Published at: 12/11/2025 09:00 PM

(New Popular Voice, November 26, 1968 and January 23, 1969)

• Between November and December 1968, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), under the auspices of the government of Raúl Leoni, carried out a massive campaign of infiltration and recruitment of agents within Venezuelan university youth, focusing on union leaders and militants of left-wing parties inside and outside the Central University of Venezuela (UCV).
• This Christmas operation consisted of sending thousands of personalized Christmas cards signed by “The Friends of True Democracy”, with the purpose of recruiting new agents, through the purchase of consciousness.
• The “intelligent” text, words less words more, written in macarronic Spanish, was of the following tenor: “Dear comrade, you have already realized that for this Easter the Party did not have the money to pay your December salary, much less your bonus for which you worked all year and you deserve. After all your efforts and sacrifices over the year, that's how they reward you. With nothing! Are you willing to undergo this kind of treatment forever? And if so, what about your family? How did you explain to your family (be careful with the grammatical construction of this phrase) the shortage of gifts for this Christmas?”
• And here came the thick intrigue: “You can be sure that the materialist leaders of your Party had a merry Christmas this year, but do they care what happens to you?”
• He then attacked the Party's political line (without naming it): “How long do you intend to sacrifice yourself, your family and your children for these humiliating and erroneous policies?”
• Here came the offer for an employment contract: “Why don't you be intelligent (poor Castilian) and join the growing number of your comrades who are cooperating with us and also benefiting?”
• With this Christmas method, the CIA boys thought they had fished in the troubled river of the left-wing parties.
• Obviously, the purpose of the letters was to recruit, divide, fracture, cause desertions and internal discontent.
• The cynical text of the Christmas card continued like this: “If you are interested in starting the new year with a prosperous future and send us (without accent) a note in return mail to P.O. Box 37, General Post Office, New York, N.Y. 100001, stating your interest and signing the same number written on this Christmas card with your note”.
• Here is the covert spying system deployed: “Our representative will contact you in an absolutely secure manner. You can identify him as our real representative (read of the CIA) because he (without accent) will know your number and will mention it to you. We wish you a Happy (with a capital letter) New Year. The Friends of True Democracy.”
• This Christmas operation was carried out using as an innocent mask the Christmas cards sold by the Venezuelan Caritas Association for thousands, to collect charitable funds.
• The Friends of True Democracy, the CIA, as can be seen from the content of the Christmas greeting, had a wide network of agents capable of sending the operation to several trade union organizations and political parties, in different cities of the country. To this end, they used the database of the General Directorate of Police (DIGEPOL), the archives of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas and the information provided by deserters and infiltrators within the left-wing parties.

Mazo News Team