Ana Montes could have been locked-up for a good erica. Shortly after a highly decorated You.S. intelligence specialist that have a two-room co-op inside Cleveland Playground, Montes now resides in a two-bunk cell in the highest-shelter ladies’ prison in the nation. Their residents provides incorporated a former housewife who strangled an expecting woman to track down their particular child, a long time nurse who slain five people which have enormous treatments off adrenaline, and you will Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, brand new Charles Manson groupie just who made an effort to assassinate Chairman Ford.
Rather, she discovered the news headlines surprisingly comforting
But difficult time on Lizzie Borden ward away from a colorado jail hasn’t softened the former Cover Service wunderkind. Age just after she is actually stuck spying to have Cuba, Montes remains defiant. “Jail is amongst the history towns I would has actually picked to settle, however some thing in daily life can be worth going to jail to have,” Montes writes within the an hot Stockton, IL women excellent fourteen-webpage handwritten letter so you’re able to a family member. “Or really worth performing following destroying oneself before you need certainly to purchase too much effort inside prison.”
Eg Aldrich Ames and you can Robert Hanssen ahead of their particular, Ana Montes blindsided the newest intelligence area with brazen acts regarding treason. In the day time hours, she is actually a beneficial buttoned-off GS-14 within the a safety Intelligence Agency cubicle. By night, she was into clock having Fidel Castro, enjoying coded messages over shortwave broadcast, passageway encoded data files in order to handlers into the crowded dining and sliding unnoticed towards Cuba putting on good wig and you can clutching a fake passport.
Montes spied to possess 17 age, patiently, methodically. She passed with each other a lot of treasures from the their own acquaintances – and also the cutting-edge eavesdropping platforms you to American spooks had privately installed in Cuba – you to definitely intelligence pros envision their own being among the most unsafe spies inside latest recollections. But Montes, today 56, did not hack merely her nation along with her associates. She including deceived their particular sister Tito, a keen FBI special representative; their own previous boyfriend Roger Corneretto, an intelligence manager into Pentagon specializing in Cuba; along with her sister, Lucy, a beneficial twenty-eight-12 months veteran of one’s FBI that has acquired honors to possess helping in order to unmask Cuban spies.
Full Display The situation up against the ‘Queen from Cuba’ See Photographs Ana Montes spent nearly 2 decades prying having Cuba if you find yourself working as a good U.S. intelligence analyst. Ana Montes invested almost 2 decades prying having Cuba while working because good You.S. intelligence specialist. Ana Montes’s FBI scheduling pictures at the time regarding their unique arrest, . ./ Courtesy of FBI Waiting step 1 second to carry on.
Regarding days following the we industry place of work is actually to the highest alert. The hijackers had invested time in South Florida, and you will FBI group there had been desperate to discover if anymore got stayed trailing. Once a manager expected Lucy Montes to come to their work environment, she failed to blink. Lucy is actually a seasoned FBI words expert which translated wiretaps and other painful and sensitive interaction. However, so it impromptu fulfilling got nothing in connection with Sept. 11. An FBI group leader sat Lucy off. Their brother, Ana, might have been arrested having espionage, he shared with her, and you can she you’ll deal with the fresh demise punishment. The aunt, Ana, are an effective Cuban spy. Lucy failed to cry, don’t violent storm in disbelief. “I felt it instantly,” she appreciated inside a current interviews. “It informed me a lot of things.” Big news teams claimed towards arrest, naturally, however it is actually overshadowed by continuous visibility of your terrorist periods. ***
Today, Ana Montes continues to be the most important spy you have never heard about
Created toward a great You. S. Armed forces legs into the 1957, Ana Montes is the earliest child from Emilia and you will Alberto Montes. Puerto Rico-created Alberto is actually a number one Armed forces dily moved apparently, away from Germany to help you Kansas in order to Iowa. It paid inside the Towson, external Baltimore, where Alberto developed a successful private psychological practice and you can Emilia turned a commander regarding local Puerto Rican society. Ana thrived into the Maryland. Thin, bookish and you will witty, she finished with a step three. To outsiders, Alberto was a compassionate and you may well-educated father out-of four. But nowadays, he was brief-tempered and you can bullied their students. Alberto “happened to think that he had the straight to beat his kids,” Ana create afterwards give CIA psychologists. As he had aggravated. Sure. Ana are 15 whenever her moms and dads ages was over.