Paging Mr. Belafonte, Mr. Penn, Ms. Sheehan, et. al. Please call your office.<\/p>\n
President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
[…]<\/p>\n
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. Ch\u00e1vez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are before a set of measures that are a threat to all of us,\u201d said Blanca Rosa M\u00e1rmol de Le\u00f3n, a justice on Venezuela\u2019s top court, in a rare public judicial dissent. \u201cI have an obligation to say this, as a citizen and a judge. This is a step toward the creation of a society of informers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sweeping intelligence changes reflect an effort by Mr. Ch\u00e1vez 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Looks like his powers are expanding in spite of the voters. Again, yet another predictable step towards totalitarianism from a government that the Hollywood Left finds common cause with. Ignorance of history is no excuse.<\/p>\n
(Can we use the term “dictator” now?)<\/p>\n