Colombian govt set up fake NGOs to discredit real ones: Caracol Radio

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Colombian govt set up fake NGOs to discredit real ones: Caracol Radio
Wednesday, 07 December 2011 14:04
Miriam Wells

A deliberate strategy by Colombia's former intelligence agency to undermine NGOs and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been revealed in secret documents.

According to files discovered by Radio Caracol, the 2004 DAS strategy "Operation Internet" aimed to generate controversy through the creation of fake NGOs that released targeted information online.

The strategy reported directly to the president, at that time Alvaro Uribe, and was taxpayer-funded. Rafael Nieto Loaiza, who had recently left his post as Vice-Minister of the Interior, and Jose Miguel Narvaez, DAS vice-director, are listed as "direct support centers" for the operation.

A fake group called the Simon Bolivar Lawyers Collective was in public "an NGO of human rights that integrates Latin American solidarity around fundamental principles." But in a document entitled "Real Situation," its true aim was revealed as "countering the threats represented by the manipulation" of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights -- the body which enforces human rights law for the Organization of American States.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/20943-colombian-govt-set-up-fake-ngos-to-discredit-real-ones.html