Venezuela discusses spying and intelligence services

Caracas, Venezuela, 4 May 2008. In the last few days, Venezuelan society has been debating the merits of a newly enacted decree-law on intelligence service and social spying. This legislation deals with the creation of two new spying units: The General Intelligence Office and the General Counterintelligence Office.  They would be set up after dismantling the two most notorious ones created during the cold war era: Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP) established in 1958 by Venezuelan dictator Marcos Perez Gimenez and the Military Intelligence Department (DIM).

 
As expected, the debate has fallen at the very core of the already divided political spectrum. On the one hand, pro government sectors hailed the legislation for its modernizing drive. They also stated it was necessary and would contribute to the betterment of the Venezuelan society amid foreign spying and external threats from American imperialism. Des-classification of documents will now be possible.
 
On the other hand, local opposition parties and some NGO -like COFAVIC and PROVEA -have argued the new law was decided without public debate. They have claimed it also curtails civil liberties - like right to privacy, due process, Human Rights, etc - enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. The Secret Service legislation would provide for a state structure similar to the ones existing in Cuba for spying its own citizens or the USA Patriot Act enacted by President George Bush in 2001.  In reaction to this criticism, Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez Frías, called them hypocrite arguments as they never questioned the disappearing and torturing practises used by the old secret services before. It was worth remembering that notorious Cuban anti Castro terrorist, Posada Carriles, worked once for DISIP.
 
Managing the Venezuelan secret services during the Chavez administration has proved rather difficult though. It had to break cooperation with CIA and Mossad while leaning towards the Cuban secret service. Furthermore, some members of local secret services betrayed Chavez and readily endorsed the brief US backed coup against him in 2002.  Unlike current Home Office Minister and prominent hostage mediator, Ramón Chacín, some of previous secret service managers turned out to be criminals too. There was a case decided at OAS regarding the disappearance of some Venezuelan citizens during the tragic mud slides that took place at Vargas in December 1999. Amid the tragic, some DISIP commando took specific survivors and dissapeared them. The first appointed head of DISIP during the current administration, Jesus Urdaneta, was then a close political ally of President Chavez but is now a member of the opposition. His responsibility in that horrid case is still pending.
 
 
 
 
 
Sources: Globovison, VTV. NYT, YVKE, El Universal, BBC Mundo, Venepoetics