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<div><strong>Ana Belén Montes, an update - April 2016</strong>
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<div><strong>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:</strong></div>
<div><strong>1. Ana Belen is a prisoner of conscience. Her parents
were Puerto Rican. She was brought up in the United States.</strong></div>
<div><strong>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.</strong></div>
<div><strong>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. </strong></div>
<div><strong>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.</strong></div>
<div><strong>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.</strong></div>
<div><strong>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. </strong></div>
<div><strong>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." </strong></div>
<div><strong>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. </strong></div>
<div><strong>I hope I have been able to communicate some
information that may help you to better understand what Ana
did. </strong></div>
<div><strong>Thank you for your interest, I am very grateful to
people like yourself</strong></div>
<div><strong>Good day, Miriam Montes-Mock<br>
___________________________________________<br>
</strong>
<div style="text-align: left;">Miriam Montes is Ana Belen's
cousin. Judy Robbins and Tom Whitney - translation. <br>
Via Karen Lee Wald
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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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