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There are few more pathetic, degrading or anger-inspiring scenes in such works as Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon or George Orwell's 1984 than of tormented informants compelled to denounce those they once called neighbors and close friends in order to save themselves.

According to bnet and others, It is estimated that there were over ten million citizen informants for the KGB in Stalinist Russia. And all it took for a trip to the gulags or a death sentence was to be labeled a 'counter-revolutionary' or 'enemy of the state' or 'imperialist spy.

It now seems Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is taking yet another page out of Stalin's book.

From the International Herald Tribune, via Drudge:

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country's intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms.

The new law requires people in the country to comply with requests to assist the agencies, secret police or community activist groups loyal to Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees.

"We are before a set of measures that are a threat to all of us," said Blanca Rosa Mármol de León, a justice on Venezuela's top court, in a rare public judicial dissent. "I have an obligation to say this, as a citizen and a judge. This is a step toward the creation of a society of informers."

Chávez, who has insisted the (past referendum) defeat would not dampen his ambitions to transform Venezuela into a Socialist state, said the new law was intended to guarantee "national security" and shield against "imperialist attacks."

He lashed out at its critics as being agents of the "empire," meaning the United States.

Notice the compulsion to inform on friends and neighbors or face jail time yourself.

Notice the key phrases:

Venezuelan citizens must now comply with requests to assist the secret police and community activist groups loyal to Chavez.

The new law was intended to guarantee "national security" and shield against "imperialist attacks."

Chavez lashed out at its critics as being agents of the "empire," meaning the United States.

There no longer seems to be a political middle ground in Venezuela. You are either for Hugo Chavez, his secret police and 'activist groups' or the American Imperialists. You either love the state and Big Brother Hugo Chavez, or you are an enemy of it.

My question to you all is this: is Chavez' fear justified? Is he at risk for subversion and/or imminent invasion by the United States?

Or is he yet another paranoid power-mad dictator tightening an already iron fist on a captive nation?

As for me, I smell sulphur. And it ain't coming from President Bush.

Personally, I blame Jimmy Carter.

I wonder if this will slow down the parade of celebrities pounding down Chavez' door.

Not holding my breath.