Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
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The Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención (Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services, DISIP) was the premier intelligence agency of Venezuela. It was established in January 1958 by then-president Marcos Pérez Jiménez. DISIP was an internal security force subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. As of September 2007, the Minister of the Interior and Justice of the Venezuelan Government was the Chávez-appointed Ramón Rodríguez Chacín.
According to the New York Times, as of June 3, 2008, DISIP has been replaced with a new agency, the General Intelligence Office.[1]
DISIP officers dress either in black uniforms or plain clothes and drive yellow and black cars.
DISIP has an extensive record of human rights violations, from its foundation as hard-line dictator's Pérez Jiménez's secret police, who were in charge of torturing so-called "enemies of State", to recent allegations of torture and murder of political opponents.[2][3][4] In their 1997 and 1998 reports, Amnesty International details human rights violations by DISIP, including unlawful detention of Venezuelan human rights activists.[5][6]
A murderous rampage against suspected looters in the state of Vargas following the 1999 mudslides became, according to Human Rights Watch, "the first major human rights test of the Chávez government. At first, Chávez dismissed the reports as 'suspicious' and 'superficial,' but the evidence soon obliged the president and other top government officials to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation."[7][8] Human Rights Watch expressed their deep concern over DISIP (and National Guard) abuse in Venezuela in a 2004 personal letter to President Hugo Chávez.[9] Amnesty International has also expressed concern over excessive use of force by the DISIP, and the increasing polarization and political violence in Venezuela since Chávez was elected in december of 1998.[10]
