Panda diplomacy and ping-pong diplomacy became familiar terms during the thaw between the US and China. Now, the rapprochement between the US and Cuba may have spawned another, rather more eyebrow-raising term: semen diplomacy.

In one of the more bizarre twists to last week’s diplomatic breakthrough, the US Justice Department has confirmed that the leader of a Cuban spy ring serving life in a California federal prison was allowed to impregnate his wife 2,245 miles away.

When Gerardo Hernández, the head of the Cuban spy ring known as the Wasp Network, arrived at José Martí international airport in Havana last week, he was greeted by President Raúl Castro and Hernández’s wife, Adriana Pérez. Images broadcast on state television made it clear she was pregnant.

How could this be, Cubans wondered. Hernández had been in jail for the past decade and more. He was convicted in 2001 of conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the shooting down by Cuban Migs of two civilian planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue. Four Cuban-Americans died and Hernández received two life sentences.

Not only had Hernández been serving a double life sentence, but his wife also worked for Cuba’s intelligence services and was forbidden by the US to visit her husband in prison, according to the Cuban government.

Inevitably rumours swirled about the baby’s paternity and whether the Cuban government could have somehow arranged a clandestine conjugal visit. The reality, however, was somewhat less lurid: Hernández has said his wife’s pregnancy was a direct result of the high-level talks.

“One of the first things accomplished by this process was this,” Hernández said on Saturday, gesturing to Pérez’s stomach. “I had to do it by ‘remote control’ but everything turned out well.”

At an event where the couple, together with the other freed spies, were feted by Castro and Cuba’s top political and military brass, Hernández told the government-run television channel: “Everyone’s asking, and we have had a lot of fun with the comments and speculations. The reality is it had to be kept quiet. We can’t give a lot of details, because we don’t want to hurt people who meant well.”

Sources involved with the diplomatic talks have told CNN that during the negotiations, Hernández’s sperm was collected and sent to Cuba, where Pérez was artificially inseminated.

A spokesman for the US Department of Justice confirmed that the US agreed to the request in exchange for better conditions for Alan Gross, the US contractor imprisoned in Cuba. Gross was released last week as part of the prisoner swap.



“We can confirm the United States facilitated Mrs Hernández’s request to have a baby with her husband. The request was passed along by Senator Leahy, who was seeking to improve the conditions for Mr Gross while he was imprisoned in Cuba,” said the spokesman, Patrick Rodenbush.



Tim Reiser, an aide to Leahy who worked to broker the landmark deal with Cuba, said helping Hernández conceive a child led to better treatment for Gross by Cuban authorities and was an important concession to help reach a breakthrough.



“The expectation was that this man would die in prison. This was her only chance of having a child,” Rieser told CNN.

Hernández said he and his wife are expecting their baby daughter to arrive in two weeks and they will name her Gema.