CIA had agents in Brazilian Catholic church
CIA had agents in Brazilian Catholic church
(Translation of an article from Carta Maior of São Paulo for August 15, 2013. See original here.)
by Sermi Azevedo
The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States has spied on all the
activities of the Roman Catholic Church of Brazil since the ‘60s by means of
direct and indirect collaborators. The direct collaborators are members of the
church who volunteer their services. And the indirect are advisers to Catholic
clergy infiltrated by the US secret agency into ecclesiastic activities.
This information comes to this reporter from several sources in the church who
asked that their names not be revealed.
The peak of this collaboration occurred between the years 1960 and 1985, that
is, the period preceding the 1964 military coup, and throughout the rule of the
dictatorship. The monitoring went on as well during the transition to democracy
and continues today, with Brasilia as its principal base of spying operations.
During the ‘60s, the main base of CIA operations in the Brazilian church was
Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte. The operation focused on the
Movimento Natal, led by the former bishop of Rio de Janeiro, Father Eugênio de
Araújo Sales, who at that time administered the Catholic church in Natal.
The CIA recruited advisers to Dom Eugênio, mainly students and professionals in
the field of social sciences, with the mission of supplying Washington with
information on the activities of the Ligas Camponesas do Nordeste (Campesino
Leagues of the Northeast).
The Ligas had been formed by socialist Francisco Julião, considered one of the
“public enemies†of the military government, together with Leonel Brizola,
in Rio Grande do Sul, and Carlos Marighella, in Bahia.
A CIA adviser monitored all the activities of the bishops and dioceses of Rio
Grande do Norte. The monitoring was extended, however, to the remaining states,
within the several regional divisions of the Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do
Brasil (CNBB).
~ snip ~
The CIA also monitored support by the Alliance for Progress, instituted by
President John Kennedy, of projects related to the Rio Grande do Norte church,
principally those in the rural and union sectors of that period. Rio Grande do
Norte received a visit from the US Attorney General, Senator Robert Kennedy,
brother of the president, who was also assassinated years later.
Besides the support for church social projects, the Kennedy administration also
sent several tons of food, which was distributed in rural communities in Rio
Grande do Norte. Also on the list for donations were several parishes, including
the Seminário de São Pedro, principal school for training the Rio Grande do
Norte clergy.
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