The National Committee
On July 19, 1954, Castillo formed the National Committee of Defense Against Communism upon the recommendation of the CIA. This was coupled with the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism. Its primary goal was to root out threats to the Castillo administration by Communist ideologues and supporters. The Committee was given the power to convene in secret, as well as the power to arrest and detain, for up to six months, any persons declared by the Committee to be communist. Those declared communist by the Committee had no right to any kind of defense or appeal if they were charged of a crime under the Preventive Penal Law; they could not own shortwave radios or hold any kind of public office, local or national.
By 21 November 1954, the Castillo administration and the National Committee had compiled a list of 72,000 persons deemed to be communists.
Read more about this topic: National Committee Of Defense Against Communism
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or committee:
“National isolation breeds national neurosis.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“Any committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who are too busy to want to sit on it for a second longer than they have to.”
—Katharine Whitehorn (b. 1926)