Espionage | The John le Carré of Guanabara Bay

Source: TIJOLAÇO.

Today, the Folha de S. Paulo published one of those cheap little spy novels you can get in any book store, new or used, to help you endure a long and arduous bus journey, stuck in traffic all the way.

I am referring to that story about the CIA agent who worked under some sort of cover story at  the Embassy. Once he realize he was being watched, he called the police, asserting diplomatic privilege. And when the local police, ready to lower the boom on those responsible for the espionage, discovered the surveillance was being carried out by the Brazilian secret service, ABIN.

The Folha article, however, had nothing to say other than that it would it make a fine plot for a novel to read on the bus, if it not for the fact … 

… Well, the Folha does reveal that “U.S. citizens Alejandro Nuñez and Guillermo de las Heras, assigned to the U.S. consulate in Rio — the former as an administrator and the other as one of the diplomatic consuls — “were CIA officers operating in Brazil.”

That is to say, they were spying. After all, they were not mere  functionaries  seeking military or intelligence information. They were not going about this in a legal, official manner of the kind which would authorize them, first of all, to request the assistance of Brazilian institutions: police forces or intelligence services.

In sum, they were spies.

And as it happened, these spies, realizing they were being tracked, appealed to the Federal Police to mount an operation to arrest these “pursuers.” It was then, after being taken down to the precinct, that these pursuers were ABIN, doing what they get paid to do: Keep watch on foreign spies in Brazil.

The Folha, meanwhile, described the situation as “a foul-up on ABIN’s part” that could lead to “a crisis of international proportions” in relations with the United States.

I could not understand it. Or better, I cannot believe what I have come to understand of the incident.

“A crisis of global proportion” with the United States because they sent two undercover agents to Brazil, one an administrative employee and another as a consul at its embassy?

It is reported that “the officers maintained regular contact” with the department of intelligence at the Federal Police.

In exchange for what?

Does  the department of intelligence at the Federal Police maintain “regular contact” with any embassy staff?

Imagine this peculiar dialogue:

Translation continues …

– Hello?

-Hello, I am the “continuous” of the USA embassy, did you undestand me? I´m looking for the chefe, may be?

– Momentim, que vou passar…Ô chefe, é o contínuo da Embaixada, querendo falar com o senhor, o senhor atende? Tá…vou passar…

– Good morning, I’m the boss, Doctor Joel Santana, delegate. Can I help you?

– Oh, thank you. The parade is this: I’m “da CIA” and have two suspicious men following me and my friend “da CIA” too, but registered as a consul.

-Let”s comigo, brou. I´m coming to give uma “dura” in this safades. Where’s já se viu follow nossos brous da CIA…

Só tratando assim, não é?

Porque tratar de outra forma seria admitir que a Polícia Federal  estivesse mantendo “contatos regulares” com agentes da CIA agindo clandestinamente no Brasil. Não eram agentes de inteligência ou antidrogas que estivessem em cooperação regular contra o terrorismo ou o tráfico – o que justificaria o “contato regular” com a PF, mas simples funcionários administrativos, que não teriam razão ou autoridade nenhuma para isso.

Ou será que existe uma conexão entre a Polícia Federal e a CIA, onde a instituição pública brasileira  ”tem contato regular” com agentes encobertos no Brasil?

Com a palavra o Ministro da Justiça e chefe da Polícia Federal, José Eduardo Cardoso.

Há uma segunda hipótese, mais inacreditável ainda: a história ter sido relatada à Folha pela própria CIA, e eu duvido que eles fossem abrir assim o nome de dois de seus espiões, embora um deles, Guillermo de las Heras, já conste desde maio numa lista de espiões americanos, mas servindo em Angola.

Neste caso, o 007 aí já perdeu a cobertura, e não importaria “queimá-lo”.

Portanto, se já começou a temporada de visitas jornalísticas à embaixada americana para 2014, como ocorreu em 2010, a historia pode ter vindo daí.

O fato concreto é que, na ânsia de enfraquecer o protesto brasileiro contra as escutas clandestinas feitas pelo Governo dos Estados Unidos no Brasil – e no mundo inteiro – nossa Folha tupiniquim perdeu os cuidados.

A Abin faz muitas trapalhadas, como a de ter agentes que vazam informações para a Folha e um chefe, o General José Elito (não é um trocadilho com Joselito) que é sem-noção ao ponto de convidar a imprensa para conhecer a “sala secreta” de onde eram monitoradas(?) as tentativas de arruaça no Sete de Setembro.

Mas, pela narrativa da Folha, a Abin estava cumprindo seu dever de monitorar espiões estrangeiros no Brasil, tendo atividades clandestinas sob cobertura diplomática. Se alguém agiu de maneira cúmplice ou trapalhona foi a Polícia Federal.

Pior ainda é um jornal que trata como vítimas dois “coitadinhos” que não estavam fazendo nada de mais no Brasil, só espionando para a CIA, não é?

PS. ABIN’s real mistake was allowing itself to be infiltrated by the Folha, looking to raise a scandal and demoralize Brazilian intelligence , as in yesterday’s story “denouncing” ABIN for investigation the late Reverend Moon, who had purchased enormous lands in Mato Grosso do Sul, in a border area. What else were they going to do about a guy convicted six times in the United States for tax evasion and accused of crimes ranging from arms trafficking and child prostitution? Should we send the man a subscription to the Folha as a welcoming gift?