The Spy Who - The Spy Who Colluded with Castro | Ready to Snap | 3

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

The Defense Intelligence Agency thinks it’s found the Cuban spy in its ranks but convincing the FBI won’t be easy. And as the agencies clash, Ana Montes starts to wonder: is there more to... life than espionage?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge full seasons of the Spy Who early and add free on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. Sitting opposite them nursing a coffee in a polystyrene cup is their FBI counterpart, Steve McCoy. Steve, Gator and I have got some intel and we think it's going to blow your mind. He waits for him to react. But the FBI man seems more interested in his colleague's nickname.
Starting point is 00:00:49 Gator as in investigator. Gator looks offended. No, Gator as an alligator. My dad was a game warden. Louisiana. I had one as a pet. McCoy looks amused, but Carmichael stresses the serious purpose of their visit. Also, gator as in sharp teeth, ready to close in on its prey. We asked for this meeting because we've identified Agent S, the Cuban spy you've been looking for. McCoy sits up. Hold on. How do you two know about Agent S? We were given a tip-off that Agent S had access to safe.
Starting point is 00:01:28 That's our internal system And if there's a mole in our building It's our job to investigate With respect There's an ongoing FBI investigation Which could be compromised If word gets around the DIA Who told you about this?
Starting point is 00:01:43 With respect, the information we have Is more important than where it came from If you want to catch your spy You need to hear what we came here to say Have it your way Besides, I've got a pretty good idea Where the League came from So tell me what you've got.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Carmichael chooses his words carefully. He needs to tread the line between protecting the DIA's source and showing McCoy that their evidence is sound. We know Agent S works within the DIA and we know they visited Guantanamo. We checked our systems and there's only one name that fits. Go on. Anna Montez.
Starting point is 00:02:25 Anna? A woman? You're way off the mark. The agent we're looking for is a man. Have you considered that you might be looking the wrong way? Maybe the Cubans described Agent S as a man in their communications to cover her tracks. Listen here. We checked the Guantanamo Bay visitor stay logs and there's no record of an Arna Montez overnighting there.
Starting point is 00:02:48 But our database shows she did. McCoy looks at his watch and stands. Listen, I appreciate you and a gator taking the time to drop by, but I'm not at liberty to discuss our investigation further, and I would appreciate it if you did the same. For if word gets out that we're looking for a spy, then our target might hear about it and hot-foot it to Cuba before we can catch them.
Starting point is 00:03:13 Thank you for your time, gentlemen. Carmichael leaves feeling defeated. The FBI is the only intelligence agency with the power to arrest. Without them on board, Carmichael's hands are tied. Montez is free to keep passing state secrets to Cuba. And thanks to her high-level security clearance, many of America's most important military secrets are vulnerable. And the implications of that don't bear thinking about.
Starting point is 00:03:49 Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.ca slash Wondery. That's audible.ca slash Wondery. From Wondery, I'm Indra Vama and this is the spy who colluded with Castro. In the last episode, Anna Montez blew the cover of America's multi-billion-dollar spy satellite program,
Starting point is 00:04:20 Misty. Her handler, Ernesto, cut off face-to-face contact following the arrest of a Cuban spiring in Miami, and National Security Agency analyst Elena Valdez alerted the DIA to the mole within its ranks. This is episode three, ready to snap. September 2000, Carmichael's office inside DIA headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Starting point is 00:04:52 On a secure line, Carmichael calls Elena Valdez. She's the NSA officer who tipped him off about the spy and his agency. Elena, it's Scott Carmichael. Listen, I've got some difficult news. Gator and I met with the FBI, but they don't seem to be taking this thing seriously. We're going to need you to give us more details of your intercepts. I can't do that.
Starting point is 00:05:17 I appreciate that it puts you in a difficult position. No, you don't understand. The FBI showed up here yesterday and read me the riot act. If I tell you anything more, I could lose my job or go to prison. Listen, I'm sorry. No, you listen. I'm sorry, but I shouldn't even be talking to you. I have to go.
