4 American spies allegedly captured

[Judi Lynn]

4 American spies allegedly captured

Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published August 20, 2006


CARACAS, VENEZUELA -- President Hugo Chavez said Venezuela has caught four people spying for the American government, but a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Saturday that he had "no idea what the president is talking about."

Without offering specifics, Chavez said that one woman was caught not long ago while taking photos in the city of Valencia.

"I've caught four of their spies, four, and I've put them back in their hands," Chavez said at a campaign rally in western Venezuela on Friday night.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Brian Penn said Saturday that more than a year ago, a purse belonging to a clerical official working in a military office at the embassy was stolen in Valencia. A disposable camera had been inside the purse.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0608200382aug20,1,5787806.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

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CIA Announces New Mission in Venezuela and Cuba

Saturday, Aug 19, 2006 Print format
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By: Eva Golinger - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, Venezuela, August 19, 2006—John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence for the United States, announced on Friday, August 18, 2006, the creation of a new special CIA mission to oversee intelligence activities in Venezuela and Cuba. Negroponte, who coordinates the entire intelligence community in the United States and reports directly to President George W. Bush, named CIA veteran J. Patrick Maher as Acting Mission Manager of this new important division.

According to a Press Release from the Directorate of National Intelligence, “Maher will be responsible for integrating collection and analysis on Cuba and Venezuela across the Intelligence Community, identifying and filling gaps in intelligence, and ensuring the implementation of strategies, among other duties.” According to Negroponte, “such efforts are critical today, as policymakers have increasingly focused on the challenges that Cuba and Venezuela pose to American foreign policy.”

Since early 2005, the CIA has named Venezuela as one of the “Top 5 Unstable Countries” in Latin America and has increased its intelligence personnel within the country by fifty percent.

The new CIA Mission Manager for Cuba and Venezuela will “be responsible for ensuring that policymakers have a full range of timely and accurate intelligence on which to base their decisions.” This implies a further increase in actual ground agents and field officers in both nations.

During the past two years, the Venezuelan Government has discovered and expelled four U.S. officials engaged in espionage activities. Two of these individuals were military attachés, Capitan John Correa and Lieutenant Humberto Rodriguez, and had been actively recruiting members of the Venezuelan armed forces to provide strategic and secret information about internal Venezuelan affairs to the U.S. government.
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http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2049