Cuba's top spy Ana Belen Montes completes 20-year sentence
MIAMI - Ana Belen Montes spied for Cuba for years, reaching the highest levels of the U.S. Government's intelligence agencies.
Now, sources say she will have a plane ticket and be escorted by a Federal Marshal, as she is set to get out of prison this weekend.
Her storied career has generated not one but four books that detail her career and downfall.
There are currently four books published or set to be published about her. One of them, "Queen of Cuba," authored by a former FBI Agent.
Pete Lapp says, "No question this was a career case for me, a major accomplishment without question."
September 21, 2001, Lapp was in on taking down the Cuban spy that had penetrated the highest ranks of the United State Defense Intelligence Agencies.
Lapp legally entered Belen Montes' apartment and found the computer and shortwave radio she used to communicate with her handlers.
"There are a ton of people that deserve credit not just me and I am proud to represent all of them. They are the unsung heroes," said Lapp.
FBI, DIA, and the National Security Agency, all involved including Chris Simmons, author of the book Castro's Nemesis.
Simmons was on the DIA team that rooted out Belen Montes. He told CBS4, "I have never seen someone so heartless in all my life."
Montes fed U.S. secrets to Cuba which were shared/sold to U.S. adversaries including actors in the Middle East.
She was held responsible for the death of an American Green Beret in El Salvador and clued the Cubans in on the U.S. reaction to the Brothers of the Rescue shootdown.
The loss of Belen Montes was a major blow to the robust Cuban Intelligence operation aimed at the U.S. government and public agencies and exile organizations in South Florida.
According to Lapp, the Cubans recovered rather quickly.
"The Cuban intelligence service today remains in my opinion one of the best in the world, they are especially skilled at recruiting individuals who are driven by ideology and are "liked minded," meaning they already sympathize with the Cuban Communist revolution." That was the case with Ana Belen Montes according to Lapp and Simmons.
Belen Montes set the bar and did it for no money. A true believer, who walks out of a Texas federal prison after 20 years.
She pled guilty to espionage, but how about her family?
Lapp who interviewed family members for his book emphasized, "This is a loyal and patriotic family. Tito and Lucy served our country honorably at the FBI of all places. My heart breaks for them for having to deal with the treachery their sister committed."
Lapp and Simmons are not sure what will become of Ana Belen Montes. She cannot be deported to Cuba, as she is a U.S. Citizen.
The two spy chasers say Cuban spies are active and many are targeted in South Florida.
