The Spy's Wife

The Spy’s Wife….

On March 31st, at six in the evening; I received an email from GOOGLE Alerts, a programmable service provided by the internet giant that scours the World Wide Web for stories related to user specified parameters.

The email had a single link leading to a Miami New Times story about Ana Margarita Martinez, a Miami woman duped into marrying Juan Pablo Roque, one of the many Cuban spies directly involved in planning and perpetuation of the shoot-down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996.

Ana’s story is of the “stuff” fictional spy thrillers are made of…the infiltration of the United States by international double agents intertwined within a love story.

When Thomas Van Hare and I wrote our book BETRAYAL: Clinton, Castro & The Cuban Five, we detailed Juan Pablo Roque’s actions as a Cuban military pilot, defector and spy to the roles he played in Miami as a husband, father, and infiltrator of the Brothers organization.

Unsurprised by the usual vilifying and hateful comments these articles usually bring, I commented publicly on the article, which can be read at: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-04-01/news/cuban-spy-juan-pablo-roque-s-jilted-ex-wife-won-27-million-for-his-deception and went on about my business.

Surprisingly, within days of my post being published, I was contacted by, “The Spy’s Wife”; a brief email thanking me for my support in her search for justice. I forwarded her email to my co-author who readily identified her, and I also contacted Ana Margarita for a long overdue conversation that lasted an hour!

I found her to be “much different” than I’d have ever imagined!

As she spoke of her life with great candor I wondered how someone so betrayed by someone she loved could speak so candidly with a stranger about her ordeal.

It’s Ana’s faith, her beliefs and her ability to “make lemonade out of lemons”.

While much of her life ended the day before the shoot-down, she’s endured a living hell (my words not hers) since Juan Pablo Roque’s betrayal.

Ana Margarita Martinez has sued the Cuban government in U.S. courts and won, although not been able to collect. She’s raised her children to be successful adults and become a proud grandmother.

She has also been working on a book with retired Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Chris Simmons, and created a trailer for a movie she hopes to find in production in the near future.
For myself, this encounter with yet another of the many people affected by the heinous acts of the Castro brothers, their agents and co-conspirators has again led me to understand the many stories I’ve heard over the years…and the Hell the Castros have maintained for Cubans living both on and off the island.

I encourage my readers to read the New Times article (linked above) and to visit Ana’s website, www.thespyswifethemovie.com . There’s a real life story awaiting the right producer, and I highly recommend everyone go see it!