COSTA RICA NEWS – Mariano Figueres, the director of Costa Rica’s intelligence agency or “political police”, the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad (DIS), appeared before the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, to explain a confidential plan to reform the agency.
The director personally discussed the draft bill the government is proposing to send to the Legislature on October 1, with legislative members of the Commission on Security and Drug Trafficking.
The subject, however, is being handled in total secrecy with none of the legislators of the commission revealing any details, precisely because the copy left behind by Figueres was labeled in red letters, “confidential.”
The director told La Nacion that the DIS is working on a proposal to completely banish political police activities that have supposedly being carried out in the past.
It’s about “pursuits, political persecution, harassment, illegal interventions (wire tapping), intimidation, political, sexual orientation and ethnicity,” Figueres quoted.
Figueres assured that they have not found one single file, now the DIS is investigation these cases, of which he personally says was a victim.
“The evidence we have is that with every change of government all traces of misuse of the intelligence service for political purposes have been removed for political purposes,” he said.
The “new DIS” Figueres proposed to legislators would be devoted, according to his statements, to eradicate the political police and the creation of foresight and strategic intelligence practices.
Chairing the Safety Committee, Frente Amplio legislator, Francisco Camacho, would only say, “the DIS aims to become a security agency of the State and policies will be defined by law.”
Camacho and Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) legislator, Ronny Monge, support the continuation of the DIS, although Monge believes, that without evidence, it cannot be said tha the DIS was a political police with persecution practices.
Editor’s Note:
Although Mariano Figueres, although today he taking orders from a Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC) party, the DIS was created by Ley 7410, Ley General de Policía, under the presidency of José María Figueres Olsen (1994-1998) – Mariano’s on May 19, 1994.
Mariano is also the son of José Maria Fuigeres Ferrer, who served as president of Costa Rica on three occasions (1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974) , known for “abolishing the army in 1948 and founder of the PLN party in 1951.
Sources: La Nacion; Diario Extra, Wiki
DIS needs to be relegated to the equivalent of the Secret Service in the U.S. It should be a police protection agency for the President and certain select members of the Executive Branch and some visiting political dignitaries and nothing more. The OIJ, like the FBI in the U.S., is the Judicial Investigative Organization and nothing more is required in that regard.