[Pnews] Political Prisoner Ana Belén Montes - an update

[Prisoner News]

*Ana Belén Montes, an update - April 2016*
*I am Miriam, Ana Belen's first cousin. You can obtain a lot of 
information about Ana on the Internet. Declarations she made before the 
Federal Court in 2002 are beautiful and they express Ana's feeling with 
respect to her collaboration directed toward protecting the Cuban 
people. Some of the information that has circulated shows a lack of 
precision. (It's impossible to guarantee that everything that is 
published is verifiable and correct.) But the following is what is 
important:*
*1. Ana Belen is a prisoner of conscience. Her parents were Puerto 
Rican. She was brought up in the United States.*
*2. Ever since she was young she's been interested in political 
processes in Latin America; she is empathetic, solidarity-minded, and 
with a stubborn sense of justice.*
*3. That's why, while she was working for the Defense Intelligence 
Agency in the Pentagon as an analyst specializing in Cuba, she shared 
confidential information with the island that allowed the Cuban people 
to protect themselves from aggressive attacks organized and paid for by 
the U.S. government. *
*4. She did not receive any remuneration for the work she did. She 
believed (and believes) firmly in the right of self-determination that 
is afforded every country, and through her actions she declared herself 
to be against the use of violence to bring down the Cuban government, 
which she understood to be legitimate.*
*5. She was arrested in September 2001 and a year afterwards was 
sentenced to 25 years for the crime of conspiracy to commit espionage 
for which she pled guilty.*
*6. At this point she has completed 14 years under conditions of 
isolation at the Medical Center of the Carswell high-security Federal 
Prison located near Ft. Worth, Texas. *
*7. Her case has generated particular interest ever since President 
Obama announced the beginning of a process of normalizing diplomatic 
relations between the United States and Cuba and now that his words 
match with statements Ana Belen made before the Federal Court the day 
she was sentenced.  She said then: "My greatest desire is to see 
amicable relations emerge between the United States and Cuba.... Such a 
policy would bring our government back in harmony with the compassion 
and generosity of the American people." *
*8. Those of us who are in solidarity with her are calling for her 
prison conditions to be improved and for Ana Belen finally to be 
released. We understand that her sentence is an anachronistic product of 
the Cold War, that she's no threat to the security of society, and that 
her actions were motivated by humanistic principles and protected under 
ideas of freedom and dignity that all peoples of the world are worthy 
of. We know that Ana has been a pacifist by conviction, that she was 
looking to protect the Cuban people, and that at no time were her 
actions directed at causing danger to the U.S. nation. We believe 
History is agreeing with her. Just as other heroes and heroines have 
sacrificed their lives for a superior universal law, for a nobler and 
more just principle, Ana did likewise. For that reason she deserves that 
the world recognize her humanitarian and heroic feat. *
*I hope I have been able to communicate some information that may help 
you to better understand what Ana did. *
*Thank you for your interest, I am very grateful to people like yourself*
*Good day, Miriam Montes-Mock
___________________________________________
*
Miriam Montes is Ana Belen's cousin. Judy Robbins and Tom Whitney - 
translation.
Via Karen Lee Wald

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