Venezuela Arrests Suspected US Spy

Source: Alalam.ir, 30-05-2008
CARACAS, May 30--Venezuela says it has arrested a US national espionage suspect, who identified himself as an anti-drugs agent, which if confirmed could fuel tensions between the two countries.
President Hugo Chavez in 2005 ended cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), saying the agency was spying on him.
The US denies the charge and says Chavez does too little to stop trafficking from neighboring Colombia, the world's largest cocaine exporter.
Gen. Gabriel Oviedo said the man was acting suspicious when he was detained close to the border with Colombia while bearing Canadian and French passports and a Venezuelan identity card.
Oviedo told state television: "The official at the scene proceeded to interrogate him and he said he was a DEA agent."
The US Embassy in Caracas said it had no knowledge of the arrest.
Relations have deteriorated since a failed 2002 coup against Chavez that Washington initially welcomed.
Tensions increased this month between the US and Venezuela, one of its biggest oil suppliers.
The US said new evidence of Chavez's ties to Colombian rebels was troubling, while the leftist charged a US military jet that entered Venezuelan airspace was spying on the OPEC nation.