Google – AFP, 25 April 2013
 |
The US
State Department is seen on November 29, 2010 in Washington, DC
(AFP/File,
Nicholas Kamm)
|
WASHINGTON
— The United States has indicted a former State Department employee now living
in Sweden with conspiracy to commit espionage for Cuba, the Justice Department
announced Thursday.
Justice
officials said that Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, allegedly helped to "spot,
assess and recruit US citizens" in sensitive national security positions
to serve as Cuban intelligence agents.
One of
those citizens was Ana Belen Montes, 55, currently serving a 25-year prison
sentence after pleading guilty in March 2002 of conspiracy to spy on behalf of
Cuba's communist regime.
If
convicted, Velazquez faces a sentence of up to life in prison, the Justice
Department said in a statement.
A Puerto
Rico native educated at prestigious American schools, Velazquez worked for the
State Department's international development arm USAID from 1989 until 2002,
when she left the country and never returned.
A grand
jury returned an indictment against her in February 2004, but it remained
sealed until it was opened Thursday in US District Court in Washington.
The Justice
Department said Velazquez, also known as "Marta Rita Kviele" and
"Barbara," is currently living in Stockholm, but its statement made
no mention of any request to Sweden for her extradition.
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