Ecuador says CIA controls part of its intelligence
By Alonso SotoSat Apr 5, 7:52 PM ET
Ecuador's president accused the CIA on Saturday of controlling many of his
country's spy agencies, in comments that could fray ties with Wa****ngton
and
drag it into Ecuador's feud with neighboring Colombia.
President Rafael Correa has fired a top intelligence officer and plans to
overhaul spy agencies for belatedly informing him about links between
Colombian rebels and an Ecuadorian who died in Colombia's raid inside
Ecuador last month that sparked a regional crisis.
"Many of our intelligence agencies have been taken over by the CIA," the
leftist leader said during his weekly radio show. "Through the CIA,
information found here was passed to Colombia to improve their position"
in
the dispute.
Correa also charged the United States with financing some officers in the
Ecuadorian spy agencies.
U.S. Embassy spokesman in Quito Arnaldo Arbesu declined to comment on the
charges but said, "We are always willing to work with the Ecuadorian
government in any type of issue."
Correa, whose popularity has rebounded for his handling of the dispute and
is an ally of U.S. foe Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, is a critic of U.S.
foreign policy in Latin America.
He has called President George W. Bush worse than Satan, and once vowed to
cut off his own arm before renewing a lease that allows U.S. troops to use
a
key anti-drug air base.
The March 1 raid, which killed a Colombian rebel leader and more than 20
other people, raised the threat of war after Ecuador and Venezuela briefly
sent troops to their borders with Colombia. Nerves quickly calmed during a
regional meeting a week later.
Correa said he hoped the diplomatic spat would be over soon, but warned of
legal actions against Colombia for the killing of the Ecuadorian citizen
who
was in the rebel camp.
Correa added that Ecuador's decision to sue Colombia in international
court
over Colombia's anti-drug spraying along its border was in response to the
raid.
The suit filed on Monday has once again strained relations between the
neighbors who share a 400-mile border often crossed by rebels fighting a
four-decade war against the Colombian government
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