[Marxism] "About That Trip to Cuba ..." When the Came FBI Calling

[Walter Lippmann]

COUNTERPUNCH
October 24, 2006
"About That Trip to Cuba ... "
When the Came FBI Calling
By MARGUERITE ROSE JIMENEZ

http://www.counterpunch.org/jimenez10242006.html

I did not anticipate when I traveled to Cuba for research in March 2006 that
the trip would be of interest or concern to the FBI. The purpose of my trip
was both transparent and legal. As a full time graduate student conducting
research for my thesis, and directly related to my program of study, I'm
legally authorized to travel to Cuba under the existing travel restrictions
placed on United States Citizens prohibiting their travel to and from Cuba.

In light of the legality of travels, I assumed the call was a prank when a
woman claiming to be from the FBI telephoned me at American University in
Washington, DC in May 2006. Offering to call her back, I guessed that the
number was likely to belong to Chinese take-out restaurant. In fact it was
the number for the main FBI switchboard where they quickly connected me to
Special Agent Alexandra Montiga. She was warm and friendly, saying she'd
like to meet with me regarding my work and travel to Cuba. "This is
standard," she claimed. "Something we do with everyone who travels to Cuba."

I've traveled to Cuba several times over the past four years and never heard
anything about this. People I know travel to Cuba all the time, and are
rarely if ever contacted by the FBI. This is not a "standard" I was aware
of.

During a second conversation, the FBI agent asked me why I was hesitant to
talk with her, and said that this was "very low-key" and "no big deal," she
just wanted to ask me some questions about Cuba. She offered to take me out
for lunch or dinner at a restaurant of my choice, stressing repeatedly that
this was "informal" and "just the two of us meeting for lunch."

During our third conversation the following day, I told the agent I didn't
feel comfortable meeting with her without first discussing it with
university officials and having a third party present. She asked who I had
been talking to about this. Could I give her specific names? I declined.

The FBI agent acted personally offended, claiming I was making things more
complicated than they needed to be by involving people from my university.

I responded that since I was contacted on campus, regarding my travel to
Cuba on the university's license, and being asked questions about other
university faculty, I felt obligated to let the university know what was
going on. I said I would be happy to cooperate, but would like more specific
information on exactly why she wanted to talk to me and what she wanted to
talk about.

The agent said she'd rather not go into it over the phone, but that
basically, she wanted to help me. She informed me that the Cuban government
had been known to target "certain types" of academics, and she'd like to
warn me about things to watch out for, and find out from me if I had
experienced any of the "targeting activities" while working in and on Cuba.
She told me the meeting was "preventative" so I'd know what to look out for.
She assured me, the meeting would be of more use to me, than her or the FBI.
She said the FBI did this with all students traveling to Cuba. Again, this
was news to me, and all the other people I know who travel frequently to
Cuba.

I was encouraged by university officials to be cooperative and meet with the
FBI, but with a lawyer from the university present and not down at the FBI
offices, as had been requested. It turned out that the "informal" lunch
invitation I received from Alexandra (just call me Alex), to "chat about
Cuba," wasn't extended to a third party. I received a call from Special
Agent Montiga (no longer so friendly), confirming that she and her boss in
the Counter Intelligence Unit, would meet with me in a conference room at
the university with an attorney present.

What Agent Montiga claimed over and over again was just a talk between the
two of us "more as friends really," to give me information, and help me out,
quickly turned into two and a half hours of mostly being questioned by her
boss, Fred Buckley. Special Agent Buckley, they made sure to tell me a
number of times throughout the conversation, had been involved in the
investigation and eventual prosecution of Ana Belen Montes, a Cuban spy
who'd infiltrated the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, and sentenced to 25
years in prison. They didn't want to see anything like that happen to me,
they claimed. Not that they were suspecting me of anything, they just wanted
to warn me what my work on Cuba could lead to if I wasn't careful about who
I worked with. The agents told me that students like myself, were exactly
what the Cuban government was looking for.

They gave me a detailed step by step account of how a "recruitment effort"
takes place between Cuban officials and cooperative or "sympathetic"
American citizens. An agent might befriend me for example, maybe ask me out
for lunch, or offer to take me to a restaurant of my choice, very "low-key"
of course. Then the Cuban Intelligence agent would ask me seemingly innocent
questions about my work in Cuba, to try to get a feel for my views and
contacts. The Cuban official would try to play things off, they claimed, as
though they were just trying to be my friend, trying to help me out and give
me information.
"Has any of this happened to you or anyone you know?" they asked.

The early warning signs they claimed would help me "spot a recruitment
effort" by the Cuban government, had been followed almost exactly by Special
Agent Alexandra Montiga, during our initial conversations over the phone.
Other than that potential "recruitment effort" or "targeting," no, nothing
like that had ever happened to me before.

Their questions continued, ranging from the very basic to the more personal.

Could this be called a "fishing operation"?

Why do I go to Cuba?

How do I get there?

Who first got me interested in Cuba?

What are their names?

Who do I stay with when I'm there?

Am I followed or monitored?

Who is responsible for me in Cuba? Who do I report to?

Do I meet with members of the Cuban government?

Have I ever met Fidel Castro?

Would I like to?

How much contact do I have with the people at the Cuban Interest Section in
DC?

Do I ever see them outside of the Interest Section, or invite them to
campus?

What are their names?

Do I recognize any of the photos they have of Cuban Intelligence agents
operating in DC and Havana?

Do other professors on campus work on Cuba?

Do they meet with people in the Cuban government?

What are their names?

Before the meeting ended they gave me a binder containing information on
Cuban counterintelligence operations, articles on people convicted of spying
for the Cuban government, the recruitment process used by Cuban
intelligence, and a list of "helpful sources" for further reading about the
"terrorist activities" conducted by Cuba targeting the United States.

In a final attempt to get names of people I was "involved with" who also do
Cuba work, Agent Montiga, reiterated how "low-key" this was, and that she
didn't see why it was "such a big deal" for me to give them names, and that
other students she'd spoken to had been significantly more helpful than I. I
apologized but still refused to provide names without knowing the reason I
was being asked. Regardless of this fact, they thanked me for my time, said
to contact them if I remembered anything I might want to tell them in case
something had "slipped" my mind, and that they would be in touch.

This was my first encounter with the FBI since I started focusing on Cuba
several years ago. I assume it won't be my last. I promise though, that it
will be both the first and the last time I allow myself to be intimidated
into staying quiet and being "cooperative" when my civil liberties are so
blatantly challenged.

Margaruite Rose Jimenez can be reached at: mrosejimenez at yahoo.com