… But recent reports in the Washington Post suggest that U.S. assistance intended to combat drugs and terrorism was diverted to Colombian intelligence officials, who used it instead to spy on judges, journalists, politicians and union leaders. … Read more
… Eavesdropping on phone and electronic communications has become rampant in many Latin American countries. Those tapping phones have ranged from state intelligence agencies to drug traffickers and other criminals. When recordings are leaked to the news media, the intent is usually to cause political damage. The release of recorded conversations to private media in [...]
… In response to the claims of several ex-directors of the DAS who said Hurtado confessed that the president’s office requested wiretaps, Uribe asked the commission to take into account that the allegations were made by witnesses negotiating with the Prosecutor General’s office. Uribe also claimed that he had been a victim of illegal phone [...]
While most Latin American countries have democratically-elected governments, many still fail to respect human rights, including the right to privacy. Across the region, there have been multiple scandals involving government officials and intelligence agencies engaged in illegal surveillance of communications. These include numerous chilling examples of how interception technologies are being misused to spy on [...]
