# Rosario Ames

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Rosario Ames," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rosario-ames/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Colombian cultural attaché recruited to work for the CIA, and the second wife of Aldrich Ames. Per John Kiriakou, Ames began an affair with her in Mexico in 1981 in violation of agency regulations; when he brought her and her mother to America his first marriage collapsed, and their taste for high living put him deep enough in debt that he walked into the Soviet embassy to sell it away. She was arrested alongside him at their Arlington home in 1994 and served four years of a 63-month sentence before returning to Colombia.*

- **Before the CIA:** Colombian cultural attaché, recruited as a CIA asset
- **Met Ames:** Mexico, 1981 — an affair in breach of agency regulations
- **Arrested:** 21 February 1994, with [Aldrich Ames](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/aldrich-ames) at their Arlington home
- **Sentence:** 63 months; served four years, released 1998
- **After release:** Returned to Colombia, where her son Paul was being raised by his grandmother

**Rosario Ames** was a Colombian cultural attaché who had been recruited to work for the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia), and who became the second wife of [Aldrich Ames](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/aldrich-ames). [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) places her at the centre of the motive rather than the tradecraft: the affair, the debt, and the walk into the Soviet embassy form a single chain.[1]

The affair began in 1981, when the agency sent Ames to Mexico to recruit Soviet officials and he had little success at it. Beginning a relationship with an asset was a violation of agency regulations; Kiriakou records it among the run of misconduct for which Ames was promoted rather than disciplined. In the transcript her full name is given as Maria del Rosario Casas de Puí.[1]

Ames's marriage to fellow CIA officer Nancy Segbarth *"collapsed for good"* when he brought Rosario to America — and her mother with her. Rosario and her mother, in Kiriakou's account, *"had a taste for high living, which quickly put Ames deep in debt."* It was that pressure Ames later described to Arizona Senator Dennis DeConcini, then chairman of the [Senate Intelligence Committee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-intelligence-committee): *"I felt a great deal of financial pressure, which in retrospect I was clearly overreacting to."* In April 1985 he devised what he called a clever plan — sell the KGB some limited information for fifty thousand dollars and clear the debt.[2][3]

She was arrested with her husband at their home in Arlington, Virginia, on 21 February 1994. Ames pleaded guilty two months later, and the life sentence he accepted was traded in part for leniency toward her: Rosario received 63 months, served only four years, and was released in 1998, returning to Colombia where the couple's young son Paul was being cared for by his grandmother.[4][5]

## See also

- [Aldrich Ames](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/aldrich-ames)
- [Sandy Grimes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sandy-grimes)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Mini Episode 5 Betrayal (2026-02-13), at 05:21. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a64aad2345f67c3234536/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-13-dead-drop-mini-episode-5-betrayal/
2. Mini Episode 5 Betrayal (2026-02-13), at 08:28. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a64aad2345f67c3234536/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-13-dead-drop-mini-episode-5-betrayal/
3. Mini Episode 5 Betrayal (2026-02-13), at 09:00. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a64aad2345f67c3234536/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-13-dead-drop-mini-episode-5-betrayal/
4. Mini Episode 5 Betrayal (2026-02-13), at 11:13. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a64aad2345f67c3234536/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-13-dead-drop-mini-episode-5-betrayal/
5. Mini Episode 5 Betrayal (2026-02-13), at 11:44. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a64aad2345f67c3234536/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-13-dead-drop-mini-episode-5-betrayal/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rosario-ames/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt