For 17 years, a Cuban spy got away with spilling American secrets to Havana. She was finally caught and taken into custody in 2001. Ana Montes, also known as the Queen of Cuba, is considered to be one of the most damaging spies in the history of the United States.
According to Brian Latell, the top Cuba analyst at the CIA during the height of the Cold War, Cuba may lack advanced technology for spying, but the country has been successful at using human intelligence to find out information. After obtaining the secrets, Cuba will then trade and sell them to America’s enemies all over the world.
“Their officers, their intelligence agents and officers are very, very good,” Latell said. “They know their tradecraft. They practice it with great skill and with discipline. And when they recruit, they’re very careful about how they recruit and how they communicate.”
So, how did Montes get her start as a spy? She was recruited in the 1980s while she was a student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
She was vocal about her disagreement with the U.S. government’s policies toward Latin America. Soon enough, she caught the attention of a Cuban intelligence officer and agreed to help Cuba.
A retired FBI special agent named Peter Lapp said that Havana does not pay its spies. He was on the team that led the Montes investigation. So, Americans who spy for Cuba are doing it for their own ideals and beliefs rather than money.
“I feel that what I did was morally right. That I was faithful to principles that were right,” Montes told FBI investigators after her arrest.
Montes started working at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 1985. By then, she was a fully recruited spy.
Montes never removed any documents from work. Instead, she memorized classified information and would type it up at home. Then, she transferred the information onto encrypted disks.
AnnaDemy – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Every two to three weeks, she would have lunch meetings with her Cuban intelligence handler after receiving instructions in code through short-wave radio.
During her years at the DIA, Montes revealed the existence of a satellite program that the U.S. used to spy on other countries.
She also gave the names of around 450 American intelligence officials working on Latin American issues, including four undercover agents in Cuba.
Her downfall began in 1996 when a colleague reported suspicions that Montes was under the influence of Cuban intelligence.
She was interviewed but didn’t admit to anything. Four years later, the FBI opened up an investigation into Montes. They spent a year surveilling her to build their case.
In 2001, she was taken into custody. She pled guilty to espionage and agreed to tell the FBI everything she had done in exchange for not going to prison for the rest of her life.
She served 20 years in federal prison and was released in January 2023. Now, Montes lives in Puerto Rico, where she has been regarded as a hero by some people.
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