By Ferdinand Dervish
Memorie.al / A “cadre” of the CIA, (Central Intelligence Agency) or the secret service of the United States of America, informed the Albanian State Security at the right time, about the start of the student protests Albanians at the end of 1990. Totally unbelievable, since the intelligence agency of the most democratic state in the world at that time was not at all on the side or in partnership with the Albanian communists, this is proven in black and white, a document of the Third Directorate of State Security, which was published for the first time by the journalist Blendi Fevziu, in his show “Opinion”. The document is dated November 13, 1990, so its content was communicated to the leaders of the communist state at the time, almost a month before the student protests, which are known to have started on the evening of December 8, 1990.
The information was sent to the First Directorate of State Security (Counterintelligence) from the Third Directorate of State Security, otherwise known as “Political Intelligence”. The document signed by the Director of the III Directorate, Sefer Ramaj, was sent to the Director of the First Directorate, Nerulla Zebi, who also handled it, making a handwritten note at the end of it, with the inscription “Shoku Agim “. The note says: “Comrade Agim: You are sent to the DPB (Directorate of Internal Affairs) of Tirana. We must think seriously to prevent any event 13.11.1990”.
Comrade Agim or Mr. Agim, is another leader of the Security, who until this time held the function of the head of the 8th Branch of the First Directorate, which dealt with anti-party groups, counter-revolutionary activity, internment – deportations, letters with terrorist tendencies, re-education wards, etc. Two days later, on November 15, 1990, in the same document, Nerulla Zebi left another handwritten note, which says that the information was sent to the party leadership. While the handwritten note at the top of the page; “faithful friend”, has no significance, as it is thought to have been made for the purpose of photocopying.
CIA forecast
Although it is most likely that after the note; “a cadre of the CIA” may not be an agent of the American intelligence service at all, many may be an informant from the ranks of diplomats or journalists, the only ones who had unlimited opportunities of movement in those times, the content of the document is completely accurate, or completely predictive.
So, according to the content of the document, the “framework” of the CIA warned that before or after the November holidays; “students could organize a demonstration, due to the difficult conditions of study, sleeping, food. They can come out with requests for changing the educational programs and other young people can join them”.
And if you have been a witness, or if you have followed the events, this is exactly how it happened, or historically. Because the students of the “Student City” stood up after the holidays, on December 8, 1990, initially with demands for the improvement of conditions.
In the following, the information warned that the usual ceremonies, that is, gatherings, should be avoided, making the spy to have accurate information for this part as well. This is because at this time, the State Security or the communist leaders of the country avoided festive or sports gatherings.
An illustrative example can serve as the violent and hasty dispersal of the student demonstration at noon on December 9, as Tirana’s sports fans, at the same time, were going to the “Qemal Stafa” stadium, which was close to the demonstrators trapped in Elbasan Street, near the Artistic High School. So the students were beaten and scattered before any agreement could be attempted with them, only for fear that their crowd might be joined by the fans that were going to the stadium.
And at the end of it all, the fate of the signatory of this document, the former director of the III Directorate, Sefer Ramaj, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances, in his office at the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 1991, at a time when cadres of the old communist state were still in this institution. Below is the content of the document.
SECRET DOCUMENT OF THE DIRECTOR OF ALBANIAN INTELLIGENCE, SEFER RAMAJ, ON NOVEMBER 13, 1990, WITH A SOURCE OF AN AMERICAN CIA OFFICIAL, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDENT DEMONSTRATION, ONE MONTH LATER
Secret
Copy no. 1
Tirana on 13.11.1990
People’s Socialist Republic of Albania
Ministry of Internal Affairs
The Third Directory
No. 494
INFORMATION
1st Directorate
Here
From one of our sources, we are informed that:
According to a CIA cadre, it is expected that on the eve or after the November holidays, Albanian students will organize a demonstration due to the difficult conditions of study, sleeping, and food.
They can come out with requests to change the teaching programs and other young people can join them.
