Maduro’s allegation of spying came in response to a question from AP on whether he could consider releasing U.S. citizens jailed in the U.S., including the so-called Citgo 6, as a goodwill gesture to the new U.S. administration. He said that while diplomatic efforts are always available, he wouldn’t get involved with criminal cases that had been tried in a Venezuelan court. “I’m not a judge or prosecutor, and I shouldn’t get involved in this subject,” Maduro said, but he then accused the CIA of infiltrating Citgo. “They started to work as agents of the Central Intelligence Agency. … This is the truth.” By Scott Smith. Full Text -> TorontoCityNews

End of August 2019 the United States was in the epicenter of a large scale international scandal. The cause of the scandal was failure of a covert operation of the American intelligence service which aimed to ensure penetration of its secret agents in the inner circle of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro (with the purpose of his subsequent ousting from the presidential post).By Andrey V. Manoylo*. Full text -> Modern Diplomacy

*Andrey Manoilo, es profesor de la Universidad Estatal de Moscú y asesor del alto gobierno ruso.