Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

September 15, 2011

Wikileaks 'secret' cable confirms US spying on President Evo Morales


New 'secret' US cable exposes US spying on President Evo Morales and tracking him in Peru
President Evo Morales at feast in mountains
of Bolivia, during Cochabamba climate summit.
Photo Brenda Norrell
Article and photo copyright by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

A secret US diplomatic cable just released by Wikileaks exposes US spying on Bolivian President Evo Morales, confirming Morales’ accusations which the United States previously denied.
It comes as no surprise that the US was spying on President Morales, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The only surprise is that because of Wikileaks, the US Ambassadors got caught.
The new cable, classified “secret,” was released by Wikileaks in September, with the subject, “Evo Calls for Rebellion.” It is written by US Ambassador Michael McKinley, who was US Ambassador to Peru, 2007 to 2010, and is now US Ambassador in Colombia.
Ambassador McKinley is exposed spying on President Morales’ as Morales rallies Indigenous Peoples in Puno, Peru, to assert their rights.
Ambassador McKinley states, “We find it plausible that President Chavez -- long seen as the region's ‘interferer in chief’ in Peru -- has outsourced to President Morales responsibility for stirring up trouble for the GOP in the Peru's highlands and elsewhere. This may be due to Morales' own Andean roots, which generate more inspiration and sympathy among Peru's indigenous than Chavez, with whom most locals have little in common,” the cable states.
The new Wikileaks cable follows previous cables which exposed US covert actions around the world, from Iceland to Ecuador, designed to halt passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Further, those cables exposed spying by the United States on Indigenous activists in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. In Peru, this spying targeted specific Indigenous activists and exposed the US organizing five countries to promote mining in Peru, in regions where Indigenous Peoples were being killed in protests to protect their homelands from copper mining.
Ambassador to Bolivia Phillip S. Goldberg was expelled from Bolivia in 2008, after President Morales accusing him of spying. Goldberg denied the accusations.
“I respect the sovereignty and dignity of Bolivia, and I am ready to talk with Bolivian government representatives to clarify everything and present all the facts," Ambassador Goldberg told the Bolivian Information Agency. Goldberg was nominated on October 23, 2009 to the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and confirmed by the Senate on February 9, 2010
The new cable written by Ambassador McKinley tracks President Morales in Peru and accuses President Morales of "stirring up trouble" with Indigenous Peoples.
“Bolivian President Evo Morales has launched a new round of rhetorical attacks on the Government of Peru with a call for indigenous peoples to rebel against their governments. GOP officials and other observers are concerned Morales' rhetoric is part of a broader effort to meddle in Peru's domestic affairs. One congressional contact told us Morales appeared to be taking the place of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in stirring up problems in Peru. Another contact reported evidence that Bolivians are seeking to recruit sympathetic candidates for municipal office in the Peruvian highlands. Our Bolivian Embassy contacts (protect) tell us the highest levels of the GOB are in direct contact with Peruvian social and opposition movements. We believe the evidence indicates a pattern of Bolivian efforts to generate and support opposition to President Garcia,” states the June 5, 2009, cable.
“Evo Morales in late May launched a new round of rhetorical attacks on the GOP with a call for indigenous peoples to rebel against their governments. In a letter from Morales read to a gathering of 5,000 indigenous leaders in Puno, the southern Peruvian region bordering on Bolivia, Morales called "for a second and definitive independence...This is the moment in which all should know that our fight does not end, that resistance becomes rebellion and rebellion becomes revolution."
The cable continues, "The Foreign Ministry's Bolivia desk officer told us of his government's concern about growing signs of active Bolivian intervention in Peru's domestic affairs. He highlighted the scheduled inauguration of a large Bolivian consulate in Cusco, ostensibly meant to encourage tourists to continue their travels south. The official would not speculate on the consulate's real goals, but clearly suspected a covert agenda. He added that Bolivia's consulate in Puno is run by a member of the radical Bolivian ‘Ponchos Rojos’ (Red Ponchos) group.”
Read the entire secret cable:
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/06/09LIMA794.html
NOTE: The previous two articles in this Wikileaks series by Brenda Norrell were plagiarized this week by Indian Country Today. The reporter used the research and information in the following two articles, in the plagiarized article. ICT and the reporter Gale Courey Toensing deny the plagiarism.
Read the original, authentic articles by Brenda Norrell:
Wikileaks: US feared self-rule and land claims from UN Indigenous Declaration by Brenda Norrell
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2011/09/wikileaks-us-feared-self-rule-and-land-claims-un-indigenous-declarat
Peru: New Indigenous Law as Wikileaks Exposes US Spying and Paranoia by Brenda Norrell
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2011/09/peru-new-indigenous-law-wikileaks-exposes-us-spying-and-paranoia

Previous in the series:

Wikileaks Peru: US Ambassador targeted Indigenous activists, promoted mining (Feb 2011)
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/02/wikileaks-peru-us-ambassador-targeted.html


Wikileaks: The Arctic belongs to the Inuit (Feb 2011)
http://censorednews.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/wikileaks-the-arctic-belongs-to-the-inuit/


Wikileaks cables on Mohawks (May 2011)
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-cables-on-mohawks.html


Wikileaks: Top six ways that the US violated Indigenous rights (June 2011)
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/wikileaks-top-six-ways-us-and-canada.html

1 comment:

Jeff said...

These wikileaks articles you have been writing are great. Thanks - Jeff Hendricks