Bolivian President Evo Morales gave details about an alleged CIA role in a corruption scandal affecting the country’s main firm.
According to Morales, the CIA infiltrated state-run oil firm Yacimientos Petrol¡feros Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) through YPFB’s Marketing Director Rodrigo Carrasco, who took part in more than fifteen training courses in the United States.
Carrasco was trained by the CIA as a covert agent to establish a corruption network, said Morales in Lauka N, Cochabamba, at a ceremony to launch Kausachum Coca community radio.
According to a file read by Morales by the said radio station, Carrasco attended courses in several US facilities that train experts in intelligence, security, communication and even political issues.
These facilities include the School of the Americas, the mission of which I do not have to explain to Bolivians, he said, referring to the site where Latin American dictators were trained, which was re-baptized in 2001.
In Morales’ opinion, from his position as CIA agent, Carrasco accomplished multiple missions in regional countries including Argentina, Brazil and Chile, as well as in Iraq, under the guise of a hydrocarbon security expert.
He always had close links with the US Embassy in Bolivia and with USAID, an entity that follows the guidelines of the US State Department, said the president.
He was also a member of the Police and of the dismantled Special Operation Command, a political intelligence group linked with the US Embassy, he added.
I asked how someone like this could join YPFB and the answer was “because of his knowledge,” said Morales.
The Bolivian president said to have requested four times Carrasco’s dismissal to the now removed president of YPFB Santos Ramirez, whom he held responsible for the lack of fuel that recently triggered unrest among the population.
According to Morales, the probe into the case of corruption broken from late January in YPFB and the CIA involvement in it continues, with other officials under investigation.
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