From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Russia’s Many Spies in Mexico   
   By Mary Anastasia O’Grady, July 2, 2023, WSJ   
      
   As the dust settles around the Wagner Group revolt in Russia, inquiring minds   
   want to know if Putin is better or worse off than before the apparent   
   challenge to his authoritarian rule. The answer matters to the Western   
   Hemisphere, where Nikolai Patrushev,   
    secretary of the Russian security council and one of Putin’s closest   
   confidants, spearheads a shadowy spy network intent on undermining U.S.   
   interests.   
      
   It may surprise some Americans to learn that Mexico is an especially   
   high-value target.   
      
   The Putin-Patrushev strategy in the Americas is more than a tit-for-tat effort   
   to counteract U.S. support for democracy in Europe. The destabilization of   
   Western-style democracy in the region is central to the pair’s shared dream   
   of restoring the    
   global power of Mother Russia.   
      
   It’s reasonable to assume that Putin’s aspirations for a new empire   
   aren’t shared by everyone in the Russian power structure. His costly assault   
   on Ukraine has been a flop, either because he mismanaged it or because he   
   underestimated the enemy—or    
   both. In any case, it doesn’t project strength.   
      
   If Putin’s star is falling, the colonial outposts built and nurtured by   
   Patrushev—in Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua and, yes, Mexico, among   
   others—could be at risk. Conversely, Putin staying-power implies continued   
   clear sailing for Agent    
   Patrushev.   
      
   Messrs. Putin and Patrushev have a relationship dating to the 70s, when both   
   were KGB agents. From 1999-2008 Patrushev was the director of the Russian   
   intel agency known as the FSB—the restructured KGB. He is credited with   
   bringing Putin to power and    
   has been called the most likely successor if the boss retires.   
      
   For now Patrushev serves as Putin’s top spook, spanning the globe to help   
   put down color revolutions, throw elections and challenge the unipolar   
   multilateral system that has taken root since the collapse of the Soviet Union.   
      
   Some of Patrushev’s work in the Americas is public, like his February   
   consultations on security matters in Caracas with Venezuelan strongman   
   Nicolás Maduro. Moscow is a major supplier of military equipment and services   
   to Venezuela. The work of Wagner    
   mercenaries is more behind-the-scenes. They’ve butted heads with the Russian   
   military over Ukraine, but it’s doubtful they go abroad without the help of   
   Russian embassies, where Patrushev holds considerable sway. In 2019 Wagner was   
   brought into    
   Venezuela as a regime enforcer and to train special forces. People familiar   
   with the matter say Wagner also has provided security for the Venezuelan oil   
   company.   
      
   In March Patrushev visited Raúl Castro in Cuba. Russia forgave $32 billion in   
   Cuban debt in 2014 and in the decade since the Castro crime family and its   
   associates have grown closer to Patrushev. In May Havana announced that it   
   will send troops to train    
   in Belarus to show solidarity with the Ukraine invasion. Last week Cuba and   
   Russia announced they would work toward closer “technical military”   
   cooperation.   
      
   Russia’s support for Nicaraguan despot Daniel Ortega is also an open secret.   
   Less noticed is Moscow’s obsession with quietly fueling antidemocratic   
   ideology elsewhere in the Americas—with little push-back from the U.S.   
      
   In 2020 Colombia kicked out two Russian spies who were reportedly working   
   under diplomatic cover at the embassy in Bogotá. Colombia didn’t detail   
   their transgressions, but Reuters said local media described their work as   
   mining for “military intel    
   and info about the energy industry and mineral commodities.” Neither   
   reported to Patrushev’s bureaucracy directly, but both were intel agents   
   under the broader control of Putin’s bestie.   
      
   In Colombia’s 2018 presidential election Russia allegedly engaged in a   
   disinformation campaign in support of then-candidate Gustavo Petro. In the   
   2022 presidential election Russia again used disinformation and other dirty   
   tricks to sow distrust in the    
   democratic process and to help Petro, who won that contest. The U.S.-Colombia   
   partnership of many years has come apart.   
      
   Russian intelligence activity in Mexico may be the most dangerous. In March   
   24, 2022, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Glen   
   VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace   
   Defense Command, sounded the    
   alarm. “There are actors who are very aggressive and active all across   
   the” Northern Command, he said, “including the Bahamas and Mexico, China   
   and Russia.” He noted that “the largest portion” of Russian intelligence   
   personnel “in the world    
   is in Mexico right now” and “they keep an eye very closely on their   
   opportunities to have influence on U.S. opportunities and access.”   
      
   Earlier this year Patrushev predicted that Mexico would “sooner or later”   
   recover the land it lost to the U.S. in 1848. I doubt that. But I have no   
   doubt Patrushev will go to his grave still trying to make it happen.   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-many-spies-in-mexico-war-gl   
   bal-power-network-putin-south-america-b4b3659f   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)