Starting point is 00:05:38 A month later, the FBI field office, Washington, D.C. Carmichael nervously enters the office of McCoy's supervisor, Diane Kresman. She eyes him warily. Mr Carmichael, please sit. Do you want to tell me what this is about? Frustrated that McCoy has had his report on Montez for several weeks and done nothing, Carmichael is going over his head. Breaking the chain of command could ruin his career, but he can't see an alternative.
Starting point is 00:06:11 Well, Miss Cresman, I believe there's a spy working in my organisation. I don't need to tell you the implications of that for US National Service. security. Okay. Let's hear what you've got. Carmichael goes through the intel he shared with McCoy and the additional evidence he's dug up since then. McCoy told me the FBI found no record of Montez staying on the naval base at Guantanamo. Well, that's because she stayed at a nearby hotel. I found a record of that. Being in the right place at the right time is not enough to make a case. We know that the Cubans were sending shortwave messages to Agent S when Montez was on vacation outside the USA. That suggests that she's not our spy. But what if she is? I'm sorry, I've reviewed
Starting point is 00:06:59 your evidence and there is nothing concrete in it. You can't just point the finger at someone and ask us to place them under surveillance. That's not how we operate. We have to convince a judge to approve any surveillance operation and no judge would approve one based on this evidence. The following week, DIA offices Clarendon, Virginia. Carmichael arrives at his desk to find the message light blinking on his landline phone. He spent the weekend in turmoil. His efforts to convince the FBI to investigate Montez have hit a wall. It's his job to protect the DIA from spies.
Starting point is 00:07:41 But now there's a spy stealing secrets from inside, his own organisation, and he can't stop them. He slumps into his chair and dials the number to check his voicemail. You have one message. Message one. Hi Scott, it's Steve McCoy of the FBI here. Carmichael's heart sinks. By now, he'll know about his meeting with his boss.
Starting point is 00:08:07 But then McCoy says something unexpected. Listen, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. I've read your report, and there are several things in it I'd like to follow up. I'm hoping you might be free to come in for another meeting. Carmichael's face breaks into a broad grin. The FBI are listening at last. A few months later, Grand Cayman Island, the Caribbean. Montez sits on the balcony of her hotel room overlooking the sea.
Starting point is 00:08:45 ostensibly she's here for a holiday but she's really here to meet the Cuban handler who's sitting beside her sipping a beer he turns to her you said you had something important to discuss Montes fiddles with the strap of her wristwatch and looks at the beach
Starting point is 00:09:00 there's a man about to dive from the rocks into the water she takes a deep breath and dives in herself I want out she registers the look of dismay on her handless face but she's determined to say her peace. I've done my bit for Cuba.
Starting point is 00:09:20 I've lived my entire adult life serving your country, but I can't carry on leading a double life forever. What's brought this on? Are you in trouble? No, nothing like that. The opposite, in fact, I've fallen in love. I don't want to have to keep secrets. I want a chance to live a normal life.
Starting point is 00:09:41 But, Anna, you are our greatest asset. You are making history. Cuba needs you. Without you, we become more vulnerable to America's bullying. There must be someone else. Montez takes a sanitising hand wipe out of her purse and cleans her hands as she speaks. I can't do this forever. Having to pretend to be one thing and being another and not being able to talk to anyone, not even my therapist. It's too much. I'm losing sleep and I find it hard to concentrate. I'm afraid I'll slip up. I need to stop. The handler takes another sip of his beer and looks at her. What happens if you need us to get you out of the country?
Starting point is 00:10:24 If you stop working for us, there is nothing we can do to protect you. Where would you go if what you've been doing for the past 16 years ever came to light? I don't know. Montez stares at the sea. She realizes she's trapped. Maybe she's been trapped ever since. since the day she signed the biography she wrote for the Cubans in 1984. Her nerves are stretched, but she can't afford to let them snap.
