Chavez Tightens Grip on Intel Agencies

Venezuelan strongman [T]hugo Chavez is busy again undermining the rights of Venezuelans, claiming that he needs tighter control over Venezuelan intelligence agencies. Many see this as yet another attempt to circumvent constitutional controls and to undermine his opponents by condoning spying by people on their neighbors.

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.

“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 Mr. Chávez to assert greater control over public institutions in the face of political challenges following a stinging defeat in December of a package of constitutional changes that would have expanded his powers.

Mr. Chávez, who has insisted the defeat will not dampen his ambitions to transform Venezuela into a Socialist state, said the new law was intended to guarantee “national security” and shield against “imperialist attacks.”

He lashed out at its critics as being agents of the “empire,” meaning the United States.

Chavez makes no secret of his desire to turn Venezuela into a wasteland, though he prefers calling it a socialist state. Let's note that socialism has been responsible for destroying economies the world over, and Chavez isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed if he thinks that following the Mugabe plan for economics is a good idea. Venezuela already sees crushing inflation and food shortages; problems that will only get worse as Chavez attempts to remake the economy in his image.

The new intel law has Cuban flourishes on it, and despite claims that the law will not get Venezuelans spying on each other, that it was done in secret and rammed through the legislature suggests the motivations are clearly to undermine the opposition through intimidation, arrest, and curtailing rights of all Venezuelans. The law requires the courts to rubber stamp and actively assist in intel efforts, rather than serve as a check on them.

Venezuela continues slouching towards a socialist dictatorship.