The United States Embassy in Bolivia admitted Saturday, via a diplomatic comunique, that diplomat Vincent Cooper had made an “inappropriate suggestion” to a U.S. scholar, who confirmed last Friday that the U.S. embassy in Bolivia had asked him to spy on Cuban and Venezuelan citizens involved in humanitarian work in the country.
The complaint was made by Alex Schaick, a scholarship recipient of the Fulbright exchange program. Schaick told local journalists that Cooper asked him to spy for the government of the president of the United States, George W. Bush.
According to Schaick, he had a meeting with Cooper about the security measures for his stay in Bolivia, and that Cooper told him, “We know that (the Cubans and Venezuelans) are out there, we just need information about them”.
“He told me that if I came across Venezuelans or Cubans (…) to report to the Embassy their names (…) and where they are located, their addresses”, added the scholar.
The U.S. diplomatic corps, led by Philip Goldberg, known for his seditious role in Kosovo, acknowledged that the diplomat had met with the Fulbright scholar but would not confirm the contents of the conversation between the two.
As a result of the controversy, Cooper was called back to the U.S. to be questioned, according to the statement which also adds that the State Department “will take the appropriate actions after the investigation”.
The Embassy added that it “regrets whatever misunderstanding this incident may have caused”.
Venezuela and Cuba have a close relationship of humanitarian cooperation with Bolivia. Some two thousand doctors and paramedics from both Latin American countries offer free medical services to Bolivians.
Six Fullbright scholars are currently carrying out projects in Bolivia, and 130 Peace Corps volunteers work in health projects, agriculture and other areas.
Chávez: Peace Corps volunteers are spies
After making public the news, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, gave assurance that the so-called peace corps “are a spy corps and they are used to carry out espionage and to brainwash some people”.
Chavez emphasized that the only Venezuelans that are in Bolivia are paramedics, first aid workers, literacy trainers, and engineers who are constructing a wall that will protect the Amazonian town of Trinidad in the northeast of Bolivia from flooding.
“They spy on us and then they invent the story that we are transporting in to Bolivia weapons, bombs and who-knows-what other things, when what we are sending to Bolivia is medicines, water, and materials to confront natural disasters”, expressed the Venezuelan leader, during a meeting held Saturday with families of the three former congresspersons who will be released by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
“They try to present us as devils, but the devils are the gringos, not all of them, because there is a nation of people also. I am referring to those who carry out these acts of espionage and aggression”, Chavez said in conclusion.
TELESUR / 10 February 2008
(Translation by David Brookbank)
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Additional coverage of this story:
US Embassy Admits Spying in Bolivia — Prensa Latina (February 10, 2008)
US asked Fulbright Scholar to Spy on Cubans, Venezuelans — RawStory (February 9, 2008)
ABC News report on US gov’t recruitment of spies among Fullbright scholars and others — ABC (February 8, 2008)
