Former Colombian President Ivan Duque during an event with the online participation of the Israeli occupation prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Efrain Herrera/Colombia Presidency/file photo.
The controversial case of the spyware software known as Pegasus has gained momentum following recent statements by the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, in an interview conducted by Telesur, in which he warned that this software, developed by the Israeli regime, is being used to destabilize the governments of Venezuela and Colombia.
The controversy has gained even greater strength after recent journalistic investigations revealed that during the administration of former Colombian President Iván Duque, the company NSO Group, creator of Pegasus, was hired to transfer software valued at US $11 million dollars, with money allegedly coming from drug trafficking, which was reportedly paid entirely in cash and in two parts of US $5.5 million each and sent directly to the Zionist regime by Colombian officials.
As a result, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced the call for a security summit between Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico, since the espionage actions of the system created in the Zionist colony have also affected the government of the outgoing Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The main objective of the summit will be to address the impact of this spyware software, which has been linked to the surveillance of progressive governments in the region and to their overthrow. The meeting, promoted by Colombia, aims to clarify the extent of espionage in the region and to ensure that human rights and the sovereignty of these countries, which have been the target of these operations, are respected.
Recently, Colombian Senator Antonio Correa of ​​the U Party warned, in an interview, that the use of Pegasus coincides with acts of destabilization in Venezuela since the end of the last decade, which are part of the plan to remove progressive presidents from power in the region.
The operation in Venezuela
Reviewing a little of the background of the case, it is worth recalling that the espionage system gained momentum during the government of Iván Duque in Colombia, not only to intercept telephone conversations of his political adversaries but also as a resource to execute conspiratorial plans against the government of Venezuela.
In this context, President Nicolás Maduro, in the aforementioned interview, said that, through Pegasus, Iván Duque managed to gain access to the telephones “of important political, social, and military leaders in Venezuela.”
The Venezuelan president added that Duque had always supported “Juan GuaidĂł to carry out a coup d’Ă©tat. We were informed in real time of how he was used to conspire and try to kill important leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution and start targeting me.” The president also said that US agencies, such as the DEA and the CIA, have set up a bunker in Bogotá, Colombia, where they recruit hitmen to carry out these plans.
Background
In the case of Venezuela, in August 2022, an investigation carried out by journalist Edinson Bolaños was published in the Colombian magazine Raya. The article reported that at that time, a new espionage and destabilization operation against the Venezuelan state had already begun and was named Project Genesis.
Colombian intelligence agencies carried out spying without a court order and in violation of Colombia’s National Intelligence Law, thus creating a scenario of extreme tension between the two countries.
The infiltration, espionage, and plans to discredit the diplomatic corps and the Venezuelan government were just the tip of the iceberg of the entire plot that was woven against Venezuela from abroad by orders of Iván Duque and Donald Trump.
According to the report, the Colombian intelligence agency had 28 sources within Venezuelan security forces, including a brigadier general in the state of MĂ©rida who was tasked with finding more cooperative targets within the armed forces.
This network of informants was made up of colonels, lieutenants, naval lieutenants, frigate lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, officers of the Bolivarian Navy, members of the police, and members of the Bolivarian Militia. Through this operation, Colombia was able to obtain information on the status of the Aerospace Defense System and the training and instruction plans in case there was a military uprising by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) or in case of a military invasion by the United States, which was not ruled out, according to documents from Colombian military intelligence.
Other objectives achieved by Colombian intelligence under the Duque government were gaining access to the main exercises and maneuvers carried out in different regions of Venezuela, taking photographs and collecting sensitive information within the FANB, spying on political figures at regional levels of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to build their profiles, and preparing reports on the occasions in which the nation acted in response to provocations by the United States government, a country that attempted to violate Venezuelan air and maritime space.
Colombian intelligence also reportedly sought to access the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense’s server.
In an article published by Vincenzo Caruso in several Colombian newspapers, it is noted that recent revelations by the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) of Colombia have brought to light a plot of espionage and manipulation involving former President Iván Duque and radical sectors of the Venezuelan opposition.
Caruso adds that “the DNI report reveals that Duque did not act alone; his ambition was fueled by the desperation and lack of scruples of those who, unable to build, chose to destroy. Using Pegasus, he sought to infiltrate the private lives of Venezuelan officials.”
The journalist also revealed that “by using this software, Duque sought to shape the future of Venezuela according to his own interests, playing with the lives and decisions of thousands of people. It is not just an act of espionage but a reflection of a will to power that, given its inability to influence in a legitimate way, resorts to the most sinister tools to impose its vision of the world.”
Money laundering
Jorge Lemus, director of the DNI, confirmed that the software was purchased between June and September 2021 through the transfer of US $11 million in cash from Bogotá to Tel Aviv.
The funds, which came from seizures from drug cartels, were not reported to the Colombian tax authorities. This constitutes a money-laundering crime.
“They knew they were committing a crime, so they acted covertly,” Lemus said.
(Ăšltimas Noticias) by Reinaldo Linares
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
