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Venezuela selling passports to Iraqis, may have sold them to jihadis

Feb 9, 2017 6:24 pm By Robert Spencer

Clearly the Venezuelans didn’t do stringent background checks on those to whom they issued these fraudulent passports, and it would have been easy for jihadis to gain access to the fake passports. Lopez speaks about this operation taking place in the Venezuelan embassy in Iraq. If it was happening there, there is no reason why it couldn’t also have been happening elsewhere, even at home. And Venezuela is just three miles across the water from Trinidad, which has the highest rate of Islamic State recruitment in the Western hemisphere.

“Venezuela may have given passports to people with ties to terrorism,” by Scott Zamost, Drew Griffin, Kay Guerrero and Rafael Romo, CNN, February 9, 2017:

The stunning postcard-perfect vista surrounding Misael Lopez in this town about one hour from Madrid belies his constant anxiety, even fear.

That’s because the former legal adviser to the Venezuelan Embassy in Iraq is revealing secrets he says his government doesn’t want disclosed.

“I’m concerned about my safety and my family’s safety everywhere I go,” Lopez said as he walked the cobble-stoned streets of Toledo.

Lopez, 41, says he reported what he says was a scheme to sell passports and visas for thousands of dollars out of the embassy and repeatedly turned down offers to get a cut of the money. But it was the response from his government — which has denied his allegations — that surprised him the most.

CNN and CNN en Español teamed up in a year-long joint investigation that uncovered serious irregularities in the issuing of Venezuelan passports and visas, including allegations that passports were given to people with ties to terrorism. The investigation involved reviewing thousands of documents, and conducting interviews in the U.S., Spain, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.

One confidential intelligence document obtained by CNN links Venezuela’s new Vice President Tareck El Aissami to 173 Venezuelan passports and ID’s that were issued to individuals from the Middle East, including people connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah.

The accusation that the country was issuing passports to people who are not Venezuelan first surfaced in the early 2000s when Hugo Chavez was the country’s president, interviews and records show.

A Venezuelan passport permits entry into more than 130 countries without a visa, including 26 countries in the European Union, according to a ranking by Henley and Partners. A visa is required to enter the United States.

Over the course of the CNN investigation, Lopez provided documents that show he repeatedly told Venezuelan officials about what he discovered. But he said instead of investigating his allegations, the government targeted him for disclosing confidential information. U.S. officials were also made aware of his findings.

“You cannot be a cop, and a thief at the same time,” Lopez said. “I decide to be a cop and do the right thing.”

Doing the right thing has cost him.

Unwelcome surprise

It didn’t start out that way.

Lopez, a lawyer who worked as a police officer in Venezuela, said he thought becoming a diplomat was a great career opportunity, which would also allow him to serve his country. With that in mind, he moved to Baghdad to start his new life at the Venezuelan Embassy.

But, he recalled, he got an unwelcome surprise on his first day in July 2013.

His new boss, Venezuelan Ambassador Jonathan Velasco, gave him a special envelope, he said.

“He gave me an envelope full of visas and passports,” Lopez recalled. “He told me, ‘Get this, this is one million U.S. dollars.’ I thought it was like a joke. Then he told me here people pay a lot of money to get a visa or a passport to leave this country.”

About one month later, Lopez said he realized it was no joke.

An Iraqi employee of the embassy, who was hired to be an interpreter, told him she had made thousands of dollars selling Venezuelan passports and visas, he said. And he could make a lot of money, too.
But Lopez said he told her it was wrong and he refused.

The employee pressed the issue, telling him there were thousands of dollars to be made, he said, even discussing an offer to sell visas to 13 Syrians for $10,000 each.

And, Lopez, said, she told him he could get a cut of the money, too.

Again, he said he refused.

“I suspect it might be terrorists; that’s why I reject, of course, immediately,” Lopez said.

And he said it just got worse.

Lists of names

Lopez said he was stunned when he found a document inside the embassy. It was a list of 21 Arabic names with corresponding Venezuelan passport numbers and Venezuelan identification numbers. A Venezuelan immigration official told CNN that a cross-check of the passport numbers indicated that the passports are valid and match the names on the list Lopez found — meaning the people on the list could be able to travel using those passports.

But incredibly, a publicly available database in Venezuela examined by CNN shows 20 of the 21 identification numbers are registered to people with Hispanic names — not the Arabic names listed on the passports….

