Ana Belén Montes received a diploma from CIA Director George Tenet in 1997. COURTESY OF THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Ana Belén Montes, known as the Queen of Cuba, has been released after 20 years in prison in the United States. As a double agent, Montes was one of the most damaging spies for US intelligence before she was discovered, arrested and convicted. “Ana Belén Montes will be free. Cuba, on the other hand, no…” Cuban-American Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote in a statement this Saturday. The congressman recalled the importance of the information stolen from the United States by the spy. He did it for ideological reasons, not money, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office (FBI).
Montes, who is now 65, is descended from Asturian emigrants to Puerto Rico. A US citizen, she was working at the Justice Department when Cuban agents recruited her as a spy. She rose to the federal government and became the chief Cuba analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He spied for Cuba for about 17 years.
She was arrested on September 21, 2001, just 10 days after the September 11 attacks, although she had no connection to them. She was charged with conspiracy to commit espionage for the Cuban government. Montes pleaded guilty and was sentenced in October 2002 to 25 years in prison with five years probation.
Born in 1957 at a US Army base, Ana Montes is the eldest daughter of Puerto Ricans Emilia and Alberto Montes, the latter a military doctor. After returning to the United States, the family settled in Kansas and from there moved first to Iowa and then to Towson, just outside of Baltimore. Ana Belén Montes graduated from the University of Virginia and began working as a typist at the Justice Department in Washington.
In 1984, at the age of 27, Montes held an administrative position in that department. She was very critical of the US government’s policy towards Central America. Cuban agents thought she was sympathetic to their cause and recruited her. She applied for a job with the DIA, which she got in 1985 while she was already working for the Cuban government.
Undocumented
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To avoid detection, Montes never took out any working documents, electronic or paper. Instead, he kept the details in his head and went home to type them up on his laptop, the FBI said after his arrest. It later transferred the information to encrypted data carriers. After receiving instructions from the Cubans in shortwave radio code, he met with his superior and handed him the disks.
During his years with the DIA, security officials were aware of his views on foreign policy and were concerned about his access to sensitive information, but had no reason to believe he was leaking secrets. In 1996, a DIA colleague suspected she might be under the influence of Cuban intelligence and reported this to a security officer who questioned her, but she denied everything and passed a polygraph test. She was honored by the Director of the CIA, George Tenet, the following year.
The security official archived the interview until four years later, when he learned the FBI was working to uncover an unidentified Cuban agent operating in Washington. He contacted the FBI to voice his suspicions. After careful consideration of the facts, the FBI launched an investigation. Through physical and electronic surveillance and covert searches, the FBI found evidence against Montes. The agents also wanted to identify their Cuban handler and expected a face-to-face meeting between the two, so they delayed their arrest for some time. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Montes would receive a commission related to the United States’ war plans in response to the attacks. Preferring to avoid this, the FBI and DIA decided to arrest her.
Montes admitted to revealing the identities of four US secret agents working in Cuba. Senator Marco Rubio continues: “Montes was not a harmless informant. His leaks broke the cover of 450 US agents working in Latin America. In 1996, his information also allowed the Castros to shoot down two US planes carrying the heroes of Brothers to the Rescue. Montes also sabotaged a top-secret satellite program. New reports also show that Montes was willing to undermine the US war effort in Afghanistan, even if it meant the deaths of her countrymen,” he wrote in his statement.
After the release of the last Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States during the thaw of relations during Barack Obama’s presidency, Montes remained the only agent in Cuba’s service still in prison. A few years ago, in a letter to a relative from prison, the Queen of Cuba wrote: “There are certain things in life that are worth going to prison for. Or for which it is worth committing suicide afterwards”.
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