Weekly Report - 30 April 2009 (WR-09-17)

The head of Colombia's secret police, the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), Felipe Muñoz, announced the dismissal of 11 officials this week and a comprehensive restructuring of the organisation. The DAS has been embroiled in a long-running scandal involving the illegal wiretapping of government officials, the opposition, the judiciary, and the media, which prompted the defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos, in February to call for the DAS to be given “a Christian burial" [WR-09-08]. The changes are not as sweeping as Muñoz suggested, however, and the announcement that all future phone tapping would be conducted by the national police had already been made by President Alvaro Uribe two months ago.