Starting point is 00:10:54 She takes another hand wipe out of her bag and wipes her palms clean for the second time in the past two minutes. Five months later, Washington, D.C. In a secret room in the heart of the Justice Department, an FBI official gives evidence to a foreign intelligence surveillance court judge. We believe there is enough evidence to warrant extensive surveillance of the suspect. The FBI now agrees that Montez could be the DIA spy, but they need this judge's permission to put her under surveillance.
Starting point is 00:11:35 They want to intercept her mail, tap her phone, install recording devices in her apartment and car, go through her garbage and keep tabs on her, both at work and in her own home. The FBI official thinks he's presented a solid case, but the judge is unconvinced. This is weak. What you describe as evidence is largely circumstantial.
Starting point is 00:12:02 The word Guantanamo came up on an intercept and your suspect visited the base. The word safe was mentioned, and that's the name of a computer system used in the DIA, all of which could just be coincidence. None of this will stand up in a court of law, which is why we need a warrant. So you can search her home for a shortwave radio? That's hardly evidence of espionage.
Starting point is 00:12:27 And neither is owning a Toshiba laptop. I imagine thousands of the citizens in Washington own one. And this particular citizen has served her country well for over a decade and received numerous commendations for her work. Which is why we can't simply ignore what to be. we know. Montez has access to a wealth of national secrets. We know that Cuba sells these secrets on. If our enemies gain access to some of the things Montes has access to, then the security of the whole country is at risk. I'll give you 90 days, and you report back to me at the end
Starting point is 00:13:04 of that time. If you haven't got anything better than this by then, then I'm shutting you down. The FBI official nods. He's got little choice but to accept. the judge's ruling 90 days doesn't give the team long, but at least it gives them a chance to do the only thing that will settle this case once and for all, to catch Arna Montez in the act of spying. Spring 2001, a week later, a gym in Washington, D.C. Montes pounds the treadmill after work. Her evening workouts are about the only things that constitute a social life.
Starting point is 00:13:54 She switches the treadmill upper level and runs faster, attracting a look from the man jogging on the machine next to hers. Whoa, take it easy. Montes ignores him, the way she ignores just about everyone these days. Spying for Cuba has isolated her from her friends, family, and colleagues, and with the Cubans unwilling to let her go because they still need her help, she's accepted that this is her life and thrown herself into her mission harder than ever. She still sees her boyfriend Roger when time allows at his home in Miami or when he visits Washington,
Starting point is 00:14:33 but she can't see how they can ever live together now. It would be impossible to keep her covert activity from him if they were under the same roof. 30 minutes later, Macomb Street, Washington, D.C. Montez arrives at her apartment in the Cleveland Park area of the city. Her hair is still wet from her post-run shower. She looks at her watch, switches on her shortwave radio. She extends the antennae and tunes it to 7887.8.7 kilohertz, the frequency of the number. station that her Cuban spy masters used to send her messages.
Starting point is 00:15:17 Then she sits, pen in hand with a sheet of water-soluble paper on the table in front of her, waiting for the robotic voice from Havana to begin. Attention. Montez writes down the numbers. When the broadcast ends, she decifers her latest instructions. Then she heads to the bathroom, drops the decoded messages in the toilet, and watches as they dissolve. Montez switches on the shower and looks in the mirror at the gym, honed, short-haired and tense-looking woman gradually being eclipsed by the steam from the shower. She turns away, undresses, takes one of the many bars of soap stored under the sink, gets in the shower, and, for the second time in as many hours, begins to scrub her body.
Starting point is 00:16:12 A month later, Montez's apartment block. FBI agent Peter Lap steals into the building with a small team of men. They move quickly but quietly up the stairs to the second floor and to apartment 20, the home of Anna Montez. Carefully, he opens the apartment door using a copy of the key. Montez is in Miami visiting Roger for the weekend and this is the FBI's chance to search her apartment. Lap bends down, removes his shoes and signals to the others to do the same.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Montez's neighbours may know she's away and if they hear anything they'll call the cops. Make a note of where everything is before you move it. I want not even a dust ball left out of place. Now let's find her radio and laptop. Lap makes careful steps across the living room, taking in the contents. There are books everywhere. And then... You're kidding me.