The source suggests that during the festive days, the usual ceremonies should be avoided, as they can be used to turn them into hostile activities.
Director of Directorate III
Sefer Ramaj
(Signature, stamp)
How was the Italian diplomat intercepted, speaking about the student demonstration?
The State Security intercepted foreign representations or embassies in Tirana. At least this is what an interesting document published by journalist Blendi Fevziu says in his “Opinion” show.
The content of the intercepted conversation is related to the first protests of Albanian students in December 1990. The conversation, which was recorded by the State Security, is a telephone dialogue between a “Reuters” journalist and an official of the Italian Embassy in Tirana.
The journalist is interested in the student protests of December 9, 1990, the size, the injured, the arrested, as well as the situation in Albania. While the official responds as an eyewitness, telling him all the details of the fight, which happened near the Italian embassy.
The clarification of the interception was sent to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of APS, Ramiz Alia, the secretary of the Central Committee of APS Xelil Gjoni and the Prime Minister, Adil Çarçani. Here is the content of the document.
THE SECRET DOCUMENT SENT TO RAMIZ ALISA AND XHELIL GHONI BY INTERIOR MINISTER HEKURAN ISAI, ON THE TELEPHONE CONVERSATION OF A DIPLOMAT OF THE ITALIAN EMBASSY IN TIRANA, WITH A JOURNALIST IN ITALY
Secret:
Specimen no.
TIRANA, ON 11.12.1990
SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS
DIRECTORATE OF I
No. 11464
Subject: For the interests of a correspondent of the “Reuters” agency in Italy, for the student demonstration.
Friends: Ramiz, Adil and Xelil
A correspondent of the “Rojter” agency in Italy, in the telephone conversation he conducted on 9.12.1990 with De Nicola, an employee of the Italian embassy in Tirana, with whom he had previously met in Tirana, was interested in learning from him, if he is given any notice about the student demonstration in Albania, their number, the intervention made by the police, if a weapon was fired at them, the number of those killed and arrested and other data in this direction.
In response to De Nikolas, he says: “…the ATSH Agency has given him such news and in fact a large demonstration took place here near our embassy, which we saw with our own eyes.
There were about 500-1000 students and they wanted to gather in the center, but they were blocked by the police, about 100 meters from the embassy, on “Labinoti” street, and the security guards were forced to intervene to disperse them.
The demonstration started at 10:30 and continued until 1:30 p.m., and then they were surrounded by the police and fought hand to hand, hitting them with stones, so they could not advance any further.
It was seen that the police also used rubber batons, because they were secured with spikes and guards. Since the road from the back was also blocked, the students were forced to disperse in a field, which is located near our embassy, and they were able to take shelter in private houses of Albanians who were nearby.
We also heard gunshots, but I don’t think anyone was killed. It was heard that they were shouting: “Freedom, Democracy”, in favor of Ramiz Ali and they were asking for the improvement of living conditions, and they were also heard shouting; “Long live Gorbachev”!
I did, in fact, see one person injured before the fight with the police started, but he may have fallen off a wall himself, so I can’t say how many were injured. The same thing happened in the evening of 8.12.1990 and they said that a group of students also met Ramiz Alia.
When the interlocutor asks him if the situation has calmed down and that the ATSH agency only talks about a meeting between the Minister of Education and the Rector of the University with the students, De Nikolas says: “I told you about what I heard and saw myself and I say that the situation has now calmed down and normalized and everything seems peaceful”.
In continuation, the correspondent of “Rojteri” asks that; who took the first step, the police or the students; he is surprised that ATSH gave the news so quickly, and then he wants to know if there were such actions in this university and how many students there are in total, since there is talk of 12 thousand people.
The employee of the Italian Embassy, in response, says: “Actually, I am also surprised by such a fact, since it is the first time that a demonstration of theirs has been seen. I know there is only one university here, but I don’t know their number. I saw with my own eyes that they arrested some people, whom they say were the organizers”./Memorie.al
Minister of Internal Affairs
Hekuran Isai
(Signature, stamp)
