While the government of Rafael Correa offers asylum to Edward Snowden, who is accused of espionage by the U.S. government and is wanted for extradition to Russia where he currently resides, last August, the government purchased equipment for interception and monitoring of phone calls and cellular communications from an Israeli company registered in the United States.
The total investment was minimal, at $5.5 million, especially considering the capabilities of the equipment. We’ve obtained exclusive documents supporting the entire operation.
The equipment was sold by a company set up for this transaction, called 500 Smart Solutions LLC., registered in Delaware (U.S.) and directed by Gabriel Guecelevich. The representative of the Ecuadorian government in the transaction was Pablo Romero Quezada, National Intelligence Secretary. The equipment is classified as a “semi-active GSM interceptor system and a passive surveillance system.”
The mobile phone call interception capabilities are described in detail by Guecelevich: it can clone cell phones in real time without physical access to the SIM card and without the operator’s cooperation; it identifies incoming and outgoing calls, reroutes outgoing calls to another destination, and intercepts text messages (SMS) both entering and exiting.
Furthermore, the system operator can define the SMS sender, disconnect intercepted calls, support USSD—any type of phone service requiring the key combinations * and #—and does not require inserting the SIM into the monitoring system. It can operate on 3G networks, intercept up to 4 calls simultaneously, and monitor phones across different networks at the same time, effectively intercepting all available phones on the market.
Additionally, it can block communications from previously specified phones, ensuring that no SMS or phone calls can be received or made by the blocked devices while all other phones in the area continue normal communication. The system can continuously perform a device locator service in any desired channel and includes a portable device for UMTS (3G) phones that allows the identification of phone locations through visual and audio cues, also enabling undercover operations.
Remarkably, the system can activate the phone’s microphone to listen to surrounding audio, record calls, and has a tracking device that can be hidden in a “portable and small, innocuous-looking” bag or backpack. It allows detection of targets with a silent call signal. It can operate from a car at a distance of 250 meters, has a caller ID receiver for incoming calls, can clone a phone, and decrypts A5.1 and A5.2 encryption in real-time, among many other capabilities.
The Payment
Guecelevich initially requested a payment of $50,000 for conducting pilot programs to determine the systems’ operability. Later, in a communication from the Ecuadorian National Intelligence Secretariat (Senain), identified as D-S-0031-2013, Romero Quezada informed Guecelevich of the Secretariat’s decision to acquire “the mentioned equipment” for $526,500.
In another secret document identified as SENAIN-CINF-S-135-2012, Jose Miguel Delgado, the General Coordinator of Infocommunications and Special Projects of Senain, inquires whether Guecelevich’s company is willing to provide “UAVs” (unmanned aerial vehicles). The allocation for the purchase by the Ecuadorian government was $5.5 million.
Among the obtained documents are also reports of monitoring social networks and comments from journalists and ordinary citizens critical of Rafael Correa and Nicolás Maduro, conducted by the National Intelligence Secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian government unilaterally and irrevocably renounced the Trade Preferences Treaty with the United States (Atpdea). On Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers warned that they would block the renewal of preferences if Correa granted political asylum to Snowden. The program would expire on July 31.
The Communications Secretary, Fernando Alvarado, stated that Ecuador offered the United States the $23 million annually from which it benefited under ATPDEA to “provide training on human rights to help combat torture.”
Fifty-eight percent of Ecuador’s non-traditional exports are destined for the United States, generating 400,000 jobs in a country with 14 million inhabitants. Ecuador was the only Andean country to continue with the preferences system, initially created as support in the fight against drug trafficking, as Colombia and Peru already have free trade agreements, and Bolivia was excluded in 2008.
This decision harms producers of key products like flowers, tuna, and broccoli. For instance, 97% of broccoli production is exported to the United States. The producers are monoculturists from the indigenous region of Central Sierra, which includes the provinces of Cotopaxi, Pichincha, Imbabura, Carchi, and Chimborazo.
Rafael Correa has made a decision that negatively impacts the entire Ecuadorian people in defense of “champions of freedom of expression,” Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Meanwhile, he not only passed his “gag law” against the press but is ironically guilty of the same sin denounced by Snowden: the government’s espionage against its citizens.