Word: sigurimi
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...defiance of the rest of the world is rooted in a long history of foreign domination. After Communist partisans led by Hoxha defeated German occupiers and internal opponents in 1944 and grabbed power, Hoxha imposed a centrally planned economy and established total control through the feared secret police, the Sigurimi. In the years that followed, he distanced Albania from other Communist countries. Enraged by Nikita Khrushchev's de- Stalinization campaign, Hoxha broke with Moscow in 1961. When the Chinese began to experiment with reform in the late '70s, he denounced them as "revisionists," and effectively cut off economic ties...