The Obama administration and the National Security Agency (NSA) are conveniently using the Panamanian seizure in the Caribbean of the North Korean merchant vessel Chong Chon Gang after a routine search for drugs yielded two green containers under a shipment of sugar. The ship was due to transit the Panama Canal.
In a bizarre move, Panama’s President Richardo Martinelli, a right-wing billionaire supermarket chain owner, sent out a Twitter message claiming that the green containers were “undeclared weapons.” Martinelli’s message stated: “Panama has captured a ship with a North Korean flag that was coming from Cuba with an undeclared weapons shipment.”
Martinelli also provided a photograph of the two containers before they could be properly analyzed by intelligence experts. Martinelli later increased the hype over the ship seizure by claiming that the green cylinders were “suspected sophisticated missile equipment.” Martinelli also claimed the captain of the 35-member crew tried to commit suicide during the search.
The North Korean vessel and crew have been detained at the port of Manzanillo on the Caribbean coast. UN sanctions only permit the importation of small arms into North Korea.
The Obama administration and the NSA have come in for heavy criticism by individual Latin American nations and regional bodies such as the Organization of American States, Mercosur, Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the NSA conducts massive eavesdropping on Latin American communications has resulted in a Brazilian legislative inquiry on the matter and offers of asylum for Snowden from Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.
The involvement of the U.S. State Department in convincing France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal to deny overflight privileges to Bolivian President Evo Morales, forcing his plane to land in Austria for an attempted search by the Spanish ambassador to Vienna, has heightened hostility toward the United States in Latin America.
Martinelli is one of Washington’s few allies in the region and it comes as no surprise that he would shift attention to North Korea and Cuba. The commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Marine Corps General John Kelly, was in Panama in February to met with Martinelli and the two officials who were in charge of the operation against the North Korean ship, Public Security Minister Jose Raul Mulina and Javier Caraballo, the counter-narcotics chief.
Martinelli has reportedly had close ties to the CIA ever since his time attending the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) in San José, Costa Rica, following his graduation from the University of Arkansas. Martinelli increased his links to the CIA while at Citibank and later as the owner of the Super 99 supermarket chain.
Martinelli’s participation in NSA’s program to polish its image in Latin America comes as no surprise. After financing the construction of a number of naval and air bases, the U.S. has been increasing its military and intelligence presence in Panama. The seizure of the North Korean ship by U.S.-trained Panamanian security forces and Martinelli’s Twitter photographs of the “suspicious” cargo are intended to show Latin America that NSA’s surveillance of the region is aimed at “rogue states” like North Korea and Cuba, not at Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and other friendlier Latin American nations where the U.S. has been stung by criticism of the NSA eavesdropping using systems code named FAIRVIEW, SILVERZEPHYR, and X-KEYSCORE.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
RSS
Seized North Korean vessel an attempt to boost NSA’s image in Latin America
Posted on July 18, 2013 by Wayne Madsen
The Obama administration and the National Security Agency (NSA) are conveniently using the Panamanian seizure in the Caribbean of the North Korean merchant vessel Chong Chon Gang after a routine search for drugs yielded two green containers under a shipment of sugar. The ship was due to transit the Panama Canal.
In a bizarre move, Panama’s President Richardo Martinelli, a right-wing billionaire supermarket chain owner, sent out a Twitter message claiming that the green containers were “undeclared weapons.” Martinelli’s message stated: “Panama has captured a ship with a North Korean flag that was coming from Cuba with an undeclared weapons shipment.”
Martinelli also provided a photograph of the two containers before they could be properly analyzed by intelligence experts. Martinelli later increased the hype over the ship seizure by claiming that the green cylinders were “suspected sophisticated missile equipment.” Martinelli also claimed the captain of the 35-member crew tried to commit suicide during the search.
The North Korean vessel and crew have been detained at the port of Manzanillo on the Caribbean coast. UN sanctions only permit the importation of small arms into North Korea.
The Obama administration and the NSA have come in for heavy criticism by individual Latin American nations and regional bodies such as the Organization of American States, Mercosur, Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the NSA conducts massive eavesdropping on Latin American communications has resulted in a Brazilian legislative inquiry on the matter and offers of asylum for Snowden from Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.
The involvement of the U.S. State Department in convincing France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal to deny overflight privileges to Bolivian President Evo Morales, forcing his plane to land in Austria for an attempted search by the Spanish ambassador to Vienna, has heightened hostility toward the United States in Latin America.
Martinelli is one of Washington’s few allies in the region and it comes as no surprise that he would shift attention to North Korea and Cuba. The commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Marine Corps General John Kelly, was in Panama in February to met with Martinelli and the two officials who were in charge of the operation against the North Korean ship, Public Security Minister Jose Raul Mulina and Javier Caraballo, the counter-narcotics chief.
Martinelli has reportedly had close ties to the CIA ever since his time attending the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) in San José, Costa Rica, following his graduation from the University of Arkansas. Martinelli increased his links to the CIA while at Citibank and later as the owner of the Super 99 supermarket chain.
Martinelli’s participation in NSA’s program to polish its image in Latin America comes as no surprise. After financing the construction of a number of naval and air bases, the U.S. has been increasing its military and intelligence presence in Panama. The seizure of the North Korean ship by U.S.-trained Panamanian security forces and Martinelli’s Twitter photographs of the “suspicious” cargo are intended to show Latin America that NSA’s surveillance of the region is aimed at “rogue states” like North Korea and Cuba, not at Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and other friendlier Latin American nations where the U.S. has been stung by criticism of the NSA eavesdropping using systems code named FAIRVIEW, SILVERZEPHYR, and X-KEYSCORE.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2013 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).