Venezuela frees, expels U.S. filmmaker

[Judi Lynn]

48. The ones who insist he's an "innocent filmmaker" because he says so are not that "naive,"

if "naïve" is a word one would ever consider.

We all know better than that, clearly, or we shouldn't be left to our own devices, we could be dangerous to ourselves or others.

From your article, a good reminder, from so many available:

It is worth recalling how the CIA, as a result of the November 4, 1979 assault on the U. S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian Revolution militants, manages to allow six diplomats to escape, when they hid in the residence of Canadian Ambassador Kenneth D. Taylor, who passed them off a filmmakers.

The CIA operative responsible for helping spirit out the six gringos hiding in the Canadian Embassy met with the fugitives, giving them Canadian passports and information on their false identities to allow them to fool Iranian airport security controls.

Filmmaker or not, consultant or not, the U.S. detainee was involved in the coup attempt and destabilization of groups on Venezuela's extreme right. He rubbed shoulders very closely with them. He knew about the media circus and plans of the right. Furthermore, he was alone without a film crew, which would have been the norm.

It's just sad when right-wingers claim it must be trumped up since there is no evidence in the covert operation. That's the way this government has been operating from the beginning of multilevel intervention in other countries so long ago.

Even people posing as "missionaries" have been used. So damned sad.