CIA knew everything about Enver Hoxha

The American Intelligence Service has had precise details on how State Security worked in communist Albania. Several 1952 documents show details of Albanian agents' undercovers.

According to the document, spies were in every organization, dictatorship, and company. They were party eyes and ears, and anyone who identified himself as irregular was arrested. It also shows who could be part of it. Another detail is that divisions arose within the Communist Party.

Security and Controls in Albania, June 1952

Police and Security Agents

There are about 30 police officers and security agents in Lezha, headed by Qamil Daci from Shkodra. Lezha civil guard has about 14 men. There are police stations in the Lezha area of Dajc, Kalmet, Krioneri Shengj.

Each basic organisation has security agents that form the party's secret police. These agents infiltrate various workers' organisations, with tasks such as maintaining oversight of collective members or working Party members.

They also oversee organisations and the regime's own security forces for divers elements. During party meetings, these elements are initiated by harsh criticism of elements that violate the Communist Party line, and each suspect is reported to Security. Security agents can be leaders of the basic organisation or even ordinary party members. As in the southern part of Albania, the northern border also has a restricted area of about 1,500m.

Concentration camps

Four prisoners, three for political crimes and one for other crimes were sent to Shkodra. About 200 people are being held for political violations and about 400 for common crimes. Burrel is home to those suffering long political penalties. During the stay, prisoners are forced to work in the chromium mines near Burrel.

There are prisons in Lezha for political and ordiner crimes, but after the convicted trials, they are sent to the Shkodra prison to serve the sentence. In the northern part of Fier, old Italian barracks have been introduced to families of fugitives. An informant said he saw the camp in August 1950 as he passed by in a military vehicle.

Another concentration camp is located in Lushnje, the old Italian barracks in the western part of the city. Our informant saw about 250 prisoners there when he passed through the military vehicle. About 30 of the prisoners were old men, while the rest were women. Everyone was returning from forced labor.

On the same trip south of Kavaja, our informant without fugitives or family members returning from forced labor.

About 200 older men and women of all ages were accompanied by six policemen. The informant did not know where their camp was located. From the prison's clothing, the informant judged that they came from different regions of Albania, including south. The informant heard from a Kosovo soldier that there was a camp for political prisoners and in Kosovo.

The informant believes that there is a camp in Fier for Yugoslav sympathies refugees. In this regard, the informant declared that one of his relatives, a Yugoslav citizen, has fled to Albania and is now in Fier. This relative had asked permission to live with his people in the village of informants, but the authorities had refused.

Greek guerrillas

The informant has not spotted Greek guerrilla movements in Albania. He knew some guerrillas had expressed a desire to stay in Albania and become Albanian citizens. Yet, their numbers were very small. The government puts them in the regions of Elbasan and Fier and gave them land plots, so they are distributed and not limited to the camp.

Permissions and IDs

The individuals authorized to carry weapons have a permit to carry with them. It is released by their local Security Branch. Only civil passports are required to travel.

When a person is no longer a member of the Labour Party, the party card is taken by the officer in charge of the basic organisation and handed over to the party's political office of workers in his area. Every Albanian citizen should have the following documents: The ID document, the license to be released from the army, following the conduct of service in the armed forces. The party document, if it is a party member, issued by the youth political office.

The activities of the Soviet oil mission (Her 1950)

Among several Soviet missions operating in Albania, the largest of them non-military is the one for oil, which was originally part of the technical mission under the direction of Professor Tarkov.

In November 1948, Soviet Minister Chuvashin announced to the Albanian government that future oil and fuel missions would be carried out by independent groups. The head of this mission is engineer Veseod Kuraki, senior official of the Neftprom company in Moscow.

First launched with nine people, the mission began to grow after 1949, reaching 69 technicians from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Soviet areas of Germany and Austria. 17 special aircraft specialists came from this one. The mission has its offices on the Elbasan road and headquarters on Skenderbeg Street. It also has regional offices in Kuchova, Durres and Shkodra.

The branches of Durres and Kucova are mainly committed to the establishment of oil deposits. The watchdog group is divided into two groups. The first is led by Vasuitti and conducted surveys in the Murriz-Salce area northwest of the Kucova wells, while the second, led by Nikitenko, is located in Elbasan for investigating natural gas fields (which account for about 18 600 calories per cubic metre).

If the investigations result in productivity and easy access, Elbasan will become Albania's centre for metan gas production, while Shkodra, according to missions, will become the centre of the synthetic fuel industry like coal. In this regard, the installation of the Soviet plant is planned PLE-47, adapted by Soviet engineer Flesnikov, according to the model of the American system “Hydrocol”

According to Soviet estimates, 18,000 tons per year of synthetic oil can be obtained in the early stages of production. Negotiations are still under way and still no final decision has been taken by the parties.

The Soviet mission has rejected Albanian plans to create a oil port in Vlora, linked to pipelines with oil wells in Kuchova. In the opinion of the Soviets, Albanian oil is needed for local consumption, so there is no need for building such a port in Vlora, which could result in much exposure and costly in the event of an enemy attack.

The Soviets suggest that portual plants for the amount of oil for export are better built in Durres, which is less exposed to attacks and closer to the capital, which is also well protected. The Soviets have also suggested establishing the oil deposits system in Durres, whose construction has already begun.

