Venezuela’s government sent a letter of protest to Colombia on Monday regarding alleged spying led by the Department of Administrative Security (DAS).
According to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, documents have been seized that “refer to a grand scheme of conspiracy and destabilization against Venezuela,” reports Caracol Radio.
The plan, allegedly code-named ‘Falcon’, was denounced by Venezuela’s Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel on a radio program over the weekend.
Rangel said the document details the activity in Venezuela and expenses of the DAS, the U.S. Embassy and the CIA. “The name of the operation against Venezuela is Falcon; the operation against Ecuador is named Salmon, and the operation against Cuba is Phoenix,” the Vice President said.
In the face of this situation, the Venezuelan government gave a protest letter to the Colombian ambassador in Caracas, María Luisa Chiappe. The text of the note also revealed that Venezuela would be in charge of the repatriation of the bodies of the Colombian amateur footballers who had been kidnapped for over a week and were found dead on Friday.
“After statements made by consul Carlos Alberto Barrios in relation to lack of resources of the Colombian state to move these bodies to their home country, the National Government took up the issue and on Monday began the transfer to the morgue in the city of Cucuta, Colombia, in order to deliver them to their families,” the letter said.
Venezuela’s government was protesting the espionage activities allegedly run by DAS in Venezuela under the guise of investigating the Colombians’ disappearance. The alleged spying and other related activities are listed as crimes under Venezuela’s Criminal Code.
The protest letter reads, “The Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs, present to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia the strongest protest of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela [regarding] the repeated presence of officials from Colombia’s DAS in Venezuela, detected [to be running] espionage and attempted bribery, clearly unfriendly activities criminalized by the Venezuelan Criminal Code.
Investigators have seized documentation that refers to a large conspiracy and destabilization plan against Venezuela, with repercussions in the region, which contravenes the principles of international law governing relations between sovereign states.”
The letter goes on to demand that all espionage activities on the part of Colombia cease immediately, along with “the suspension of all activity that goes against the sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic stability in Venezuela.”