CIA operative detained after foiled oil refinery attack, Venezuela's Maduro says

[Judi Lynn]

VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that authorities had detained a former United States marine and CIA operative after he was caught spying on two oil refineries.

Speaking on national television, the Bolivarian leader said: “He was captured with heavy weapons, speciality weapons. He was captured with a great amount of cash in dollars and with other elements that we have sent directly to the Public Ministry, the prosecutor’s office.”

The arrest was made in the north-western state of Falcon on Thursday, Mr Maduro confirmed.

He explained that the day before the spook was detained, Minister of Petroleum Tareck el-Aissami had foiled a plan to set off an explosive device at the El Palito oil refinery in the northern state of Carabobo.

Mr Maduro issued a call for extra vigilance and heightened security measures by workers at the country’s refineries.

More:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/former-us-marine-and-cia-operative-detained-after-foiled-oil-refinery-attack

[Judi Lynn]

1. Venezuelan media name alleged U.S. spy arrested near refinery complex

SEPTEMBER 13, 202012:51 PM UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
By Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

CARACAS (Reuters) - Pro-government media in Venezuela on Sunday named an alleged U.S. spy who President Nicolas Maduro said was captured last week near the country’s largest oil refinery complex.

Outlets close to the ruling Socialist Party identified the detainee as a former marine, John Heath Mattew, and said he was arrested on Thursday with three other people including a sergeant major in Venezuela’s National Guard as they drove between Falcon and Zulia states in northwestern Venezuela.

Ultimas Noticias newspaper, citing a preliminary report by the authorities, said the U.S. suspect was a former marine who had fought in Iraq, and that during the arrest soldiers seized a satellite phone, credit cards and mobile phones.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. Neither Venezuela’s information ministry nor prosecutor’s office immediately responded to requests for comment on Sunday.

The U.S. State Department had no comment on the matter. The White House did not respond to request for comment.

More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-venezuela-usa/venezuelan-media-name-alleged-u-s-spy-arrested-near-refinery-complex-idUKKBN2640TC

[LessAspin]

2. Update.......

Link to tweet

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank goodness you've shared this information, or we probably wouldn't have heard for years!

The article posted in the tweet you posted contains the missing facts we've needed all this time we've been getting either nothing at all, or the astonishingly disrespectful disinformation they've been putting out so many years to keep the citizenry completely unaware of what the tax dollars are really financing without our knowlege against ALL leftist leaders.

The article is one to keep for future reference. Near the beginning this part was included which I read well over a decade ago, and it's so good it has been written to keep it in public as often as humanly possible, concerning what has been considered a very benign and helpful US organization:

“A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” said Allen Weinstein, cofounder of the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization that funds pro-American groups worldwide.

So glad to see this pathetic episode was also mentioned:

Earlier in the year, the U.S. was similarly caught with its hand in the cookie jar, after two former Green Berets led an amphibious invasion on Venezuela with the goal of shooting their way to the presidential palace and installing Guaidó as dictator. The attempt failed spectacularly, and few of the heavily armed fighters managed to even make it to land, the event quickly being dubbed Donald Trump’s “Bay of Piglets.” Trying to defend themselves, the American mercenaries implicated a number of key figures, including Trump himself, as well as former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince. The coup plotters even claim they met at the Trump Doral resort in Miami. Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put out a half-hearted denial, claiming only that “there was no U.S. government direct involvement” in the botched coup attempt.

It's tremendous seeing someone courageous has published this illumination of some of Trump's attempted South American foreign policy, done in the sneakiest, most underhanded way.

Thank you, so much for your post. ⭐️

[LessAspin]

4. Coin(bit)

You're welcome.. it's good to fill in the blanks on these stories..

Matthew John Heath was arrested in September outside Amuay and Cardon oil refineries in possession of a submachine gun, a grenade launcher, C4 explosives, a satellite phone and bricks of $20 bills. The Venezuelan government also alleges that he was found carrying a small coin or badge that CIA employees use to prove their identity to one another without raising suspicions. ...

https://www.mintpressnews.com/media-completely-ignore-american-secret-agents-trial-for-terrorism-in-venezuela/275712/

A guy I used to work with had a similar story about carrying a coin out in the field. So that part really rang true to me.