Cuban involvement in "sensitive areas"

Cuban involvement in "sensitive areas" threatens the Venezuelan State
Experts warned against the work of Cubans in airports, public registry and notary’s offices

The defection of Cuban doctors who arrived in Venezuela to work with health care social program Mission Barrio Adentro and later fled to the United States produced evidence of Cuba’s "security officers" working in the immigration area of Maiquetía, Venezuela’s major airport. Claims had been formerly made, yet now there is a specific case.

As disclosed by one of the defectors, Keiler Moreno, to US daily newspaper El Nuevo Herald, an officer withheld his passport in arriving in immigration and asked him to meet with a Cuban agent working for the Venezuelan migration service. They made a deal where Moreno had to pay 800 Cuban pesos in order to leave Venezuela for Miami.

For Rocío San Miguel, the president of NGO Control Ciudadano (Citizen’s Monitoring), the involvement in, and in some cases the monitoring of, state strategic areas, such as ports, airports, public registry offices, notary public offices, identification systems, the armed forces and intelligence services, let alone health care, sports and agriculture, is a matter of concern.

"Not only there is the risk of disclosure of sensitive data related to the state security, but also the government can deliberately mislead the information into individual interests, such as keeping President Hugo Chávez in office," she warned.

In the opinion of Luis Alfonso Dávila, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, the execution in 2000 of a comprehensive cooperation agreement between Cuba and Venezuela has enabled the Venezuelan government to "infiltrate" Cubans acting as technicians or advisors in state "key roles." "We cannot talk about cooperation any more, but invasion," he lamented.

In 2005-2006, the first significant wave of Cuban experts in the country occurred. Then, the Venezuelan government spoke of advisory on a better system of public registry and notary offices; the creation of software for issue of identity cards and passports, and certification of airports.

"A task force from Cuba’s Civil Aeronautics Institute is making an analysis to show its findings on the aspects that the Maiquetía airport should work on in the field of certification," Cornelio Trujillo, one of the managers of the Civil Aeronautics Institute, told state-run news agency ABN in June 2006.

Last year, both the Cuban and Venezuelan governments organized Puertos del Alba, a company mainly responsible for "streamlining" of Venezuela’s port facilities. Lately, Cuban experts in intelligence, law and order and community police landed on to cooperate with the Ministry of the Interior in the establishment of the National Bolivarian Police.

Dávila warned that this might make an impact, not only from the national strategic view, but also could affect ordinary people.

"When Cubans are able to get in public registry and notary offices, for instance, they are following up step by step all the deals related to real estate and chattels in the country, and based on this knowledge, political actions, such as retaliation, in fashion now in the country, could be taken," Dávila explained.

Furthermore, "management of data regarding people’s privacy creates a burdensome scheme as to the potential power on citizens," San Miguel said.