Colombia Tapped Ecuador President Correa's Telephones, El Universo Reports

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia Tapped Ecuador President Correa's Telephones, El Universo Reports
By Nathan Gill - Jun 28, 2010

Colombian police have been tapping the telephones of Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa and government and military officials since 2008, El Universo reported, citing an unidentified Colombian intelligence officer.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and incoming President Juan Manuel Santos have been briefed at least three times on the operation, which began in the aftermath of a Colombian raid on a rebel base camp inside Ecuador in March 2008, the Guayaquil- based newspaper said today, citing the officer.

Ecuador broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia after the attack, which killed at least 23 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, including its second-in-command Raul Reyes. Ecuadorean prosecutors in April issued an arrest warrant for Santos, defense minister at the time of the attack, for his role in the bombing.

Ecuador’s National Communications Secretary declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News, a press officer who can’t be named under ministry policy said today by telephone. The office of Colombia’s National Press Secretary Cesar Velasquez declined to comment when contacted by telephone and Velasquez didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed questions.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-28/colombia-tapped-ecuador-president-correa-s-telephones-el-universo-reports.html

On edit, adding photos:

http://www.cubaheadlines.com.nyud.net:8090/files/cubaheadlines.com/imagenes/rafael_correa.JPG http://www.tukanal.tv.nyud.net:8090/noticias/img/correa%205.jpg http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/03L96KI00Bh2x/610x.jpg

Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, Colombia's Vice President, Francisco Santos, President Alvaro
Uribe, and Sec. of Defense (and cousin to Vice President Santos) President-elect Juan Manuel Santos.

[Judi Lynn]

1. 'Correa was victim of DAS wiretapping' .

'Correa was victim of DAS wiretapping' .
Monday, 28 June 2010 09:44 Camilla Pease-Watkin

Colombian security agency DAS intercepted the phone calls and conducted surveillance of Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, according to a special report by Ecuadorean news site El Universo published Monday.

The report claims to be based on testimony by a Colombian DAS official who was in charge of the surveillance operation, named Operation Salomon, based in Quito.

According to the DAS official, who wishes to remain anonymous, members of the security agency were stationed in the Ecuadorean capital in order to intercept both landline and cellphone calls made from Correa's office.

Two apartments used in the operation were "rented in the centre of Quito" and "in a six-floor building on Av. Gonzalez Suarez, where the equipment worked better," explained the DAS official.

The surveillance operation was allegedly launched after the Colombian army conducted a raid on a FARC camp on Ecuadorean territory in 2008, causing diplomatic relations between the neighboring country's to fracture. According to El Universo's informant, DAS's surveillance points in Quito may still exist.

When questioned about the allegations last month, DAS director Felipe Muñoz neither confirmed nor denied that the agency was surveying the Ecuadorean president.

"I have been instructed to speak about this via the Foreign Ministry," said the DAS official.

One of the agency's investigators, Robert Ardila, spoke in court of DAS activity in Ecuador, but only referred to it's use of "cabins" on the border region between Ecuador and Colombia.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10517-correa-was-victim-of-das-wiretapping.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ecuador wants official explanation of DAS wiretap allegations .

Ecuador wants official explanation of DAS wiretap allegations .
Monday, 28 June 2010 15:16 Cameron Sumpter

Ecuadorean security minister Miguel Carvajal insisted that Colombian authorities provide a report on the alleged DAS wiretapping of Ecuador's president Raphael Correa, following a testimony from a DAS official, reports El Telegrafo.

Carvajal said at a press conference that the allegations would "very serious" for the Ecuador's national security, and so the government would approach the matter with precaution.

The minister said that the Ecuadorean government would not take action until an official version of events was provided by the Colombian government and relevant information had been obtained by Ecuador's intelligence agency.

However, Ecuador's prosecutor general's office opened a prliminary investigation into the allegations published in the newspaper, saying that, if true, the wiretapping of Ecuador's president go "against the sovereignty and internal security" of a country.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10524-ecuador-wants-official-explanation-of-das-wiretap-allegations.html

[rabs]

3. As expected, DAS denies its evildoing

AFP story (Spanish) from Bogota:

http://www.eluniverso.com/2010/06/28/1/1355/servicio-secreto-colombiano-niega-espionaje-presidente-ecuador.html?p=1354&m=638

-- DAS on Monday denied having intercepted the telephones of Correa, his aides, military officers, politicians, business leaders and journalists in Ecuador in 2008, as reported by the El Universo newspaper.

As per communique issued Monday in Bogota:

-- The DAS has not carried out any irregular intelligence activity on Ecuadoran territory. In no way and under no circumstances has the DAS intervened in the privacy of the president of the Republic of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, or any other Ecuadoran citizen.

-- In a terse communique, the intelligence body attributed the report to "persons who with distorted information are attempting to confuse the media and public opinion so as to muddy the road to better relations between the two nations."

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That was a fast reaction so it must have stung both alvarito and Chucky Santos.

It sounds almost like when uribito accused the Washington Post of being infiltrated by "criminals" and "useful idiots" after the Santiago Uribe paramilitary story.

Interesting that both of these stories have originated from Colombian sources, the Santiago Uribe and his 12 Apostles from the former police major Meneses and this one from an unidentified Colombian intelligence agent.

Suspect the latter is being investigated for DAS-gate crimes and he sang like a canary to Colombian judges.