Public Resignation

Yesterday I was informed, by confession of our former chief, George W. Bush, that he authorized torture against terrorists or presumed terrorists to extract information in the name of democracy and respect for our institutions.

When I joined the CIA, moved by my young, noble idealism to conquer the world, I would’ve never imagined that our organization, much less the President of the United States, would be involved in the ordering of torture of any kind.

I come from a continent where we are accustomed to those tortured, on top of the arbitrary suffering done to them, end up being prosecuted for aggression against their torturers while they are tied down in basements. However, torture cannot be accepted, no matter where it is or its magnitude.

I also know that it is much easier to condemn torture done by our own government than it is in the rest of the continent, where to denounce or condemn would bring jail time.

For that reason, it’s good to take advantage of this ability to also condemn, vicariously, all those other acts of torture that cannot be condemned.

In the 21st century, it is incredible to see a human being showing no mercy towards one of his kind. Just because the terrorists do it doesn’t justify it, but it forms part of their openly embraced “principles.”

What is indeed serious, however, is that democratic governments promote torture as something perfectly valid and even desirable in certain cases. When such a thing happens, something is wrong. I believe that being truly human demands respect toward the dignity of every person, and that includes those that don’t respect yours.

As stated before, I hereby announce my irrevocable resignation of the position of covert agent, which I have carried out for almost 12 years.

May it be known, once and for all, that you cannot count on me for electric sabotages of any nature, state-owned corporate bankruptcies, and even less to create inflation of 23 percent, which was the final job that I did for the agency. From now on, I declare myself a free agent; I will work on my own without orders from Washington.

I hope that they send a copy of this article to the double super agent 86 here in Caracas, and that they take immediate measures to cancel payments that are owed to me, which are all of them. If you don’t comply, I promise that I will talk more than [Venezuelan drug trafficker, Walid] Makled.