Efter 20 års i US-fængsel: Ana Belén ville standse uretfærdighed mod Cuba
“Jeg gjorde det, som jeg mente var den bedste måde at standse en stor uretfærdighed på… Hvem har i de sidste 60 år spurgt det cubanske folk, om det ønsker at USA opretholder den ødelæggende embargo, som befolkningen lider under?”, spurgte Ana Belén Montes i en erklæring kort efter sin løsladelse efter 20 års fængsel
Af: Granmas internationale redaktion, 11. januar, 2023
Puerto Rico og Cuba stod i centrum for budskabet fra Ana Belén Montes, tidligere analytiker for USA’s efterretningsvæsen, da hun påbegyndte fem års prøveløsladelse efter afsoning i Carswell-fængslet i Fort Worth, Texas.
I en erklæring, som er den eneste autoriserede offentlige udtalelse fra hende i forbindelse med hendes løsladelse fra fængslet, forklarede den amerikanske statsborger med puertoricanske rødder, at hun ikke ville deltage i nogen medieaktiviteter.
“Jeg er mere end lykkelig over, at jeg igen kan betræde puertoricansk jord. Efter to meget anstrengende årtier og konfronteret med nødvendigheden af igen at skulle tjene til livets ophold, vil jeg hengive mig til et stille og roligt privatliv”, sagde Ana Belén Montes, som siden 2001 har siddet i fængsel for sammensværgelse og spionage til fordel for Cuba – hvilket hun fik en fængselsdom på 25 år for.
“Jeg vil opfordre dem, der ønsker at fokusere på mig, til at koncentrere sig om vigtige temaer i stedet for, som fx det puertoricanske folks alvorlige problemer eller USA’s økonomiske embargo mod Cuba”, sagde hun yderligere.
I udtalelsen spørger hun: “Hvem har i de sidste 60 år spurgt det cubanske folk, om det ønsker at USA opretholder den ødelæggende embargo, som befolkningen lider under?”
Den tidligere analytiker tilføjede: “Den påtrængende nødvendighed af et verdensomspændende samarbejde for at standse ødelæggelsen af vores miljø og vende udviklingen fortjener også vores opmærksomhed.”
“Jeg er irrelevant som person. Jeg er ubetydelig, mens der er alvorlige problemer i vores globale omverden, som kræver opmærksomhed og en demonstration af broderlighed”, sluttede meddelelsen.
Hendes advokat, Linda Backiel, bad medierne om at respektere Ana Belens privatsfære og hendes beslutning om ikke at lade sig interviewe eller komme med yderligere kommentarer.
Retssagen for 20 år siden
I en udtalelse under retssagen mod hende for 20 år siden argumenterede hun: “Jeg anser regeringens (USA’s) politik over for Cuba for at være grusom og uretfærdig, dybt uvenskabelig. Jeg betragter det som min moralske pligt at hjælpe øen med at forsvare sig mod vores forsøg på at påtvinge den vores værdier og politiske system. Vi har udvist intolerance og foragt over for Cuba (…) Vi har aldrig respekteret Cubas ret til at bestemme sin egen skæbne, sine egne idealer om lighed og retfærdighed (…). Jeg har gjort det, som jeg anså for at være den bedste måde at standse en stor uretfærdighed på.”
I en samtale med den amerikanske journalist Andrea Mitchell d. 12. december 2002 sagde Cubas øverstkommanderende Fidel Castro om Ana Belén Montes: “En ædel og god amerikaner, som er imod uretfærdighed, imod en mere end 40 år lang blokade og imod alle terrorhandlinger rettet mod Cuba, og som formår at reagere på denne måde. Hun er en exceptionel person.”
“(…) Hun er en person, som fortjener respekt og beundring for denne holdning og ikke kun af taknemmelighed men derimod ud fra en følelse af retfærdighed”, tilføjede han.
Link til den originale artikel:
Oversat af Dann Simonsen, overskrift og mellemoverskrift er indsat af Cubavenner.dk
For dem, som vil gå lidt dybere i denne historie bringer vi her en artikel fra det britiske BBC- undtagelsesvis på engelsk:
Ana Montes: Top spy freed in US after more than 20 years
“Ana Montes – among the best-known Cold War spies caught by the US – has been
released from prison after more than 20 years in custody.
The 65-year-old spent almost two decades spying for Cuba while employed as an
analyst at the Defence Intelligence Agency.
After her arrest in 2001, officials said she had almost entirely exposed US
intelligence operations on the island.
One official said she was among “the most damaging spies” caught by the US.
Michelle Van Cleave, who was head of counter-intelligence under President George
W Bush, told Congress in 2012 that Montes had ‘compromised everything – virtually
everything – that we knew about Cuba and how we operated in Cuba’”.
“’So the Cubans were well aware of everything that we knew about them and could
use that to their advantage…she was able to influence estimates about Cuba in her
conversations with colleagues and she also found an opportunity to provide
information that she acquired to other powers.’”
Ana Belen Montes is listed as FMC Register #25037-016. She was released on
January 6, 2023. Having been released, she will be monitored, including her internet
usage, for five years. Montes will not be allowed to contact “foreign agents” or work
for the US government “without permission”.
She is currently living in Puerto Rico and continues to speak out against the US
sanctions against Cuba. Ana Montes – Wikipedia
Ana Belen Montes was a Defense Intelligence Agency senior analyst for 16 years.
She alerted Cuba of US plans of aggression. Montes was arrested in 2001, pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage, and held in solitary confinement in Fort
Worth, Texas, for most of her 21 years behind bars.
At her 2002 trial, she told the judge, “An Italian proverb perhaps best describes the
fundamental truth I believe in: `All the world is one country.’ In such a ‘world-
country,’ the principle of loving one’s neighbor as much as oneself seems, to me, to be
the essential guide to harmonious relations between all of our ”nation-
neighborhoods.” This principle urges tolerance and understanding for the different
ways of others. It asks that we treat other nations the way we wish to be treated —
with respect and compassion. It is a principle that, tragically, I believe we have never
applied to Cuba.
“Your honor, I engaged in the activity that brought me before you because I obeyed
my conscience rather than the law. I believe our government’s policy towards Cuba is
cruel and unfair, profoundly un-neighborly, and I felt morally obligated to help the
island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on
it. We have displayed intolerance and contempt towards Cuba for most of the last
four decades. We have never respected Cuba’s right to make its own journey towards
its own ideals of equality and justice. I do not understand why we must continue to
dictate how the Cubans should select their leaders, who their leaders cannot be, and
what laws are appropriate in their land. Why can’t we let Cuba pursue its own internal
journey, as the United States has been doing for over two centuries?”
Montes served for a generation at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Carswell,
outside of Fort Worth, Texas. The FMC is located on a US marine compound and
previously served as a military hospital She has been subjected to extreme conditions
in that prison, akin to those imposed on Julian Assange.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has reported that: She can only have contact with her
closest relatives, since her conviction is for espionage. She could only be taken out of
her isolation cell when other prisoners are locked in their cells so they cannot speak
with her.
