[progchat_action] US asked Fulbright scholar to spy on Cubans, Venezuelans
 
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:11:11 -0600 (CST)


(The US is up to its old Cold War era tricks again. Thanks to the integrity
of Alex van Shaick we know about this incident.  The unavoidable question is
how many others simply played along and kept silent. SR)

US asked Fulbright scholar to spy on Cubans, Venezuelans

David Edwards and Adam Doster
 Raw Story
Saturday February 9, 2008

| On a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in Bolivia, Alex van
Schaick had no training in espionage. But that didn't stop an official at
the U.S. Embassy for inquiring about his services.

On Friday, van Schaick told media officials that a member of the U.S.
Embassy asked him to keep tabs on Venezuelan and Cuban workers during his
time in Bolivia.

"The part that obviously startled me was when he just . said, 'should you
happen to encounter any Venezuelans or Cubans in the field - doctors, field
workers, whatever - we'd like you to report their names and their
information, like where they live, to the U.S. Embassy,'" he told ABC News.
"And then he said something along the lines of 'we know they're out there,
we just want to keep tabs on them.'"

According to ABC News, the U.S. Embassy in La Paz issued a statement Friday
saying that "some routine information sessions about security given to
certain American citizens included incorrect information. As soon as this
was brought to our attention, appropriate measures were taken to assure that
these errors would not be repeated."

State Department officials said that any such request would have been a
mistake. "If anyone suggested that any members of either group provide
information outside the scope of their work or positions," said U.S. State
Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos, "it was an error and is not U.S.
government policy."

Van Schaick, one of six Fulbright scholars in the country, reported the
incident Thursday to Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. The
student was taken aback by the request. "My immediate thought was, 'Oh my
god, somebody from the U.S. Embassy just asked me to basically spy . and I
was in shock.'" he said. "That something like that would actually happen to
me, just a humble Fulbright student who is here to do research . I didn't
understand why."

Why embassy officials have strenuously denied such allegations, Bolivian
President Evo Morales has frequently accused the United States Embassy of
plotting against his government.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/US_asked_Fulbright_scholar_to_spy_0209.html

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