... wondering about the heretic, eliminate and arrest orders.
If I label, say, a communist a heretic, do all the commies keep quiet for fear of being arrested? Similarly, if I arrest someone from a particular faction, do his faction friends become more vocal in their protests, or if I arrest them as well, do they eventually get the message and shut up?
..., but is there a way of utterly instilling fear into my populace so they daren't commit any dissent?
In general, the edits impact the subject the most, the subject's extended family strongly, and 'bystanders' who observe arrest or killing somewhat. Bystanders are those close enough to observe, and may be anyone including tourists.
The political factions do not respond to how badly individual supporters are treated. They do not appear to be a social "network" - that is
friends, with personal relationships. They respond to how the faction leader is treated. Otherwise, they have general goals.
The only
Tropican social network is the extended family.
I think your approach won't work.
One of the developers (IIRC) gave us the description of the code effect for "extended family" but I fear my examination of it was lost in the hack.