U.S. lawmakers heard reports about Venezuelan passport fraud during congressional hearings as far back as 2006. In fact, a congressional report warned, “Venezuela is providing support, including identity documents that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups.”

And a state department report at the time also concluded that “Venezuelan travel and identification documents are extremely easy to obtain by persons not entitled to them.”…

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Filed Under: Featured, Iraq, Venezuela Tagged With: Misael Lopez


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Comments

  1. Stan Lee says

    Feb 9, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    If the passport selling was detected in 2006, at that time the administration was under Obama, with his many appointments to Muslims and Communists included. No one would have raised a finger against that practice, it was “full speed ahead” if it could cause chaos and weaken the USA.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if more illegal and threatening practices were uncovered as time goes on.
    The Trump administration has much to do that the Democrats either permitted by their own agenda, or overlooked anything Obama was too lazy to pursue!
    The only thing serious about his presidency was how seriously he liked all the fringe benefits that permitted a constant vacation to him, with a huge expense account.
    Remember those gullible Americans who cried, “Give him a chance!” Well, he got his chance on an eight year basis…that really was “He took his chance.” And, America is worse-off for it.

    • David Scoltock says

      Feb 9, 2017 at 6:59 pm

      Explain to me how the American governemnt, whatever party is in power, is able to police the passport issuing of a foreign nation?

      • Dapto says

        Feb 9, 2017 at 7:03 pm

        If the said country is deemed a country that’s supporting terrorism if would be very easy to do.

        • David Scoltock says

          Feb 9, 2017 at 7:09 pm

          Really? How exactly? Invade Venezuela?

          Because that worked in Iraq…….

    • kangi_yotaka says

      Feb 9, 2017 at 11:09 pm

      In 2006, Bush was president. Not Obama.
      I’m no fan of O, but your entire argument is invalid.

    • A Harris USA says

      Feb 10, 2017 at 10:43 am

      Stan, and we are paying the price today.. Just keep in mind, the fools are pushing for more of these savages to pour into our nation.. False documents?? NO kidding… Obama had one agenda, hurt the USA anyway everyway he could.. Never could understand why treason was never thrown in for his legacy. I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of these pigs running a muck in our country, just planning, waiting, and looking for the right time and right place to strike YET AGAIN..

  2. Mark A says

    Feb 9, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    All western countries obviously need to take serious action about Venezualan passports.

    Perhaps direct action against Venezuala is called for as well, particularly if Venezuala is knowingly doing this as a way of attacking western nations which are not sympathetic to its government.

    • David Scoltock says

      Feb 9, 2017 at 7:17 pm

      South American governments, beacons of democracy and law…… yeah right.

      UK has been saying this for years, not just our issues with the Argies over the Falklands. They are responsible for most of the drugs in the States by the way.

      Again, what direct action?

  3. Lynne says

    Feb 9, 2017 at 7:33 pm

    Maybe, Venezuela has to go on the banned list.

    • David Scoltock says

      Feb 9, 2017 at 7:36 pm

      The list the appeals court ripped up?

  4. Josephus says

    Feb 10, 2017 at 2:35 am

    It is alleged that the Maltese Government under the administration of Prime Minister Gowzef Muscat has been selling Maltese passports to anyone willing and able to pay a certain certified amount of money. It is said that the going rate was US10,000 for a non conditional passport. This is hearsay and not proven, but where there is smoke, there is fire. Further investigation by you might come up with the real thing.

  5. Phil Copson says

    Feb 10, 2017 at 5:13 am

    Slightly off-topic, but all countries should introduce a carrot-and-stick “mystery shopper” element into border control.

    To ensure immigration officers are following procedures, they should be on a “bonus scheme” under which their commitment and alertness is regularly tested by “immigrants” with documents that do not meet minimum requirements.

    Every time they pick out the “mystery shopper” they receive a bonus, every time they fail, they get fined. Staff who regularly fail to stop visitors/immigrants with non-compliant paperwork should be retrained or fired.

    A bigger bonus to be paid for detecting the real cases of fake/inadequate documentation.

  6. Angemon says

    Feb 10, 2017 at 7:21 am

    For me, the surprise here is not that Venezuelan government officials are corrupt but that CNN is doing what seems to be actual journalism…

  7. John A. Marre says

    Feb 10, 2017 at 2:28 pm

    Because the leftist government of Venezuela wants to destroy the USA, exactly like the American Democrat party, and the Jihadis.

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