La-CIA-contra-America-Latina-Capitulo-especial-Ecuador

THE CIA AGAINST LATIN AMERICALet’s continue, Mr. Agee: let’s talk about the immediate effects thattook place after your departure, after the accomplished action. It seemsthat in Ecuador you actually “made things happen”, politically speaking.We were able to cause certain things, I think I’m repeating myself,but we maintained continuous studies on the threat from the left. Atthat time of counterinsurgency, there were different ranges of threat orproblem, starting with none reaching armed struggle. During the 61, 62,63 years, Ecuador and Bolivia were the most threatened countries, accordingto these studies which were made not only by the CIA but withparticipation of the Army Armed Forces. That was why we wanted to leador induce the Government to take action against the left; everything Iwrote about the infiltration into Arosemena government was true andwe were frightened, because of the person who Arosemena was and theincreased power of the left. So when I left the country, I think I departedconfident that the situation was under control.Once you leave the country, did you keep track closely the eventsthat came after: political crisis, military dictatorships, oil boom, returnto democracy, a suspiciously dead president, a constant instability? Didyou keep track closely of that?No, I tried to keep up the events but I was so busy in other stuff, forexample, in Montevideo I was as busy and over-occupied as in Quito,Back in Washington I couldn’t really stay abreast, neither in Mexico. So Icouldn’t keep track closely the activities.What happened in Ecuador after!Only the most important things, about the death of Roldós, for example.Didn’t you leave instability seeded in Ecuador? For if you notice,when the spate of coups against Velasco and Arosemena occurs, nearly101