Report: Brazil Suspected French Role in 2003 Space Base Blast

Brazil kept French spies under surveillance in connection with suspected sabotage at its Alcantara satellite launch base where a blast killed 21 people in 2003, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The daily Folha de Sao Paulo, citing Brazilian intelligence documents, said at least three counter-espionage operations targeted French agents and their contacts in Alcantara located in the northeastern state of Maranhao, not too far from the Kourou space base in French Guiana.

The investigation yielded no evidence of sabotage and the official explanation for the blast was that a power failure caused the premature ignition of one of the rocket boosters.

The Brazilian presidential palace and the French embassy in Brasilia refused to comment on the case.

Foha's latest report followed one on Monday in which the newspaper disclosed that between 2003 and 2004 Brazil monitored Russian, Iranian and Iraqi diplomats as well as offices rented by the United States in Brasilia.

A government official said Monday that the counter-intelligence operations were in line "with Brazilian legislation on the protection of national interests".

Folha said that since 2002 the Brazilian intelligence agency Abin had kept tabs on a "spy ring" of France's DGSE foreign intelligence agency operating in Maranhao and Sao Paulo.

It said one of the targets was a DGSE operative who went by the name "Olivier" and used his cover as a kitesurfing instructor to recruit informants at the Alcantara base.

Alcantara, currently under reconstruction, is viewed as one of the world's best satellite launch pads and the main rival to France's Kourou facility.

Alcantara's proximity to the Equator means a 30 percent fuel saving.

Folha said Abin produced at least eight reports on the case but found no evidence of French sabotage. Most of those killed in the explosion were engineers and technicians of the Aerospace Technology General Command linked to the Brazilian Air Force.

Monday, Brazilian lawmakers called for the government to explain the counter-intelligence operations, which came to light in the wake of revelations of massive U.S. cyberspying against this country.

Documents leaked by fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden indicated that Washington's National Security Agency eavesdropped on President Dilma Rousseff's communications, those of state-run oil giant Petrobras as well as on emails and telephone calls of millions of Brazilians.

Tuesday, Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo, however, said these were "completely different (spying) cases".