National Intelligence Service (Peru)
The National Intelligence Service (Spanish: Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional or SIN) was an intelligence agency of the Government of Peru that existed from 1960 to 2000.[1]
| Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1960 |
| Dissolved | 2000 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Peru |
| Headquarters | Lima, Peru |
| Annual budget | $96-108 million (2000) |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Independent |
History
Fujimori government
During the administration of Alberto Fujimori, the agency's power expanded, and its de facto chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, used the agency for political purposes.[1] Funding for the agency was not supervised by Congress; SIN's budget grew fifty times larger between 1990 and 2000, with the budget being between $96 million and $108 million in the latter year.[2] Montesinos used the agency to gather and control all information within Peru.[3] Wiretapping was common by SIN agents under Montesinos.[3] Surveillance cameras were placed at the Legislative Palace, the Palace of Justice, the Government Palace, Jorge Chávez International Airport, at brothels visited by politicians and in other locations throughout Lima, all being personally reviewed by Montesinos.[3]
At the headquarters of SIN, which was known locally as "The little Pentagon", former employees reported that a sub-basement existed where political opponents were imprisoned, torture and killed.[4] According to the former employees, those killed were cremated in an incinerator and a smell of burnt hair was present within the facility.[4]
Under pressure from the Organization of American States, Fujimori disbanded the agency in 2000.[1]
References
- Klarén, Peter F. (2017). Historical Dictionary of Peru. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 354–355. ISBN 978-1-5381-0668-6.
- McMillan, John; Zoido, Pablo (Autumn 2004). "How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru". The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18 (4): 69-92. doi:10.1257/0895330042632690. S2CID 219372153.
- Guriev, Sergei (2023). Spin dictators : the changing face of tyranny in the 21st century. Princeton University Press. pp. 92–104. ISBN 9780691224473.
- "Spymaster". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. August 2002. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
Lester: Though few questioned it , Montesinos was a novel choice. Peru's army had banished him for selling secrets to America's CIA, but he'd prospered as a defence lawyer – for accused drug traffickers. ... Lester: Did Fujmori control Montesinos or did Montesinos control Fujimori? ... Shifter: As information comes out, it seems increasingly clear that Montesinos was the power in Peru.
Further reading
- Democratización de la función de inteligencia: el nexo de la cultura nacional y la inteligencia estratégica (in Spanish). National Defense Intelligence College, Center for Strategic Intelligence Research. 2009. ISBN 978-1-932946-21-5.
- Castro Contreras, Jaime (2004). Inteligencia estratégica en un Estado democrático (in Spanish). J.R.C.C. Estudios y Proyectos Sociales.
- De la Torre Rotta, Andrés Gómez (2008-01-01). "¿Quién vigilará a nuestros vigilantes? (Reinventando a Juvenal ante el Foro de Roma, en Perú y Sudamérica)". Inteligencia y Seguridad. 2008 (5): 35–52. doi:10.5211/iys.5.article4. ISSN 1887-293X.