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<h1 id="reader-title">Cuban singer Silvio Rodríguez calls for
the release of U.S.-jailed spy</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">NORA GÁMEZ TORRES -
April 11, 2016<br>
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<p>Renowned Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez has
asked for the release of convicted spy, Ana Belen Montes
— a senior analyst at the U.S. Defense Intelligence
Agency<strong> (</strong>DIA), who is serving a 25-year
sentence on charges of spying for the Cuban government.</p>
<p>Rodríguez dedicated a Spanish song titled <em>La Maza</em>
to Montes during a concert at La Coruña, Spain, on
Friday, and then asked for her release on his blog <em>Segunda
Cita</em>.</p>
<p>“The woman... is not Cuban but Puerto Rican,” Rodríguez
wrote in his blog. “Her name is Ana Belen Montes and she
was a senior officer of the US secret services. When she
knew they were going to do something bad to Cuba, she
passed the information to us. That is why she is serving
decades in prison and, a few years ago, I published here
her plea of self-defense. Ana Belen Montes. Not a lot
bad things happened to us because of her. Freedom for
her.”</p>
<p>U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, called
Rodríguez a “liar” and “a regime stooge,” noting that<strong>
</strong>Montes “did everything in her power to hurt our
nation when she served as a senior analyst at the
Defense Intelligence Agency.”</p>
<p>In a statement, Ros-Lehtinen added that “it is
documented that Montes committed treason in order to
further her own ideological agenda and did serious
damage to our nation’s national security by sharing
sensitive information with the Castro regime. I am
grateful for the quick work of U.S. law enforcement
personnel in arresting Montes immediately after
September 11, 2001 in order to prevent her from further
damaging our nation’s security.”</p>
<p>Montes, 59, was the highest-ranking Cuba analyst at the
DIA when she was arrested in 2001 on charges of
“conspiracy to commit espionage” for the Cuban
government, a crime for which she pleaded guilty. Montes
was accused of revealing the identities of undercover
U.S. agents to Cuban authorities.</p>
<p>Following the December 2014 release of the remaining
three of five members of the Wasp Network — identified
in Cuba as the “five heroes” — calls to free Montes have
multiplied in pro-government blogs, which has fueled
speculation about her possible release.</p>
<p>According to Ros-Lehtinen, “communist singer Silvio
Rodríguez’s wrong assertion behind Ana Belen Montes’
treason could be the beginning of a new campaign to free
the spy.”</p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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