies (CEAP). Scholar Rex Hudson identified the CEAP's parent organization, the Center for North American Studies, as a front for the intelligence wing of the Communist Party.

Alvarez exposed Arce as a U.N.-based spy with whom he met. Cuban intelligence officer Amado Soto introduced himself to Alvarez as one of Arce's friends. When Havana decorated Alvarez for his spy service, Arce attended the ceremony. Alvarez confessed that Arce worked for Jesus Arboleya, identified in March 1982 Senate testimony as a DGI colonel.

The Herald asserted that while a 1983 debriefing of defector Jesús Pérez Méndez identified Pérez-Stable as Cuban controlled, it could not find him. However, Pérez Méndez twice appeared on Mega TV's Maria Elvira Live in November 2006 and lived in Puerto Rico last year. The Herald simply avoided finding him, knowledgeable government officials, or taking the time to request copies of his debriefings.

How could a newspaper with 19 Pulitzer Prizes not investigate these leads? I support the informed discussion of evidence regarding the threat posed by Cuban intelligence. Your feature failed to contribute to this dialogue.

Chris Simmons

Broadlands, Virginia

How could you be so naive and say that ``charges against columnist don't add up.'' I do not believe for one microsecond that she has changed; the only thing she has changed are the methods of her communist ideology. Why has she not filed a libel suit against Col. Simmons, who accused her publicly of being a spy for the Cuban tyranny? Is she afraid of cross-examination and to perjure herself?

Juan L. Santalla

The photo of Marifeli and me was taken at the Puerto Rican Lawyers Guild on April 30, 1979, when we hosted a press conference demanding that the Puerto Rican government and the FBI investigate the assassination of our colleague, Carlos Muñiz Varela. I would like that your newspaper make a correction in terms of accusing me of spying for the Cuban government and of being an ``intelligence officer.''

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