https://docs.google.com/document/d/1seLcw-0gnNwfgiZptgsU9EUAYfPDk1lEGxB5eAtTE3w/edit#
A Venezualian criminal court decided on Wednesday that a United States citizen would face trial in Venezuela. Matthew Heath, is facing charges for terrorism and being accused of being a spy. Heath who is 39, was arrested in northwestern Venezuala with terrorism charges and arms dealing. Heath’s defense lawyer says he denied the “false” charges in the hearing that took place on Wednesday. President Nicolas Maduro stated when they found Heath that he was spying on an oil refinery with specialized weapons and equipment. When the United States were notified of the situation they released a statement that Heath was not sent to Venezuela by Washington. Heath was not alone however, Venezuelan National Guard Sergeant Major Darwin Urdaneta, Marcos Garces and Daeven Rodriguez. All of Heaths accomplices were charged with treaspn, terrorism, arms trafficing and conspirecy.
I think this article is important because it shows that international espionage is still happening and even though the United States didn’t take responsibility for Heath and his actions, it still begs the question of their involvement. This also goes to show that Venezuela’s poor leadership has caused them a recession and the citizens of Venezuela are outraged. The oil rich country has seemingly been in a recession for quite some time now due to the country’s abysmal leadership. It has gotten so bad members of Venezuela’s military teamed up with an American spy to try and figure out what was going on. Another reason why the United States could car a lot about the Venezula government and how the country is being run is due to the fact that the United States obtains approximately 1.9 billion dollars worth of imports from Venezuela each year and if their economy continues to drop then the United States could lose a lot of money.
From an International Relations standpoint this is an important story. A variety of issues were uncovered in the arrest of Heath and his accomplices. First off, this directly relates back to a topic discussed in class about international espionage and how it really works. For example if the United States were to have spies in other countries it is likely that the country in which they were stationed would know about it. If the other country had no knowledge of the spy then the United States would most likely deny that they had no involvement. Which brings up the question, why was a 39 year old American in Venezuela spying on an oil refinery with 3 Venezulan military accomplices? The obvious and likely answer is that the United States sent Heath to Venezuela to try and uncover as much information as possible due to the country’s awful leadership; based on the information he gathered would help the United States make better economic decisions. This story is also shedding light on how truly bad the Venezualn government is being run, and how it is affecting its people.