On June 18, 1974, the official registry of the Chilean military dictatorship published Decree 521 on the “creation of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA),” the secret police force responsible for some of the regime’s most emblematic human rights violations. To mark the 50th anniversary of DINA’s official creation, the National Security Archive today publishes a curated collection of declassified CIA, DIA, FBI and State Department documents, along with key Chilean records, that reflect the history of DINA’s horrific atrocities and terrorist crimes.
The decree signed by General Augusto Pinochet and other members of the military junta officially established DINA for “the purpose of producing intelligence collection requirements for the formulation of policies, plans and adoption of measures required for the security and development of the country,” but the measure also included three secret articles empowering DINA to operate as a secret police force to surveil, arrest, imprison and eliminate anyone considered an opponent of the regime. The new decree gave “legal/official blessing to an organization that is already fully active,” the U.S. Defense attaché reported to Washington. Other members of the Chilean military viewed the Junta’s order as “the foundation upon which a Gestapo-like police force will be built.” “DINA’s unique structure and lethally effective methods of operation were critical to the alliance of right-wing civilian and military forces that destroyed Chile’s democracy. The history of DINA gains fresh relevance in light of the emerging authoritarian and anti-democratic political movements in the world, including in the United States,” observed John Dinges, author of *The Condor Years* and the forthcoming book *Chile in Our Hearts: The Untold Story of Two Americans who Went Missing After the Coup*. “Fifty years later,” notes Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Archive’s Chile Documentation Project, “these documents remind us of a history of repression and crimes against humanity that, now more than ever, must not be forgotten.” https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-06-18/pinochet-regime-declassified -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#30816): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/30816 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/106752141/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
