Latin America | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #350

May 14, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Gulf authorities still silent on Iranian spy ring. The Kuwaiti government has banned local media from commenting on the recent busting of an alleged Iranian spy ring, and Gulf leaders still refuse to comment on the issue.
NSA head confirmed as chief of US Cyber Command. US Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency, has been promoted to four-star general and will now head the US Pentagon’s new Cyber Command, as well as the NSA.
Venezuela to release more alleged Colombian spies. Three more of the eight alleged Colombian spies, who were arrested by Venezuelan government forces last month, are to be released. Four others were released on April 12, which leaves in custody only one of them, Luis Carlos Cossio, who has dual Colombian and Canadian citizenship.

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with 0 Gulf authorities still silent on Iranian spy ring, 0 NSA head confirmed as chief of US Cyber Command, 0 Venezuela to release more alleged Colombian spies, Colombia, cybersecurity, espionage, Iran, Keith Alexander, Kuwait, Latin America, Luis Carlos Cossio, News, news you may have missed, NSA, Persian Gulf, United States, US DoD Cyber Command, Venezuela

Colombia, Venezuela, silent on alleged spy arrests

April 5, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

DISIP agents

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Caracas and Bogota are remaining silent on the arrests of eight alleged Colombian spies in northwest Venezuela. Eight people, members of a factory-owning family in Barinas, were charged with espionage last week, after Luis Carlos Cossio, 52, was allegedly caught photographing a telecommunications tower belonging to DISIP, Venezuela’s premier intelligence agency. Cossio, who is a dual Venezuelan-Colombian citizen, was arrested on Tuesday, along with his relative, Santiago Giraldo, 21. Two days later, Venezuelan counterintelligence agents raided the family’s factory in Barinas, arresting six more members of the same family. Colombian media report that at least two of the detainees, Cossio and Cruz Elva Giraldo, served in the same Colombian military unit in Medellin, namely the Colombian Army’s 4^th Brigade. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Barinas (Venezuela), Colombia, Cruz Elva Giraldo, DISIP (Venezuela), espionage, Latin America, Luis Carlos Cossio, Medellin (Colombia), News, Santiago Giraldo, Venezuela

Venezuela silent as Colombia expels two alleged spies

January 23, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Valledupar

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On Tuesday, the Colombian government announced the expulsion of two alleged Venezuelan intelligence agents, reportedly for conducting espionage operations on Colombian soil. The two, Jose Vicente Marquez and Diego Jose Palomino, were nabbed by counterintelligence agents of Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security (DAS) in the northwest city of Valledupar, just a few miles from the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The two were reportedly found in possession of video footage of homes and vehicles, as well as “other types of material”, which so far remains unspecified. DAS director, Felipe Muñoz, said the two alleged agents appeared to be illegals –i.e. not affiliated with the Venezuelan embassy in Bogotá– having entered the country clandestinely on January 12, via Paraguachon, on the northernmost tip of the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Colombia, DAS (Colombia), Diego Jose Palomino, espionage, Felipe Muñoz, illegal residents, Jose Vicente Marquez, Latin America, News, Paraguachon (Colombia), Valledupar (Colombia), Venezuela, Venezuelan embassy in Colombia, Venezuelan Ministry of External Relations

Analysis: The role of spies in Latin America

December 1, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Latin America

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
These days it’s a full-time job keeping up with intelligence news coming out of Latin America. In recent weeks alone, there were major spy scandals involving the busting of an alleged Colombian espionage ring in Venezuela, the acknowledgment by Bogotá that it spied on Ecuador, and the ongoing high-level intelligence scandal that some say may cause recalls of diplomats between Chile and Peru. So what is going on in Latin America? How widespread is espionage in the continent and is it on the rise? The BBC’s Juan Paullier has consulted several regional and international experts for his well-written analysis on the subject. Read more of this post