Starting point is 00:17:29 There, straight ahead, right in front of the window, is a shortwave radio, its antennae still up, ready to receive. Sloppy Montez. Very sloppy. He switches the radio on, but it's not tuned to a number station. Okay, not so sloppy. If it had been tuned into a Cuban number station, it might have constituted hard evidence, but possession of a shortwave radio is not a crime.
Starting point is 00:18:04 The team checks the closet, but there's nothing aside from the clothes and handbags. Lap goes into the bedroom, looks under her bed. There's a black backpack. He pulls it out. The bag's heavy. He opens it.
Starting point is 00:18:21 Bingo. Inside is a Toshiba 405 CS, the exact laptop the Cubans told Agent S to buy. One of the team links it up to an external hard drive and copies the contents. Lap returns the laptop, and the team creeps back out of the apartment, making sure everything is exactly where they found it.
Starting point is 00:18:49 A few days later, DIA headquarters. In a secure meeting room, FBI agent Steve McCoy updates DIA director, Vice-Admiral Thomas Wilson, on the progress of their investigation into Montez. Her laptop's hard drive had been wide. typed using software provided by the Cubans, but that software wasn't much good. There are still traces of the deleted documents on there,
Starting point is 00:19:17 and almost all of them are intelligence reports. Here's a list of the topics. McCoy hands the Vice Admiral the list. The Admiral scans the list, his expression darkening as he does. Misty's on this list. That surveillance program cost billions. If she gave the Cubans this,
Starting point is 00:19:37 it's compromised, and we've been pouring taxpayers' money, money down the straits of Florida. All intelligence those satellites have gathered could be complete junk. That's it. I want this woman out of my organisation. When are you arresting her? We still don't have enough evidence. What's all this then? He waives the list at McCoy. It's information in her possession. We have no evidence that she's passing it to Cuba and we don't know how she does that. We're following her every move but we haven't seen her meet anyone. She's not making her. She's not making taking dead drops, but she does keep using pay phones. We think she's sending encrypted messages to a pager. Let me get this straight. You're saying she's using pay phones to communicate with
Starting point is 00:20:22 Cuba and you can't do anything about it. We first need to find the cipher she's using to encrypt her messages. Our guess is that she keeps it in her purse, which she keeps on her at all times. So to get at it, we need your help. A few days later, DIA headquarters. On the sixth floor of the DIA head office, McCoy stands at one of the cubicles and pretends to check the computer. He's posing as an IT technician and has swapped his usual suit and briefcase for jeans, button-down shirt and a large backpack.
Starting point is 00:21:04 He puts the backpack on the floor next to the computer. computer chassis that's underneath a desk. As he does, he steals a glance at the next cubicle where Montez is busy working. He opens the backpack, takes out a screwdriver set, and pulls the computer chassis out from under the desk while listening for Montez to receive a phone call. Anna Montez? McCoy asked Vice-Admiral Wilson to arrange for her to be called away to a meeting at short notice. She sounds annoyed by this. In three minutes? I'm in the middle of something here.
Starting point is 00:21:39 Okay, I'll come now, but this better not take too long. Montez puts the phone down, gets up, and storms past McCoy. To his relief, just as he hoped, he sees that she hasn't taken her purse with her. But he doesn't have much time. McCoy dives under Montez's desk. If anyone spots him, he'll say he's looking to isolate the power supply. He grabs her purse, sticks it in his backpack and gets ready to leave, offering a brief word of explanation to anyone who cares to listen.
Starting point is 00:22:13 I need to pick up another drive from the basement. I'll be back in ten minutes. McCoy heads out of the office and slips into a room further down the corridor where his colleague Lapp is waiting. You've got the purse? Yes, but we need to be quick. She went to the meeting insisting she didn't have much time to spare. Lap goes through Montez's purse.
