| Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional SEBIN | |
 Seal of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service | |
 Flag of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service | |
| Intelligence agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 2, 2010; 15 years ago (2010-06-02) |
| PrecedingIntelligence agency | |
| Headquarters | Plaza Venezuela,Caracas,Venezuela[1] |
| Employees | Classified |
| Annual budget | $169 million (2013)[2] |
| Intelligence agency executives | |
| Parent department | Vice President of Venezuela |
TheBolivarian National Intelligence Service (Spanish:Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional,SEBIN) is the premierintelligence agency inVenezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to theVice President of Venezuela since 2012 and is dependent on the Acting PresidentDelcy Rodríguez.[4] SEBIN has been described as thesecret police force of theBolivarian government.[5][6][7]
The Venezuelan intelligence agency has an extensive record ofhuman rights violations,[8] including recent allegations of torture and murder of political opponents.[9][10][11]
The predecessor of SEBIN was established in March 1969 with the name of DISIP,Dirección Nacional de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención ("National Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services"), by then-presidentRafael Caldera, replacing theDirección General de Policía (DIGEPOL).
Human Rights Watch wrote in 1993 that DISIP was involved in targeting political dissenters within Venezuela and was involved in abusive tactics.[12] In their 1997 and 1998 reports,Amnesty International also detailed human rights violations by DISIP, including unlawful detention of Venezuelan human rights activists.[13][14]
In 1999, President Hugo Chávez began the restructuring of DISIP, with commanders and analysts being selected for their political attributes and rumors of somearmed civilian groups gaining credentials from such actions.[15] A retired SEBIN commissioner explained that there began to be "biased and incomplete reports, tailored to the new ears, that began to proliferate and ultimately affects the ability of the institution to process information and know what happens".[15] On December 4, 2009, President Chávez, during a swearing-in ceremony for the high command of the recently created Bolivarian National Police (Policía Nacional Bolivariana), announced the change of name of DISIP, with immediate effect, to Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia, or SEBIN).[citation needed]
The restructuring of SEBIN was completed in 2013 with one of its goals to guarantee the "continuity and consolidation of theBolivarian Revolution in power".[15][16] In the beginning of the2014 Venezuelan protests, SEBIN agents opened fire on protesters which resulted in the deaths of two and the dismissal of Brigadier General Manuel Gregorio Bernal Martinez days later.[16]
Under the Nicolás Maduro presidency, a building that was originally intended to be a subway station and offices inPlaza Venezuela was converted into the headquarters for SEBIN.[16][17]
SEBIN had raided facilities of reporters and human rights defenders several times.[18] It was also stated that SEBIN occasionally intimidated reporters by following them inunmarked vehicles where SEBIN personnel would "watch their homes and offices, the public places like bakeries and restaurants, and would send them text messages to their cell phones".[18]
Following theNarcosobrinos incident which saw President Maduro's nephews arrested in the United States for drug trafficking,Associated Press reporterHannah Dreier, who had been awarded for her reporting on Venezuela,[19] was detained by SEBIN agents inSabaneta, Barinas. SEBIN agents threatened her during an interrogation, saying they would behead her likeISIL did toJames Foley and said that they would let her go for a kiss. Finally, agents said that they wanted to coerce the United States to exchange Maduro's nephews for Dreier, accusing her of being a spy and sabotaging the Venezuelan economy.[20]
In anEl Nuevo Herald, former SEBIN officials and security experts state that the Venezuelan government has allegedly spent millions of dollars to spy on Venezuelans; using Italian and Russian technology to monitor emails, keywords and telephone conversations of its citizens; especially those who use the dominant, state-controlled telecommunications providerCANTV. Acquired information is used to create a "person of interest" for Venezuelan authorities, where only selected individuals could have been fully spied on and where a database had been created to monitor those who publicly disagreed with theBolivarian Revolution.[21]
In 2014, multiple Twitter users were arrested and faced prosecution due to the tweets they made.[22]Alfredo Romero, executive director of the Venezuelan Penal Forum (FPV), stated that the arrests of Twitter users in Venezuela was a measure to instill fear among those using social media that were critical against the government.[22] In October 2014, eight Venezuelans were arrested shortly after the death of PSUV officialRobert Serra.[23] Though the eight Venezuelans were arrested in October 2014, the Venezuelan government had been monitoring them since June 2014 according to leaked documents, with the state telecommunications agencyConatel providingIP addresses and other details to the Venezuelan intelligence agencySEBIN in order to arrest Twitter users.[23]
In January 2013, 50 documents were leaked byAnalisis24 showing that SEBIN had been collecting "private information on prominent Venezuelan Jews, local Jewish organizations and Israeli diplomats in Latin America". Some info that was gathered by SEBIN operations included office photos, home addresses, passport numbers and travel itineraries. The leaked documents were believed to be authentic according to multiple sources which included theAnti-Defamation League, that stated, "It is chilling to read reports that the SEBIN received instructions to carry out clandestine surveillance operations against members of the Jewish community".[24][25]
In March 2004,Amnesty International stated in a report following2004 Venezuela recall protests that SEBIN (then DISIP) "allegedly used excessive force to control the situation on a number of occasions".[26]
Seven SEBIN members caused the first deaths of the2014 Venezuelan protests on 12 February 2014 after shooting at unarmed and fleeing protesters several times, in violation of protocol, which resulted in the deaths ofBassil Da Costa and Juan Montoya.[27][28] Days later, on February 17, armed SEBIN agents raided the headquarters ofPopular Will in Caracas and held individuals who were inside at gunpoint.[29]
