Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro ordered the declassification of all files in the archives of the controversial DAS intelligence agency that was dismantled in 2011.
At a public ceremony, Petro formally apologized on the state’s persecution of human rights lawyers and issued a decree ordering the declassification of the DAS archive.
The declassification of the DAS (Administrative Department of Security) files begins now. This involves declassifying and lifting the confidentiality of the intelligence, counterintelligence, and expenditure files of the defunct DAS. These are in the National Archives.
Gustavo Petro
The president stated his administration would not end without a declassification policy, and stated that files of other state intelligence agencies should be declassified and made public.
I think there are other intelligence agencies, but [ police intelligence agency] DIPOL is the most powerful. DIPOL is a dark corner for me, and it’s going to be a transparent corner; the thing is, the DAS no longer exists, but DIPOL does… The next entity to declassify its files with the required care required by law and regulation is called DIPOL.
Petro described the declassification processes as a matter of truth, which he said was the only way to guarantee non-repetition of human rights violations committed by State security forces and the intelligence agencies during the armed conflict.
The president added that it ultimately depends on “what the people want, murderous governments or democratic governments.”
The files will not be immediately released, as the over 50 thousand boxes must first go through a committee to anonymize names, but “they should not be the names of the guilty parties,” the president reassured.
Former President Juan Manuel Santos dismantled the DAS in 2011 after a major scandal that was caused by the agency’s spying on Petro and the Supreme Court in response to their investigations into politicians with ties to paramilitary organization AUC.
Outgoing DAS officials destroyed numerous files before they were transferred to other State agencies.
