US spy program defies international law

A secret memo obtained by The Associated Press detailed a yearlong covert operation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Venezuela.

DEA undercover operatives were said to have been deployed in the South American country to secretly record and build drug-trafficking cases against the country’s leadership — a plan the US acknowledged from the start was arguably a violation of international law.

“It is necessary to conduct this operation unilaterally and without notifying Venezuelan officials,” read the 15-page 2018 memo expanding “Operation Money Badger,” an investigation that authorities say targeted dozens of people, including Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

While there was no clear mechanism to hold the United States accountable legally, the revelation threatens to roil already fraught relations with Maduro’s socialist government and could deepen resentment of the US across Latin America over perceived meddling.

It also offers a rare window into the lengths the DEA was willing to go to fight the drug war in a country that banned US drug agents nearly two decades ago.

Some of Maduro’s closest allies were ensnared in the investigation, including Alex Saab, the businessman recently freed for 10 Americans, and a fugitive defense contractor. However, it was not clear until now that US probes targeting Venezuela involved legally questionable tactics.

“We don’t like to say it publicly, but we are, in fact, the police of the world,” said Wes Tabor, a former DEA official who served as the agency’s country attaché in Venezuela well before the investigation described in the memo was launched.

Tabor, who would not confirm the existence of any such operations, said unilateral, covert actions can be an effective tool when conducted with proper limits and accountability, particularly in a country like Venezuela.

“We’re not in the business of abiding by other countries’ laws when these countries are rogue regimes and the lives of American children are at stake,” he said.

The never-before-seen document was authored at the cusp of Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign to remove the Venezuelan president.