Former cia agent died-naturally

[David]

I thought this was interesting.  The cia was brutal in its treatment of leftists, and after this man exposed some of it, he was denied his passport and went into hiding, fearing cia retribution. 

Former CIA Chief Philip Agee Dead in 'Loyal' Cuba
Yesterday
by Ross von Metzke

Los Angeles, CA - Former CIA agent Philip Agee, "loyal friend of Cuba" and a long time critic of U.S. foreign policy and it's treatment of leftists in Latin America in the 1960's, was reported dead Monday by Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma. He was 72.

Agee infuriated American intelligence officials by naming purported agency operatives in a 1975 book, six years after quitting the CIA. Agee spent most of his 12 years with the CIA in Latin America, a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence in the world.

According to the Associated Press, his 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, alleged numerous CIA misdeeds against leftists throughout Latin America. The book included a 22-page report and included a 22-page list of assumed agency operatives.

Granma first reported Agee's death Monday night, calling him "a loyal friend of Cuba and fervent defender of the peoples' fight for a better world," according to the Boston Globe.

Bernie Dwyer, a journalist with the state run Radio Havana, followed that report with a message posted Tuesday to a Cuba e-mail group, saying Agee's wife confirmed he had died after ulcer surgery in a hospital where he has he been since Dec. 15.

"He had several operations for perforated ulcers and didn't survive all the surgery," Dwyer wrote. He said Agee was cremated Tuesday and that a planned memorial ceremony at his Havana apartment was scheduled for this coming Sunday.

U.S. officials revoked Agee's U.S. passport in 1979, claiming the former operative was a threat to national security. After years of living abroad in Germany—occasionally underground, according to the Associated Press, fearing CIA retribution—Agee relocated with his wife to Havana to open a travel Web site.

That site, CubaLinda.com, is designed to promote U.S. tourism to Cuba, offering package tours largely off-limits to Americans because of the U.S. trade embargo. With the help of European investors, Agee launched the site in 2000.

Former first lady Barbara Bush accused Agee's book of exposing a CIA station chief, Richard S. Welch, later killed by leftist terrorists in Athens in 1975. Former President George H.W. Bush was himself a one time station chief.

Agee denied any involvement and, after filing a $4 million suit for defamation, Bush revised the book to settle the case.

[John Edward Mercier]

Sounds more like a CIA 'plant'...

[alohamonkey]

Interesting.  I've just recently gotten more interested in U.S. / Latin American relations during this time period.  It's a part of history that I wasn't too knowledgable about.  I might have to pick up this book. 

I finished "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins and I'm currently reading his second book, "The Secret History of the American Empire."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452287081/ref=s9_asin_image_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0HSNBG63EPZZXAGZ578K&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240701&pf_rd_i=507846

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-American-Empire-Corruption/dp/052595015X/ref=s9_js_pop_title?ie=UTF8&pf%5Frd%5Ft=101&pf%5Frd%5Fm=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf%5Frd%5Fp=278240701&pf%5Frd%5Fs=center-1&pf%5Frd%5Fr=0HSNBG63EPZZXAGZ578K&pf%5Frd%5Fi=507846

The U.S. govt did some horrible things in South America and Latin America.

[John Edward Mercier]

We still are.

The greatest thing that can happen to a foreign country is to be of no interest to the big Three.