New National Intelligence Directorate chief Casanova was a member of the M-19 urban guerilla movement.
The facade of the national intelligence agency DAS in Bogota November 1, 2011.
(Reuters)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has named a former guerrilla comrade as the conflict-wracked South American country's intelligence chief.
Manuel Alberto Casanova, who like Petro was a member of the long-disbanded M-19 urban guerrilla movement, becomes the first civilian to hold the position as general manager of the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI), according to an official decree published on Monday.
The radical leftist M-19 was active between 1974 and 1990, when it signed a peace deal with the government and became a political party.
Casanova took on the role of head of security for the new party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance.
An almost unknown on the political landscape, Casanova was in charge of spying and financing in the M-19 guerrilla group, local press say.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Casanova has a degree in philosophy and also studied public administration. He has worked as a consultant on social projects and most recently worked for a coffee exporting company.
The DNI reports directly to the president and oversees all intelligence operations. It was created in 2011 to replace the scandal-tainted Administrative Security Department (DAS).
"It's worrying. (Casanova) is someone with no experience in intelligence management," Jose Vicente Carreno, a legislator for the right-wing opposition Democratic Center party, told W Radio.
He said it would "demotivate the public security forces."
READ MORE:Colombia's largest remaining rebel force, government to restart peace talks
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi9LFsTDSLg[/embed]
'Different direction to state intelligence'
For the pro-government senator and human rights activist Gloria Florez, the appointment shows a clear change of direction.
"In the old DAS, we were the victims of an infamous persecution, of set-ups for which several people are still in prison. What we want is to give a different direction to state intelligence," she told W Radio.
The latest appointment follows a complete overhaul of the military and police chiefs since Petro's election in June as his country's first ever left-wing president, something which has caused suspicion within the ranks of the security forces.
Around 30 army generals and police chiefs have left their posts.
Petro, who has said he wants to break from the old policy of an "enemy within" that has underscored six decades of internal conflict, wants to transform the security forces.
He has said he wants from them "the reduction of violence and criminality, and a substantial increase in respect for human rights and public liberties."
READ MORE: Gustavo Petro sworn in as Colombia’s first leftist president
Source: AFP
Five bodies were brought to a hospital from a village west of Oicha in North Kivu while seven more arrived from another village to the west of the town.
The people were killed by machetes and bullets, head doctor Jerome Munyambete at a hospital in Oicha.
(Reuters)
Suspected rebels have killed twelve civilians in recent attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said.
The head doctor of a hospital in Oicha in North Kivu province on Thursday that he had received five bodies on Wednesday from a village that lies to the west of the town.
Another seven bodies arrived from another village to the west of Oicha on Thursday, head doctor Jerome Munyambete told AFP news agency.
"These people were killed by machetes and bullets," he said.
Darius Kasereka, a civil society representative in Oicha, confirmed the death toll and said in a statement that the twelve civilians had been "brutally slaughtered".
The area surrounding Oicha has been "invaded by ADF rebels," he added, referring to the Allied Democratic Forces group.
The ADF is among the most violent of the more than 120 militias that roam the DRC's troubled east.
The group – which Daesh group claims as its central African branch – has been accused of massacring Congolese civilians as well as staging attacks in neighbouring Uganda.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi placed North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province under the administration of security forces last year in a bid to stem the violence.
But the measure has failed to stop attacks against civilians.
