QUITO - EcuadorÂ’s president accused the CIA on Saturday of controlling many of his countryÂ’s spy agencies, in comments that could fray ties with Washington and drag it into EcuadorÂ’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 Ecuadorean who died in ColombiaÂ’s raid inside Ecuador last month that sparked a regional crisis.
| Must be his turn to whip up a faux-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 Ecuadorean 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 Ecuadorean government in any type of issue.” |