Defence analyst who spied for Cuba released from prison early

A US WOMAN who spied for Cuba for more than two decades has been released from prison early.

Ana Belén Montes, one of the highest-ranking US officials proved to have spied for Cuba, has been released after more than two decades behind bars. In 2002, Montes, 65, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage after she was accused of using her position as a defence intelligence analyst to leak information, including identities of US spies, to Havana. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Montes, a US citizen of Puerto Rican descent, began working for the US

Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 1985 and climbed the ranks to become its top Cuba analyst.

Prosecutors said Montes received coded messages from Cuba over a shortwave radio as strings of numbers, which she would type onto a decryptionequipped laptop to translate to text.

She was accused of supplying the identity of four US spies to Cuba, as well as other classified information.

Montes was arrested on Sept 21 2001, shortly before the United States invaded Afghanistan.

At her sentencing, she said she had obeyed her conscience and US policy on Cuba was unfair, adding: “I felt morally obligated to help the island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it.”

Ricardo Urbina, the sentencing judge, ruled that she put fellow US citizens and the “nation as a whole” at risk.

On her release from prison, Mr Urbino ordered that Montes be placed under supervision for five years. He said her internet access must be monitored and she must be banned from working for governments and contacting foreign agents without permission.

Under Joe Biden, the US president, the country has eased some sanctions on Cuba but maintained its Cold Warera embargo and stepped up restrictions on illegal migrants, who are arriving in record numbers.