The Uruguayan case as a study of Soviet bloc ideological and operational infiltration in Latin America.
In The Art of War, written around 500 B.C., Sun Tzu classifies five types of spies: the native spy, the inside spy, the double agent, the expendable spy, and the living spy.
He clarifies, although it hardly seems necessary, that: “Native spies are recruited from among the inhabitants of a locality.”
None of these agents has the word “spy” written on their forehead.
They are people we live with every day, people with whom we share work or friendship.
Ordinary, everyday individuals.
And the great strategist adds that “no one is rewarded more generously than spies, and no matter is more secret than espionage.”
The USSR referred to its successful spies as “Heroes of the Soviet Union.”
At the same time, it harshly condemned espionage carried out against it.
SPIES WITH FIRST AND LAST NAMES
Rarach
In 1960, the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited three Uruguayan journalists to spend a few days in Prague.
Why invite journalists?
Because it was enough to show them a selective sample of the system’s “reality.”
They were therefore received and guided by a diplomat who was serving at the Ministry.
His name was Vlastimil Veselý, and he showered the three visitors with attentions.
When someone is warmly received and well treated, a debt of gratitude is created.
The way to repay it is to speak well of the host — and journalists write.
The three invited guests were José Ceranti, Héctor Nicolás Menoni, and Leónidas Piria.
All were members of the Uruguayan Press Association.
Ceranti even went on to preside over it.
Since the Czech diplomat would later travel to Montevideo, he asked them for their contact details in order to stay in touch.
Thus, when he was assigned to the embassy in Uruguay and learned that Menoni worked at United Press, he identified him as a target.
The diplomat, who was a captain in the StB and operated for Czech intelligence under the name “Vlasák,” realized he had not been mistaken when Menoni told him that it would not be well received by the Americans if he were seen publicly associating with him.
Of course, Menoni — temporarily codenamed “Rak” by Czech intelligence — was an admirer of the Cuban Revolution and held pro-socialist views.
The relationship deepened during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Menoni passed information to his “friend” at the embassy, drawing it from documents that arrived at the news agency and from colleagues within his network.
He also compiled a list of pro-American journalists.
At first, he was rewarded with cigarettes, as he was a heavy smoker.
The day he accepted money and signed a receipt, he fell into the trap.
He was then formally recruited under the codename “Rarach.”
He not only delivered the kind of news that the American agency received but did not publish, but also dedicated himself to noting the license plate numbers of police vehicles he observed from his window across from Police Headquarters.
Over time, he became head of the agency and thus had access to classified materials, such as the creation of a unit advised by a CIA officer to combat the Tupamaros.
Later, he handed over to the Czech agent the recording of the interrogation of Dan Mitrione prior to his assassination by the Tupamaros in August 1970.
The tape had been sent by the insurgent movement to two news agencies, which in turn forwarded it to the police. It did not become public knowledge until months later.
The KGB learned of it earlier, thanks to Menoni.
He also provided a photocopy of the interrogation of police photographer Nelson Bardesio, who had been kidnapped and tortured by the Tupamaros — a document handled in a similar manner to the Mitrione case.
In 1975, he was paid 200,000 pesos for “expenses.”
He passed on information about the Eleventh Conference of American Armies in Montevideo, a memo from the Uruguayan president concerning the military junta, and reported on the activities and equipment of Uruguayan counterintelligence services, among other contributions.
All of this is rigorously documented in the declassified StB archives.
However, the political situation had changed, and both the Czechs and their spies feared exposure.
Thus, the communist agent suggested that he request a transfer.
In 1976, United Press reassigned him to Venezuela.
The rezidentura in Uruguay — the intelligence cell clandestinely embedded by the StB within Czech embassies — was closed in 1977.
From Venezuela, Menoni continued working for the StB at least until 1985.