It is not the time of year to be cynical, so I will hold off wondering about the real reasons about the turnaround concerning Cuba, the price of oil and whether we are trying to bring down the Putin regime, and why Congress failed to reenact TRIA. (The Terrorism Insurance Act). But I will remind the President that if he is going to release Cuban spies and Cuba is going to release American spies, then he, in the same spirit, needs to at least commute the sentence of Ana Montes.
Ana was once called the “Queen of Cuba.” The Washington Post called her the “most important spy you never heard of.” She was arrested in 2001 after allegedly orchestrating a 17-year campaign of subterfuge that filtered secrets to the Cuban regime and is serving a 25 year prison sentence beginning in 2002.
You can find out more about Ana by reading the following Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/18/cuba-deal-reveals-new-clues-in-case-of-ana-montes-the-most-important-spy-youve-never-heard-of/
I met Ana several times at our mutual friends’ home, and admittedly you could have knocked me over with a feather when I read she had been arrested as a spy. She is the most unlikely spy in our country’s history. She didn’t do it for money, or revenge, her motivation was simply a belief that our country’s policies toward Cuba were wrong.
Which brings me to my plea for her commutation. The President has said our policies were wrong, just like Ana believed. We have released all the Cuban spies except Ana, and Cuba has released our spies. Ana has already been locked up for over thirteen years, and hardly represents a threat to anyone. The power to pardon or commute is solely the President’s given to him by the US Constitution. What Ana did was wrong — no doubt, but since our President has now said what our country did was wrong and misguided, isn’t it time he commuted the last spy’s sentence and totally put this chapter behind us?
One man’s opinion, please don’t be shy to comment.