Starting point is 00:22:33 Driving license, credit cards, nothing unusual. Hang on, what's this? He passes a pay phone card to McCoy. Who uses phone cards these days, besides drug dealers? It's evidence, but it's still circumstantial. What they really need is the cipher. McCoy checks his watch. We need to hurry.
Starting point is 00:22:56 I am. Check this. He holds up a scrap of paper. There's a number written on it. Looks like a telephone area code. Also, the paper feels strange. Could be water soluble. Okay, if there's nothing else, I need to get the purse back.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Put everything back as it was. Shit! What? I didn't know which card was where. The two FBI agents exchange glances. Not only has their audacious purse snatch not yielded any concrete evidence, but Lapp's error could alert Montez to the fact that the FBI are onto her.
Starting point is 00:23:33 A month later, September the 11th, 2001, D.I.A. headquarters, Washington, D.C. Anna Montairs and all of her colleagues are staring out of the window of their office across the Potomac River to the Pentagon. Plumes of black smoke are billowing out of the building. Holy shit! Montez looks from the Pentagon back to a nearby TV screen. On it is footage of the two planes that smashed into the Twin Towers in New York
Starting point is 00:24:17 less than an hour ago. She looks back out the window again. Moments earlier, a passenger plane crashed into the Pentagon building. Several of their DIA colleagues would have been inside. Everyone in the office is nervous and no one is sure what's going on. They're saying there's a false plane heading towards Washington. What if it's aimed for the White House?
Starting point is 00:24:43 What if it's heading for us? Montez's cell phone rings. She sees her mother's number and answers. Mom? Oh, thank goodness, Anna. You're safe. I've just seen that a plane hit the Pentagon. Where are you? Are you okay?
Starting point is 00:24:58 I'm okay, Mom. I wasn't in the Pentagon and I doubt. out whoever's behind this will strike this area again. There'd be no point. Oh, well, I hope you're right. Do you know who could be behind this dreadful attack? I don't know, Mom. We've done so many people so much wrong.
Starting point is 00:25:14 I can't guess which of them might be doing this to us today. Anna, how can you be so unemotional? This is awful. Montez is only half listening now. She can hear snippets of a conversation between her colleagues, and she wants to hear that. got to go now, Mom. She ends the call and joins a group discussing the potential ramifications of the attacks. This calls for a military response. It won't be long before we're at war with
Starting point is 00:25:42 whoever's behind this. My money's on the Middle East, or maybe Afghanistan. Montez cuts in. What about Cuba? Do you think we'll retaliate against Cuba? Her colleagues stare at her. What? Oh yeah, sure, Anna. The Cubans are bound to be behind this. Montez doesn't doesn't notice her colleague's smirk and takes his words at face value. She knows America would love to weaken Cuba's military. These attacks could be the excuse it needs. If that's the case, she needs to warn them. Three days later, DIA headquarters.
Starting point is 00:26:26 FBI investigator Steve McCoy is back in the secure meeting room with the head of the DIA. McCoy's barely through the door before he feels the force of Vice-Admiral Thomas Wilson's anger. I've just been told that Arna Montez's boss has been moved to the army, and she's now acting branch chief. In response to the 9-11 attacks, the US is preparing to attack Al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. And guess what, McCoy? Her new remit is to process the target lists for Afghanistan. So, how is your investigation? going? There haven't been any significant developments since we last spoke. We haven't got time to
Starting point is 00:27:08 wait for any developments now. The world's changed McCoy. We're about to go to war and we're in a position where our battle plans will likely be fed straight to Osama bin Laden via the Cubans. We're monitoring her all hours. And if we can catch her doing that now in the wake of everything that's happened, then no jury would forgive her. But, but, since the flights have been grounded, her boyfriend has been unable to leave D.C., which means contacting Cuba is going to be much harder for her. But given time... Your time's up, McCoy. I'm not going to war with a spy in our organisation. If you do not have that woman in cuffs by the end of the week, then I'm firing her.
