"Her family is devastated, her reputation is ruined, and her money and all that is gone,'' said an old friend, who insisted on anonymity.
It is no ordinary family. Montes has a brother who works for the FBI in the Atlanta area and a sister who is a translator for the FBI in South Florida. The sister helped bring down a large Cuban spy ring, the so-called Wasp Network, last year.
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Ana Montes graduated from the University of Virginia in 1979 with a degree in foreign affairs. She moved to Washington, D.C., where she enrolled in 1982 in a two-year master's degree program at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She focused on Latin America. Her degree was not awarded until 1988.
While she was studying, Montes got a clerical job at the Department of Justice that required a security clearance. She moved to the Defense Intelligence Agency as a junior analyst, focusing on Nicaragua, in September 1985.
By then, she already was a spy for Cuba.
Statement by Ana Belen Montes -- The Miami Herald - Oct. 16, 2002Just like 90+% of the rest of the minions inside the Beltway.'An Italian proverb perhaps best describes the fundamental truth I believe in: `All the world is one country.' In such a 'world-country,' the principle of loving one's neighbor as much as oneself seems, to me, to be the essential guide to harmonious relations between all of our ''nation-neighborhoods.'' This principle urges tolerance and understanding for the different ways of others. It asks that we treat other nations the way we wish to be treated -- with respect and compassion. It is a principle that, tragically, I believe we have never applied to Cuba.
``Your honor, I engaged in the activity that brought me before you because I obeyed my conscience rather than the law."