Following human rights violations by SEBIN during the protests, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama used powers granted from theVenezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 and ordered theUnited States Department of the Treasury to freeze assets and property of the Director General of SEBIN, Gustavo Enrique González López and the former Director General, Manuel Gregorio Bernal Martínez.[30]
Dubbed "La Tumba", or "The Tomb", by Venezuelan officials, political prisoners are held five stories underground of the SEBIN headquarters in inhumane conditions at freezing temperatures and with no ventilation, sanitation, or daylight.[31][32][33] The cells are two by three meters that have a cement bed, security cameras and barred doors, with each cell aligned next to one another so there are no interactions between prisoners.[17] Such conditions have caused prisoners to become very ill though they are denied medical treatment.[33] Denounces of torture in "The Tomb", specificallywhite torture, are also common, with some prisoners attempting to commit suicide.[17][31][32] Such conditions are to force prisoners to plead guilty to crimes they are accused of.[17]
The torture of political prisoners has included the capture, mistreatment and in some cases killing of their pets.[34][35]
A SEBIN former official told theIndependent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela that its director,Carlos Calderón [es], was directly involved in torture within the agency during the protests. Among other ill-treatment, he placed plastic bags on protesters, or poured water on them, and beat them to extract information.[36]
In 2012,Livia Acosta Noguera and at least 10 other SEBIN agents that were allegedly operating under the guise of diplomatic missions left the United States following a controversy involving Acosta.[37] In aUnivision documentary, while Acosta was a cultural attaché in Mexico, she allegedly met with Mexican students posing as hackers that were supposedly planning to launch cyberattacks on theWhite House, theFBI,The Pentagon and several nuclear plants.[38][39][40] After an FBI investigation and reactions from members of the United States congress, the United StatesDepartment of State declared Acostapersona non grata.[38][39]
Despite the withdrawal of SEBIN agents, the government ofNicolás Maduro allegedly "maintains a network of spies in the United States, formed by supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution who are paid handsomely," according to former SEBIN officials.[37] The former officials also stated that the contributions of "spies" is maintained by members of the "Patriotas Cooperantes" and from open source contributions, such as from press reports or information posted on websites.[37] The Venezuelan government has used such tactics to reportedly observe government opposition organizations in the United States and has allegedly spied on United States government officials such as Cuban-American senator and representativeMarco Rubio (R-FL) andIleana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), respectively.[37][41]
On 15 February 2019, General Director Manuel Cristopher Figuera was sanctioned by the United States for suspected human rights violations and torture.[42] Following theVenezuelan uprising on 30 April 2019, the U.S. removed sanctions against Manuel Cristopher Figuera, who broke ranks with Maduro.[43]
On February 21, 2024, SEBIN allegedly kidnapped the Venezuelan dissident and former army memberRonald Ojeda from his apartment in Santiago de Chile.[44] Ojeda had received political asylum in Chile in 2023.
SEBIN operates from two headquarters;El Helicoide the original headquarters of the agency.[45] Its second and more updated facility atPlaza Venezuela, whereLa Tumba (The Tomb) is located.[46][47]
This federal entity could be considered the only security agency in Venezuela that never participates in any direct involvement with the general public. SEBIN doesn't patrol the public roads, arrest civilians, or do regular law enforcement work like police departments and doesn't participate in any police raids, joint task forces, or operations not related to the ministry of interior and justice. It is an agency that combines their counterparts of the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and US Marshal core work, such as counterterrorism, intelligence, counterintelligence, government investigations, and background investigations and provides protection/escort for high-ranking government officials, among other federally mandated duties. Officers of this agency are rarely seen in public wearing their full black uniforms; they can be seen providing protection within a few federal buildings throughout the country.
The headquarters of the Venezuelan intelligence service is a vast pyramid-shaped edifice known asthe Helicoide, a former shopping mall which now functions as an interrogation pen for political prisoners and protesters.
The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service are the political police of theBolivarian Government.
... SEBIN (Bolivarian secret police) ...
... Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional (Bolivarian Intelligence Service) (SEBIN), the political police of the regime.
The body of research commissioned for the cases is the political police, the SEBIN ...
Already, this has allowed journalists to identify SEBIN agents by name ... and it has led President Maduro to fire the head of the political police
Political police officers from SEBIN ...
Venezuela's political police, the SEBIN, ...
The use of the civil justice system to repress dissent seems not to be working as well as it should for the Government anymore and for that reason Sebin, Venezuela's political police force, is trying to get the control of the courts of justice by forcing some of their judges to comply with its orders.
... Venezuelan political police headquarters, SEBIN, ...
Agents of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN, the political police) were present ...
El Sebin, la policía secreta que solo responde a Nicolás Maduro (The Sebin, the secret police that only responds to Nicolás Maduro)
El Sebin, policía secreta del régimen chavista (The Sebin, the secret police of the chavista regime)
10°29′43″N66°52′57″W / 10.4954°N 66.8826°W /10.4954; -66.8826