Starting point is 00:27:51 McCoy leaves feeling defeated. The Vice Admiral is right. Montez's position is no longer tenable. But if she loses her job, he will lose his chance to catch her passing state secrets to the enemy. Two days later, outside Montez's apartment building, Macomb Street. An elderly woman pushes her shopping trolley down the road and pauses to rest across the street from where Montez lives. Moments Later, she sees Montez leave her apartment and stride in the direction of the National Zoo. The elderly woman is actually an FBI surveillance officer. As soon as Montez is out of earshot, she radios back to base. Blue Wren is on the move.
Starting point is 00:28:50 Five minutes later, Connecticut Avenue. A skateboarder performs a jump, then wheels down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street to Montaer's. The skater also works for the FBI. Target approaching National Zoo. A few minutes later, the entrance to the National Zoo. Montez clocks a skateboarder passing her as she heads for the row of payphones. It's the same guy. she saw yesterday.
Starting point is 00:29:27 She wonders if she's being tailed. No, she mustn't be paranoid. This is her chance to alert Cuba to the danger it's in. The US is ready to retaliate, and any country that it thinks colludes with Al-Qaeda is at risk. And as far as she's concerned, that could include Cuba. No, I can't do that Thursday. How about Friday?
Starting point is 00:29:50 She strides towards the payphone booths, passing a man talking on a cell phone. As she nears the payphones, she hears him speak again. She's heading for the payphone. Now she knows she's not being paranoid. The suspicions that someone had been inside her flat and meddled with her purse, she thought the pressure was getting to her. But no, she's being watched.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Montez does a brief circuit of the payphones, giving herself time to think. If the game's up, the Cubans will get her out of the country. But thanks to 9-11, there are few flights to catch and airport security checks are strict. And if she takes anything from her flat or runs, her boyfriend Roger will alert the authorities. Still, the Cubans trained her for this. She needs to act normally. To do otherwise would confirm that she's a spy. But Cuba needs her right now. It's in danger, and only she! Anna Montez has the information that can protect it from U.S. aggression.
Starting point is 00:30:55 She heads to the payphone. She dials the pager number the Cubans gave her and taps in her encrypted message. The decoded message spells out two words. Danger, pearl. The pearl is Cuba, the pearl of the Caribbean. Five days later, DIA headquarters. Montez makes her way to a meeting with her boss in the conference room on the seventh floor.
Starting point is 00:31:34 She enters the room to find that he's not there. Instead, she's greeted by two men she's never met. Anna Montez, I'm Steve McCoy from the FBI, and this is my colleague Peter Lap. Take a seat. Montez sits. She feels the back of her neck prickle. So this is it. She stares at McCoy watching him speak without taking in much of what he's saying.
Starting point is 00:32:01 We know what you've done. We copied the hard drive of your laptop. That white program the Cubans gave you was useless. So we don't need you to cooperate. But if you don't, we're going to visit your brother and sister and end their FBI careers. Your life, as you know it, is as good as over. But you can stop theirs being ripped apart, and Rogers too. Montailles touches her neck.
Starting point is 00:32:28 She can feel a rash forming. She needs to stay cool. She knows what they're doing. They're threatening her family to scare her into talking. She needs to maintain the upper hand. Am I under investigation? Yes, you are. Then I need to speak with an attorney.
Starting point is 00:32:45 Just as soon as we get you to the station. She tries to steady her breathing as the train. two men move towards her. McCoy reads her rights, Lapp snaps on handcuffs. Then she's up and being marched out of the building. She passes colleagues who gorp as she goes. She stares straight ahead,
Starting point is 00:33:06 glancing up briefly at the bright September sun as they head out the back of the building to the waiting police car. Just over a year later, the U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C. Lucy Montez sits beside her mother, watching as her elder sister, Anna, is led to the stand, dressed in a grey-and-white-striped prison jumpsuit.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Earlier in the year, Anna struck a plea bargain. In return for her cooperation and a guilty plea, she will be spared the death penalty. But now, she's about to receive her sentence. Lucy looks at Judge Ricardo Urbina. He's allowing Arna to address the court before passing sentence. Maybe if she shows remorse, he will be lenient. Lucy watches as Arna takes the stand and begins to speak.
