US Says It Would Donate Costa Rica Wiretapping Equipment http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2011/april/07/costarica11040707.htm

The call interception (wiretapping) centre is ready to go, missing only a budget to operate. As such, U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Anne Andrew, said on Wednesday that her government would donate the specialized equipment because of the awareness of the importance of the tool (wiretap) in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking.Webtapping is used to monitor websites that presumably contain dangerous or sensitive materials, and the people that access them. Though it is allowed by the US PATRIOT Act, it is considered by many a questionable practice, if not an all-out violation of civil liberties.

[also see>CIA behind ‘illegal’ anti-drug operation in Costa Rica http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/01-682/

An espionage operation against drug trafficking by a mysterious unit within the Costa Rican intelligence service was organized and funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency, it has been alleged. The operation, codenamed CINEC, was revealed by Costa Rica’s former Minister of Public Security, Rogelio Ramos, in an interview earlier this week with the country’s leading newspaper, La Nación. Ramos told the newspaper that CINEC was conducted for a period of ten years by a group of “special agents” operating out of the Dirección de Inteligencia Seguridad (DIS), Costa Rica’s intelligence agency.

The former government minister said CINEC members were stationed in houses throughout the country that were leased by front-companies operating on behalf of the CIA, and that they used equipment, including vehicles, supplied by the US agency. He also said that CINEC operatives were recruited, vetted, administered polygraph tests, and trained by the CIA. According to the Nación article, Ramos said that operation CINEC included activities that “are not legal”.