Colombia domestic spy chief probes alleged illegal wiretapping by 'mafia' within

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia domestic spy chief probes alleged illegal wiretapping by 'mafia' within

By LIBARDO CARDONA | Associated Press Writer
6:42 PM EST, February 21, 2009

BOGOTA (AP) — Colombia's new domestic spy chief said Saturday that he is probing whether agency employees have been eavesdropping on Supreme Court judges, prominent journalists and opposition leaders.

Felipe Munoz, who took over the troubled DAS domestic intelligence agency last month, was reacting to a report by Colombia's leading newsmagazine of widespread interception of phone calls and e-mail by agency officials at least through late last year.

Munoz said he was attempting to establish the existence of a "mafia network that's threatening the security of the state," at a news conference called after the report was published online.

~snip~
Munoz, who answers directly to President Alvaro Uribe, said the wiretapping was not government policy. However, the newsmagazine Semana quoted five unnamed DAS officials in its story and said the executive branch was the primary beneficiary of the intelligence obtained through the illegal eavesdropping.

More:
http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-colom

[struggle4progress]

1. Report says Colombia spied on judges, lawmakers

BOGOTA (AFP) — Colombia's intelligence service was at the center of a political storm Monday, following revelations it spied on judges, politicians and journalists, forcing President Alvaro Uribe to deny he had ordered the move.

The revelations in the Colombian magazine Semana prompted the resignation of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) deputy director Jorge Alberto Lagos, and may lead to further high profile departures.

"I have never given a single order to monitor these people's private lives," Uribe said Monday.

As well as lawmakers, judges and reporters that were considered political opponents to the Uribe administration, some officials close to the government were also spied on, according to the magazine ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVho7XrAxSMWPbaQ2BTuN0Q8j1Mg

[Judi Lynn]

6. "I have never given a single order to monitor these people's private lives," signed, Uribe.

Apparently he gives several orders to monitor peoples' lives each time, then!

His DAS has rampaged completely out of control from the first. They had to use Interpol to track down Jorge Noguera, his DAS head who ran off when the heat came down a year or two ago, after it became public knowledge he was personally involved in an assassination plot against Hugo Chavez, as well as being intimately involved in the terrorism and assassination of political enemies of no one but Uribe.

Assassinations weren't his hobby, assassinations were his JOB. Political. Dishonest. Murderous. Dirty. Uncool. Shabby. 2nd rate.

It's best to lay open all the information Ibarguen can gather before HE gets assassinated, to clean out that DAS, but I'll bet that will never happen. Looks like a race against time to get past this towering problem which has focused on Uribe's DAS chiefs and their subordinates, and get him re-elected.

[struggle4progress]

2. Colombian intelligence service wiretapped journalists

... Citing five unnamed DAS agents, the magazine said that rogue intelligence officials had monitored and intercepted thousands of e-mails and telephone calls at the end of 2008. The information obtained, Semana said, could have been passed on to criminal groups who have allegedly infiltrated the spy agency. The newsweekly said that the recordings were being destroyed as of the beginning of January.

The magazine identified six well-known journalists among the group of people spied on: Semana's director Alejandro Santos; the director of W Radio, Julio Sánchez Cristo; Caracol Radio's director Darío Arizmendi; Ramiro Bejarano, a columnist for the daily El Espectador; Félix de Bedout with W Radio, and Daniel Coronell, news director of TV network Canal Uno and a columnist for Semana. Coronell is one of Uribe's harshest critics.

On Sunday, Attorney General Mario Iguarán ordered a search of DAS headquarters and assigned two prosecutors to probe the agency, according to local and international news reports. Uribe said he didn't order the wiretaps, which he blamed on a "mafia gang" within the intelligence service, according to news reports. The DAS, which reports directly to the Colombian president, has been plagued by scandals throughout Uribe's time in office, the reports said.

"We are dismayed that President Uribe, who prides himself on having a firm grasp on the institutions of Colombia, would acknowledge that a spy agency that reports to him is running amok," said Lauría. "The DAS must be reformed to ensure that it acts within the law." ...

http://cpj.org/2009/02/colombian-intelligence-service-wiretapped-journali.php

[struggle4progress]

3. Colombian prosecutor orders search of spy agency

By LIBARDO CARDONA – 2 days ago

... Earlier Sunday, the DAS's new director said he had accepted the resignation of the agency's deputy director of intelligence, Capt. Jorge Alberto Lagos. Felipe Munoz, who took office last month, called the resignation "an administrative measure."

The DAS has been plagued by scandal under Uribe. His first director, Jorge Noguera, is in jail on criminal conspiracy charges for allegedly colluding with far-right death squads, including providing them with lists of union activists to target for assassination.

In all, 33 members of Congress, most of them Uribe allies, were ordered jailed on criminal conspiracy charges by the Supreme Court for allegedly benefiting from ties with the far-right militias.

Munoz's immediate predecessor, meanwhile, was forced to resign in October after leading opposition Sen. Gustavo Petro was leaked documents showing that one of her subordinates had ordered he be spied on ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCJ9wZ40rXrPv9ghQwUHWOf_guVAD96H1I4G0

[struggle4progress]

4. 2 more resign from troubled Colombia spy agency

... The Department of Administrative Security, or DAS, announced in a statement the resignation of its deputy directors of analysis and operations, Gustavo Sierra and Marta Leal, without elaborating on the departures.

On Sunday, the agency's deputy director of intelligence resigned.

Prosecutors have searched wiretapping facilities at the agency after Colombia's leading newsmagazine reported about the interception of e-mails and phone calls through at least the end of last year.

Chief Prosecutor Mario Iguaran has complained that prosecutors sent to inspect eavesdropping operations were given the run-around by DAS personnel, who directed them to the wrong offices or went searching for keys ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCJ9wZ40rXrPv9ghQwUHWOf_guVAD96IARVG0

[struggle4progress]

5. DAS should not be disbanded: Presidency

Wednesday, 25 February 2009 08:11

President Álvaro Uribe is against the disbanding of Colombia's intelligence agency DAS as proposed Tuesday by Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos. According to the presidency, the DAS is "important and necessary for democracy."

Santos told journalists the DAS "is an illness in a terminal state that should be given a christian burial." and proposed forming a new intelligence agency.

Uribe -- who has not spoken a word about the scandal publicly himself -- opposes the shutting down of the DAS, his press secretary said Tuesday. "The Government's concern is to find corrections and to improve the institution" ...

The DAS itself, accused of having illegally tapped the phones of opponents and critics of the government, meanwhile is accused of obstructing the investigation into the wiretaps ...

http://colombiareports.com/colombian-news/news/3020-das-should-not-be-disbanded-presidency.html