Deposit will be built near the main roads and linked to the Durres-Cavaj railway, which covers the hills of the Arapaj fishing village (thirty-five per cent of deposits will be underground). During 1949 the decision will be made on the construction of two oil refinerys, for which Albania will provide the workforce, while the USSR will provide materials and technical personals.

According to reports, the main purpose of the operation of the oil and fuel mission is to secure fuel reserves for Soviet aircraft and Soviet naval forces operating in Albanian waters in the event of war.

Although the conduct of the Albanian population in cities and ports is correct against Soviet officers, it is sometimes hostile in rural areas in which the Soviets are accompanied by armed guards during their visits. All Soviet personnel receive food supplies with special aircraft from Bulgaria or Romania.

In addition, nine private restaurants are organised for service to Soviet officials in Tirana, and have no connection with the large restaurant at the Soviet Embassy. Because of the increasing number of Soviets, their housing is becoming a problem for Albanian authorities.

Note: The fact is that Soviet plans for the production centre in Shkodra are not linked to previous Yugoslav projects for building a similar facility in Virpazer.

Resistance to the current regime

The discontent among the Albanian people continues to be widespread, and in recent years there have been several cases of open resistance to the regime. Even the regime itself has acknowledged the existence of <x0-diversants” and attacks on military and civilian supply convoys.

The worst resistance incident was the bombing at the Soviet Embassy in February 1951, but local killings and sabotages have also been a challenge for communist authorities. So far, the Hoxha regime has managed to deal with opposing movements, implementing numerous expectations.

For example, Minister Shehu has established several separate hunting battalions operating in mountainous areas against individual resistance groups. Anti-communist refugees have reported on the existence of several resistance groups with names like “National Line of Mountains”, “Freedom”, “Skenderbeu”, “Call”, but there is no specific information on them.

There does not seem to be co-operation among dissident groups despite their common desire to remove Hoxha's regime. Among Albanian groups in migration, the most important appears to be the National Committee for Free Albania, with European headquarters in Rome, which consists of three groups: 1) the Democratic Party Agrarian/ National Ball, which has the most followers in southern Albania, 2) the Party of Legality (pro-King Zog), which is the strongest in the centre of Albania, and 3) the League of peasants who rely on the north of the country and in the Yugoslav provinces where Albanians live.

All groups are aimed at creating free and independent Albania, but have differences among themselves over the new government's kind. Committee activities within Albania have only been spreading propaganda and some subversive efforts by its agents. Their most effective operation has been the release of propaganda sheets, which have caused a lot of domestic excitement, and has prompted protest marks against Italian officials or and the departure of people from Albania.

Rebels

Most communists seem willing to co-operate with any organisation that plans to overthrow the regime because of disappointment with the government, the belief that the USSR will not risk entering into the fight because of Albania or because they believe Hoxha's power will fall soon and expect to account for the next government to come next.

The government no longer trusts the police and reports that more than a quarter of the police are in favour of the revolution. It is reported that ninety percent of people are ready to act against the government, but seek assurance that there will be no territorial concessions to Greece, Yugoslavia, and Italy.

The population is confused by various sponsorships that have foreign groups entering the country in secret, so they believe that if these groups do not join, the country can be caused more harm than favor. The government has done many propaganda during this time, charging that the Committee for Free Albania works for Greece and intends to return it to the Northern Epirus. It also promotes that Italian groups will return Italian and Yugoslav influence to the country will give Kosovo's region Yugoslavia.

Since arrested members of former agent groups have told investigators about those who have helped them inside the country, citizens are afraid to help various agent groups and have reported them to authorities. Yugoslav groups do not have the alleged influence in northern areas, nor are those sent by Greeks considered favoured.

Divisions Among Communists

The Albanian Communist Party as a result of the debates is divided. Small groups of partisans of 15-20 people are located in the mountains. There's terror and hunger, no one's sure of his life. The country's army consists of 25 thousand people, but the government does not have much trust in its troops, so during shifts from one location to another, soldiers do not have loaded weapons.

The number of Russian specialists in the country has reached 1,000. As seen earlier, Albania is run by a small click of communists that have no connection with its people. This group also has debates. People's discontent increases day-to-day. Once the signal of the uprising is given, the Albanian people will end the communists within days. Tito will not move because Enver Hoxha's Albania represents the main enemy. We must assume that Tito will secretly help remove Hoxha's regime and his company.

But the following conditions are absolutely necessary: Greece, if possible, must solemnly declare that it recognises Albania's borders of 1913, namely those prior to the Italian occupation of 1939, giving up its claims on the Northern Epirus (the fertile province of Korca and Gjirokastra, and launch a new policy of friendship with democratic Albania.

Such a statement is of great significance as the Albanian people prefer to suffer under the communist Horn for fear of the country's Greek invasion of the south. The declaration is announced by radio and press, encouraging the Albanian people to create the necessary conditions for the revolution.

This initiative should be carried out by Albanian forces abroad (in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Syria) whose number will be 1500 to 2,000 people. Direct contact should be decided with qualified resistance leaders, both inside and abroad. In each region of Albania, there are people who own the absolute authorities over their provinces.

Armations, ammunition and other supplies will be provided by Allies. The consequences of a successful coup is: A severe blow to Russian imperialism and an excellent example for other countries suffering under the Soviet strike; End of civil war in Greece; Taking the important base on the island of Saban.