In recent years, the US intelligence services have not bothered too much with the search for evidence against those who want to be accused of criminal activity. Years of legal impunity, when, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, they seized "potential criminals", placed them in secret prisons and then beat out confessions with inhuman torture, left a dark imprint on the entire system of US security agencies … The current leaders of the American special services received professional training in those years, therefore, the capture and removal of people (legal or illegal) for trial in the United States is widely practiced today. However, here the American special services have more and more failures - and, I must say, instructive.
Diplomat Hugo Carvajal was detained at the airport of the island of Aruba on July 24, immediately after arriving from Venezuela. Under heavy guard, he was sent to prison, making it clear that the arrest was made on the basis of an extradition request from the United States. The fact that Carvajal was appointed consul general of Venezuela to the island, the authorities of Holland, which includes Aruba as an autonomy, were notified by a corresponding note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs back in February. That is, they had enough time to notify the Venezuelans through diplomatic channels about the unacceptability of this candidacy and not bring the matter to an acute conflict.
During the presidency of Hugo Chávez, Carvajal was a member of his inner circle. They were tied by military friendship, they shared the same ideas. Chavez knew that he could rely on a companion in solving the most difficult problems. Carvajal headed the military intelligence of Venezuela in 2004-2009, led the operations to suppress the subversive activities of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the CIA, the US Military Intelligence, the NSA on its territory. The merits of Carvajal include the fact that he did not allow the transfer of the Colombian armed conflict to the border regions of Venezuela. Proactive information came from a variety of sources. The paramilitaries' ultra-right groupings received an effective rebuff when attempting to cross the border, and the militants suffered serious losses in Venezuelan territory. Carvajal made a huge contribution to the defeat of drug cartels, which were often under the control of DEA operatives. The result of Carvajal's activities was the ban on the DEA's work in Venezuela. As a result - a wide campaign to compromise Carvajal, turning him into a "Venezuelan drug lord" with the help of black propaganda methods.
How Venezuela's enemies were going to use the capture of Carvajal can be understood from the media used by the US intelligence services for propaganda operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. With regard to Carvajal, a deal was planned with American justice: to mitigate punishment, he would have to "cooperate" on all the charges brought against him, testify against Chavez, Maduro and other leading figures of the Bolivarian government. Authorized persons arrived from the USA to negotiate with Carvajal in Aruba with a package of proposals and guarantees. It is known from Venezuelan government sources that preliminary work on the "seizure" and isolation of Carvajal was carried out by the American station located in Willemstad on the neighboring island of Curacao. Its operational service area includes the islands of Aruba and Bonaire. The main contingent for which the recruiting work is carried out are Venezuelans. Meetings are also held on these islands with representatives of the Venezuelan opposition who are involved in conspiratorial activities to overthrow the Maduro government.
The Curacao residency is in good standing. It is headed by US Consul General James R. Moore, who has thirty years of experience in diplomatic and intelligence work. Senior officials include Political Chief Solmaz Sharifi, DEA Leader J. Gregory Garza, Electronic Intelligence Specialist Jeffrey Yacobucci, and others. It was this station that organized the detention of Carvajal and his initial processing in order to apply for asylum. The Venezuelan was promised an immediate flight to Miami if he agreed to cooperate. At the same time, a fake was launched in the media, in which it was claimed that Carvajal arrived on the island with a passport in a false name and only after the arrest showed the police his real diplomatic document. The media actively discussed the discovery of $ 20,000 in the Venezuelan's luggage (without any doubt, funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure diplomatic work). To undermine the credibility of Carvajal in Caracas, another fake was circulated, from which it followed that in recent months he had been secretly negotiating with the Americans about options to escape to the United States.
Carvajal did not succumb to blackmail and demanded a meeting with Venezuelan officials. To resolve the crisis and prevent the possible forcible export of Carvajal to the United States (as the Tsareushniks did more than once), Calixto Ortega, Deputy Minister for European Countries, urgently flew to the island from Venezuela.
The chief prosecutor of Aruba, Peter Blanken, who had a hand in the arrest of Carvajal and originally played on the side of the US station, decided to consult with the authorities in Holland again, just in case. For the first time, he was told that the Venezuelan had no diplomatic immunity. On a repeated request, an explanation was received that the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry received permission to work for Carvajal in February and therefore, taking into account his diplomatic passport, he still has immunity. The desperate efforts of the US station to put pressure on the authorities in Aruba and organize the "evacuation" of Carvajal to Miami did not work. In addition, a campaign in support of the Venezuelan diplomat has begun on the islands. Venezuela has long-standing economic and cultural ties with Curacao and Aruba, the prosperity of the islands largely depends on Venezuelan tourism and the corresponding warning signals from Caracas "about an adequate response to unfriendly actions" were received.
President Nicholas Maduro said in connection with the Carvajal case that it was a "special operation by the United States, carried out to blackmail and intimidate the highest military leadership of our homeland: either abandon your principles and join the anti-government conspiracy, or we will take cases against you and subject you to falsified processes in the courts of the Empire. To demonstrate in practice that the Empire is capable of such threats, Carvajal was attacked, and Rangel Silva and Rodriguez Chacin were threatened."
Roberta Jacobson, undersecretary of state for Latin America, angrily declared, "The release of Carvajal is an unwarranted use of diplomatic immunity and is therefore a mockery of this important principle."The State Department also argued that Venezuela threatened Aruba, Holland and some other countries in order to secure the release of Carvajal: "In matters related to maintaining the rule of law in the international arena, you cannot behave like that." The equanimity with which Washington presents itself as the blameless guardian of world law and order is capable of causing Homeric laughter!
Washington did not abandon the idea of punishing Carvajal and other objectionable Venezuelan politicians. Various kinds of "official documents" are circulated through the media stating that the Venezuelan military and intelligence officers "assisted" the FARC guerrillas in drug operations, provided them with temporary shelters in Venezuela. Information obtained from deserters, double agents and dubious characters seeking to make money is used as evidence. The information and intelligence products of the US intelligence services do not shine with quality (one example is the reports on Ukraine). At the same time, Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro never hid the complexity of the situation in the areas bordering with Colombia, but not because of the partisans, but because of the ultra-right paramilitary groups collaborating with drug cartels. Sporadic contacts with the partisans took place, first of all, during the period when Chavez, at the request of the Colombian government, tried to establish a dialogue between the warring parties.
The Carvajal case once again showed what kind of provocations the US intelligence services use in their work abroad. The strategic goal is global domination, everything else does not matter.