Starting point is 00:34:06 I am here before you because I obeyed my conscience rather than the law. Our government's policy towards Cuba is cruel and unfair. I felt morally obligated to help Cuba defend it. from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it. Lucy sees her mother shake her head and wipe away a tear. Why is she saying this? It will only make things worse for her. My way of responding to our Cuba policy may have been morally wrong.
Starting point is 00:34:40 I can only say that I did what I thought right to counter a grave injustice. Lucy watches her sister's grand oration in disbelief. She's about to be sentenced, and instead of showing remorse, she's behaving like some sort of hero. After all the damage she's done to her country and to her family too, the judge looks unimpressed. He addresses Anna.
Starting point is 00:35:09 Today is a very sad day for you, Miss Montez. For your family, for your loved ones. for every American who suffers from the betrayal of their country. If you can't love your country, you should at least do it no harm. Lucy reaches out her hand and takes her mothers, watching her sister's impassive face as she waits for the sentence to be passed. Anna Montez was sentenced to be passed. five years prison, followed by five years parole and 500 hours of community service.
Starting point is 00:35:52 In January 2023, after 20 years in a maximum security prison in Fort Worth, Texas, she was released and moved to Puerto Rico. Under the conditions of her release, she is not allowed to contact foreign agents or work for the U.S. government without permission. She continues to criticize U.S. policy towards Cuba. Shortly after Montes pleaded guilty, Marta Velazquez, the friend who introduced her to the Cubans, moved to Sweden. She was later indicted in the US for recruiting Montez.
Starting point is 00:36:27 If arrested and convicted in the US, she could face life in prison. But Sweden does not extradite people accused of spying. Cuba remains a one-party communist dictatorship. It also remains subject to a comprehensive US trade embargo. The current status of the Misty Spy Satellite Program is classified. Join us in the next episode as we delve deeper into the intriguing life of Anna Montez, with insights from author Jim Popkin. In conversation with comedian and writer Charlie Higson,
Starting point is 00:37:04 Jim looks into the psychology of becoming a top-level spy whilst the family all around you works against your cause. The damage that Anna could have inflicted had she not been caused, and examine whether her treatment by the Cubans was just. Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge full seasons of the Spy Who early and add free on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. Have you got a spy story you'd like us to tell? Email your ideas to the Spy Who at Wondry.com.
Starting point is 00:37:45 From Wondery. This is the third episode in our season, The Spy Who Collaborated with Castro. A quick note about our dialogue. We can't know everything that was said or done behind closed doors, particularly far back in history. But our scenes are written using the best available sources. So even if a scene or conversation has been recreated for dramatic effect, it's still based on biographical research. We used many sources in our research for this season, including True Believer by Scott Carmichael, codename Blue Wren by Jim Popkin, and Queen of Cuba by Peter Lap.
Starting point is 00:38:26 The Spy Who is hosted by me, Indra Vama. Our show is produced by Vespucci, with writing and story editing by Yellow Ant for Wondery. For Yellow Ant, this episode was written by Lizzie Enfield and researched by Louise Byrne, with thanks to Marina Watson. Our managing producer is Jay Priest. For Vespucci, our senior producer is Ashley Clivery. Our sound designer is Alex Port Felix. Natalia Rodriguez is the supervising producer. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frisson Sink.
Starting point is 00:39:02 Executive producers for Vespucci are Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turkin. Executive producer for Yellow Ant is Tristan Donovan. Our senior producer for Wondery is Theodora Luludis. Executive producers for Wondery are Estelle Doyle and Marshall Louis.

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