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Chávez decree tightens
hold on intelligence
Simon Romero
IHT
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
President Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry
out a major overhaul of this country's intelligence agencies,
provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and
legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform
on one another to avoid prison terms.
Under the new intelligence law, which took effect last week,
Venezuela's two main intelligence services, the DISIP secret police
and the DIM military intelligence agency, will be replaced with
new agencies, the General Intelligence Office and General Counterintelligence
Office, under the control of Chávez.
The new law requires people in the country to comply with requests
to assist the agencies, secret police or community activist groups
loyal to Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of
two to four years for most people and four to six years for government
employees.
(Article continues below)
"We are before a set of measures that are a threat to all
of us," said Blanca Rosa Mármol de León, a
justice on Venezuela's top court, in a rare public judicial dissent.
"I have an obligation to say this, as a citizen and a judge.
This is a step toward the creation of a society of informers."
The sweeping intelligence changes reflect an effort by Chávez
to assert greater control over public institutions in the face
of political challenges following a stinging defeat in December
of a constitutional reform package that would have expanded his
powers.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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