The return of heroic Ana Montes, By Owei Lakemfa

Ana Belen Montes is back. Caught spies are usually killed, imprisoned for life without parole, or used in prisoner exchanges. But the 65-year-old American super spy, based on his principles, working for free for Cuba, has returned home again in American society.

But this is not because of the generosity of the American establishment, which wanted the death penalty, but because of the extraordinary negotiation skills of Montes, because he, despite being arrested, did not panic and read the situation correctly.

He knew that the case against him was circumstantial and that the government might not be able to secure a long sentence or prison term without his cooperation. So he signed a deal where there was no death penalty, and he got a sentence of no more than 25 years even though he wasted 17 years on the Cuban people when the American government picked up his bill.

Despite being imprisoned with what she considers to be the worst female inmates in a special 20-room prison where inmates are given the impression that they need mental help, Montes has kept her cool and is working to be released on good behavior after 20 years.

I have read about Montes in a book I bought in Uyo on October 4, 2012. It is titled: The Enemy: How America’s Enemies Stole Our Important Secrets—and How They Made It Happen. by Bill Gertz. He was considered such an efficient and useful spy that America gave him ten special awards. Montes was so cunning that the American government in 1993 paid for a visit to Cuba, where he met with Cuban handlers.

As the January 8, 2023 release date approaches, I dedicate a December 16, 2022 column to him entitled: “Ana Montes: America’s Super-Spy Working for Cuba.” I didn’t expect the avalanche of responses that followed, with many, including Americans, expressing surprise that the super spy was there.

Perhaps the most surprising response was the message I received on January 2, 2023, from the American radio program “Voices With Vision”. broadcast in Washington on Tuesday morning. I appeared on the program in the morning to talk about Montes, when I made the case for him to be released as scheduled and to not only accept him, but also to make sure that he has accommodation and some care to make it easy. his reintegration into society.

As it turns out, possibly to prevent overcrowding at the facility, prison officials released him two days early. Montes flew to his native Puerto Rico, a territory that had been forcibly occupied by the Americans since July 25, 1898, 124 years ago. He will be the second highest profile Puerto Rican political dissident to return home.

The first is the 79-year-old liberation fighter, Oscar Lopez Rivera, who has been in prison for 38 years before being released in May 2017. I wrote about him on December 3, 2021, in a column entitled: “Rivera: Thirty-eight years in a US prison for freedom .” Later that year, I had the privilege of an electronic discussion with Rivera from his home in Puerto Rico, when he accepted my invitation to visit Nigeria.

When Montes arrived in Puerto Rico, he issued a statement that said in part: “After two very difficult decades and the need to regain my livelihood, I want to pursue a quiet and private life. Therefore, I will not participate in any media activity. I invite people- people who want to focus on me to focus on important issues, such as the serious problems facing the people of Puerto Rico or the US economic embargo on Cuba … deserve attention. I am a person, irrelevant. I am not important…”

Spies fascinates me. Being attached to a place, case, or situation, or pretending to be someone you’re not, can be difficult, if not scary. Each spy can be a hero or a villain, depending on the analyst.

Humans find spies interesting. This may explain why Ian Fleming’s fictional character, James Bond 007, a secret service intelligence officer, has appeared in more than 25 films.

One of the most interesting spies was a 12th century African woman, Moremi Ajasoro from Offa, Kwara State. He lived in ancient Ile-Ife when the city was constantly attacked by strange figures, the Ugbo. The Ifes consider the invaders, who are covered from head to toe with raffia leaves, to be spirits, flee before the invaders, who capture prisoners and loot.

Moremi decided to infiltrate the invading army by allowing them to be captured. The ruler of Ugbo, who could not resist her beauty, married Moremi. He was apparently a model wife, and no one suspected him of gathering intelligence. He discovers that the invaders are human and can be easily defeated if Ifes uses a fire torch to ignite them.

According to the Bible, one of the oldest professions is spying. In Numbers 13, God told Moses to send people to search for the land of Canaan. Dozens of spies were sent, and two, Joshua and Caleb, returned with a positive report that: “It flows with milk and honey”, that security can be breached, and with the help of God, the Israelites can conquer and have.

For me, the most successful spy in contemporary history was Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby, leader of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that included Sir Anthony Frederick Blunt, Queen Elizabeth II’s Curator of Art.

Philby was a senior British intelligence officer and double agent for the Soviet Union who was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE in 1946. He was very confident, reliable and successful for four years after two of his fellow spies. Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, have unmasked and fled to Moscow, and Philby has been publicly accused in parliament as a double agent, the British government publicly exonerated him. It wasn’t until January 1961 that he defected to Moscow, where it became known that he was a Colonel in the KGB.

Back in the 1930s, Philby, then a Soviet agent working as a journalist, was so successful in penetrating the fascist regime of Spanish General Francisco Franco that he was awarded the Red Cross of Military Merit on March 2, 1938. Three years later. , he joined the British intelligence agency M16. With Montes, I now ask myself: who, between him and Kim Philby, is the greatest of all time, and the most successful spy in history?

Owei Lakemfa, former secretary general of African labor, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.