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Venezuela: Chávez tightens hold on intelligence
Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of Venezuela’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 Mr. 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 Mr. Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees. Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of Venezuela’s intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash... more -
Chilean judge orders arrest of Pinochet-era soldiers and secret police
A Chilean judge has ordered the detention of almost 100 former soldiers and secret police officers from General Augusto Pinochet's regime as part of investigations into human rights abuses, according to reports.
Among the 98 held are former employees of Pinochet's notorious Dina intelligence service, which ran a series of secret prisons where leftwingers and other opponents were tortured and killed.
Judge Victor Montiglio ordered the arrests for alleged abuses during Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship. Montiglio is examining the kidnapping and murder of 42 people during Operation Colombo, a campaign against opponents of the regime in its early days.
Around 3,000 people died or vanished during Pinochet's rule while almost 30,000 were tortured and about 200,000 fled.
Pinochet himself died in December 2006 without ever facing trial, although his immunity from prosecution was removed by a Chilean court in 2000. A Chilean judge has ordered the detention of almost 100 former soldiers and secret police officers from General Augusto Pinochet'... more -
The Stasi Smell Museum
The Stasi -- East German secret police -- kept an enormous museum of "smell samples" of German citizens, kept in case they ever needed to give hunting dogs the scent of a fugitive criminal
Pretty creepy... The Stasi -- East German secret police -- kept an enormous museum of "smell samples" of German citizens, kept in case they e... more
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