Chávez expels US diplomat, alleges spying

Responding to Venezuela's expulsion of a US naval officer from Caracas, the State Department on Feb. 3 declared a senior Venezuelan diplomat persona non grata and gave her 72 hours to leave the United States. Spokesman Sean McCormack said Jeny Figueredo Frias, the embassy chief of staff, had been ordered to leave. The day before, President Hugo Chávez said Venezuela was expelling US naval attaché John Correa for allegedly passing secret information from Venezuelan military officers to the Pentagon. In Caracas, a senior Venezuelan Foreign Ministry official, Mari Pili Hernandez, criticized the expulsion of Figueredo. Whereas Correa had engaged in spying, she said, Figueredo had done nothing wrong. "This is a political retaliation. This is not reciprocity," she said. "It is very important to clarify that the situations are not at all comparable." The day previous to Correa's expulsion, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld drew a parallel between Chávez and Adolf Hitler. During an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, Rumsfeld said, "We've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He's a person who was elected legally, just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally, and then consolidated power, and now is of course working closely with [Cuban leader] Fidel Castro and Mr. [Bolivian President Evo] Morales and others. It concerns me." "Let the dogs of the empire bark, that's their job," Chávez replied. "Ours is to battle to achieve the true liberation of our people." Chávez made his comments before a crowd of about 200,000 people in Cuba's Revolution Plaza during a ceremony granting the Venezuelan president the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's 2005 Jose Marti International Prize, which was presented by President Fidel Castro. The Hitler comparison "is new and unexpected from those who, like Hitler, dreamed of a 1,000-year empire," Castro said. Earlier in the day, Jose Vicente Rangel, the Venezuelan vice-president also hit back, calling Bush "the North American Hitler" and comparing his administration to the Third Reich. Rangel said his government will present proof of the spying charges. The US Embassy in Caracas denies that Correa or any military attaché colleague has done anything wrong. Prosecutors in Caracas have accused half-a-dozen Venezuelan naval officers of spying for the United States and are allegedly investigating many more. Chávez said Correa tried to recruit naval officers to oppose him ahead of a possible US invasion. Venezuelan political analyst Eva Golinger said she has already been provided with evidence to be published in a forthcoming book, which includes testimony from a Venezuelan soldier recruited by the US Embassy who worked as a "double-agent" for the Venezuelan government. A translation of the soldier's testimony reads in part: "I am an enlisted soldier pertaining to the action command group. I am testifying about the activities of officials from the United States Embassy [in Caracas]. They seek information and analysis about certain activities of members of our armed forces and have contacts with officials that work with the Minister of Defense and they provide them with activities about our armed forces. My job is to try and find certain information and to monitor different political organizations, such as the Tupamaros, Bolivarian circles, the people who work with Lina Ron, as well as information about the acquisition of arms in the armed forces. I note herein that I am working as an infiltrator in these groups, an undercover agent, I do not share the anti-American views of these groups, I am just trying to obtain the best information possible for my superiors, for the defense of our nation." The soldier is asked, "What do they give you in return?" "Money, political contacts and the possibility of work..." "What is the best they have given you up until now?" "A ten-year visa to enter the United States, whenever I want, and according to them, in the future I can attend a course in their intelligence agency in the United States and once I prove my loyalty to them and they see I truly have guts, I can possibly do an intelligence course with the CIA. That's what the military attaché at the Embassy, [name removed], told me himself." Chávez warned that if he uncovers any more evidence of alleged espionage, he will throw out the entire US military mission. The embassy has 21 military personnel in Venezuela. The first-ever expulsion of a US diplomat stationed in Venezuela came on the same day that US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said Venezuela posed the most serious threat to US interests in Latin America. Chávez, an elected leftist pursuing a self-avowed "socialist revolution," regularly refers to President Bush as "Mr. Danger" and blasts "the empire," while frequently pointing to evidence that Washington backed a failed coup against him in 2002. Negroponte illustrated the Bush administration's frustrations, telling the Senate Intelligence Committee that Chávez was embarked on an "activist foreign policy in Latin America that includes providing oil at favorable repayment rates to gain allies, using newly created media outlets to generate support for his... goals and meddling in the internal affairs of his neighbors by backing particular candidates for elective office." Over the past few years, the Bush Administration has funneled millions of dollars into building up an opposition movement to Chávez, utilizing US taxpayer dollars filtered through the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development. For the year 2006, the US Congress has allocated more than $9 million dollars to opposition groups in Venezuela and has launched a psychological operations campaign coordinated from the Pentagon's Special Operations Command in Tampa, FL. In a document published by the US Army in October 2005 entitled "Doctrine for Asymmetric War Against Venezuela," Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution were labeled as the "largest threat since the Soviet Union and communism." Speaking at a mass rally on Feb. 4, Chávez warned that Washington was considering invading Venezuela and the country needed more weapons to defend itself. "We still need a higher number of rifles," he said. "The 100,000 Russian rifles are not enough. Venezuela needs to have one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women." Relations between Washington and Caracas have been especially tense in recent months, in part due to US criticism of Venezuela's purchases of military equipment, including 100,000 Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles. Venezuela is one of the top five oil exporters to the United States, providing about 1.2 million barrels per day. In addition, the Venezuelan government has provided more than 45 million gallons of heating oil at discounted prices to poorer homes in the United States.