Castro’s ‘true believer’ spy didn’t care if Cubans and Americans died | Guest Opinion

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Humorist Mark Twain was perceptive. It’s what we “knew” (or thought we knew) about Ana Belen Montes, the Cuban spy who held a high position in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, that got us in trouble. Big trouble.

Montes, who is scheduled to be released from federal prison this week, was the top analyst on Cuban affairs for the DIA, known to her colleagues as the “Queen of Cuba,” the top spy in the United States for Fidel Castro’s government.

When I was a member of Congress, I often dealt with Montes about Cuban issues. I did not know I was dealing with a true believer, someone who hated the American way and who had become a mole for evil at our highest level of government. Her bosses had no idea. I had no idea.

Have you ever wondered why the U.S. response to the Cuban shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue in 1996 was so tepid as to be non-existent? Four people died when shot down in international airspace; three of them U.S. citizens.

The United States had monitored the original dispatch of Cuban fighter jets and was warned by U.S. air defense monitors of the possibility of hostile action by the Cubans.

Even after the first Cuban jets finished their initial passes near the Brothers’ aircrafts, the United States had no response. U.S. electronic intercept personnel repeatedly advised Eglin Air Force Base of the need to put U.S. fighter jets in the air, until they were told to stop calling. Then the Cuban fighter jets returned to kill the Brothers.

Montes was instrumental in shaping the weak U.S. response to the murders. And this is not her only disgrace.

Montes also gave information that revealed the identities of 450 American operatives, including four U.S. undercover agents in Cuba. She undermined U.S. policy in Central and Latin America. Her illegal revelations of U.S. military information led to the death of Sgt. Gregory Fronius from a guerrilla attack in El Salvador in 1987. She distorted U.S. positions toward Cuba and contributed to the false belief that Cuba posed no threat to the United States.

As a member of Congress and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I routinely received reports that falsely concluded that the United States need have no concerns about the Castro regime. Those materials were produced under the nefarious influence of Montes and her blind hatred for the United States.

Her distorted analysis, for many years, was routinely cited by the media and think tanks to justify their left-wing views.

Montes also provided highly classified information not directly relevant to Cuba to other U.S. enemies, as well. For example, it is believed that Castro passed military information to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. In fact, Montes was arrested just 10 days after Sept. 11. The information she passed was so sensitive that prosecutors could not use it in a public trial.

Upon her release from prison, Montes is expected to briefly live in South Florida before moving to Puerto Rico. Her crimes were classic treason, but she was charged with the lesser offense of conspiracy to commit espionage in return for a guilty plea. She received the relatively weak sentence of 25 years, which is reduced automatically by a few years for good behavior.

Twain’s advice reminds us of what we thought we knew about the effectiveness of our security procedures. The Cuban regime recognized Montes’ anti-U.S. attitudes and statements while she was a college student at Johns Hopkins University and working as a Department of Justice clerk.

Based on this, the Cuban government sent someone to recruit her; then she joined the DIA. Our own system of background checks did not see what the Cuban regime saw. What a way to run a security service.

How many other Monteses exist in our government? It’s a frightening thought.

Montes helped to solidify the Cuban regime’s grip on the daily lives of its citizens and tighten the noose on the smallest efforts to achieve basic freedom. She was not concerned for the welfare of the Cuban people or political prisoners. Many Cuban lives were lost in prison or to the sea as they sought basic human rights.

But Montes will be safe in the United States.

She obviously is a communist true believer, not caring how much harm and death are caused on the road to a fantasy socialist paradise. “I obeyed my conscience rather than the law,” she told the court during her trial in 2002..

Montes exposed once again the danger and evil of those who will wreak havoc and death in the name of a distorted conscience.

We must remain ever vigilant of enemies operating within our borders and serving in influential positions of our government.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who represented Miami for more than 30 years, was the first Cuban American and the first Hispanic woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.