When it comes to creative espionage, nobody does it better than the United States. Amidst press reports and allegations about U.S. spooks (undercover intelligence operatives) underhandedly using Costa Rica as a launching platform to secretly snoop on Cuba, our Directorate of Intelligence and Security (Spanish initials: DIS) is not willing to simply let its North American ally live and let spy.

 

According to a recent Associated Press (AP) report published by the Miami Herald:

 

[DIS Director] Mariano Figueres [said] that the new administration, which took office May 8, has found no records or information from their predecessors about [a] U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] project, which starting in 2009 [allegedly] sent young Venezuelans, Costa Ricans and Peruvians to Cuba in hopes of stirring opposition to the island’s communist government.

 

That USAID, a humanitarian assistance organization, was purportedly used for spying is something that has scared the living daylights out of many nations, including Costa Rica. Director Figueres does not claim to have a smoking golden gun in this investigation; in fact, he told the AP that he only has that news agency’s investigative reports to go by. Nonetheless, he appeared to be shocked… shocked to find that alleged spying by the U.S. was going on right here in Costa Rica:

 

“If we can confirm all this, of course we’re not going to agree that our national territory be used to attack a friendly government, regardless of what ideological side you’re on […] It’s a matter of sovereignty and respect … and we’re very alarmed that they used Costa Rican citizens and put them at risk.”

 

From Costa Rica With Love

 

Why would the U.S. utilize Costa Rica to launch sinister ops from? Apparently, the world is not enough. Still, the AP maintains that young Latin Americans were supposedly recruited to keep their golden eyes on Cuban activities. A report published by WDUN in North Georgia expands on this matter:

 

Public health advocates and U.S. lawmakers are highly critical of the Obama administration’s use of an HIV-prevention workshop in Cuba for political purposes, saying such clandestine efforts put health programs at risk around the world.

 

The AP’s investigation found the program was deliberately aimed at recruiting a younger generation of opponents to Cuba’s Castro government, although it’s illegal in Cuba to work with foreign democracy-building programs.

 

Some of the U.S. legislators pointing their goldfingers at the White House include Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who happens to lead a Congressional group that monitors how dollars are being spent at USAID. Senator Leahy is not happy about the AP reports and would basically prefer to see the sky fall than see the U.S. spy another day; he even called an attempt by the U.S. to launch ZunZuneo, a Cuban version of Twitter, a “dumb, dumb, dumb” idea. According to national newspaper La Nacion, the cloak-and-dagger social network was developed in Costa Rica and administered from a headquarters office in West Sabana, not far from the Chinese-donated National Stadium.

 

Thus far, the Chancellery of Costa Rica has pretty much played the part of Dr. No when faced with requests for immunity and protection filed by U.S. citizens who allegedly worked on the project. The AP reports also claim that when it came time to pay the alleged young spies, the U.S. had a license to steal: With wages as low as $5.41 an hour, they were hardly moonraking the dough.

 

Ever since WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden affair, U.S. intelligence services under the administration of President Barack Obama would rather die another day than to be forced to face surprises such as the AP’s investigative work on the USAID and Cuban Twitter scandals.

 

Alas, it is unlikely that the U.S. would give up its snooping ways anytime soon; after all, they say you only live twice. Moreover, the U.S. is not alone in recruiting Ticos to help them carry out intelligence activity. The Costa Rica Star has previously reported on the British Embassy’s brazen call to inventors in our country to come up with devices that a certain member of MI6 would use to perform his covert missions. Also, let’s not forget that Spy Kids II was partially filmed in Costa Rica, and that our country serves as a fictional background in William Gibson’s novel Spook Country.