Please find attached an excerpt from Chile: A Country Study that describes the Carabineros police force and its various branches. Please note that the attached organizational chart published in the Carabineros Web site lists a number of directorates, not departments, including the ones listed below (Carabineros de Chile n.d.). This Web site also provides the following information on the Carabineros:

The Carabineros de Chile is the only uniformed police body in the country. Its purpose is to enforce the law, as well as guarantee public order and the internal security of the national territory. The institution is a direct dependency of the Ministry of National Defense, and the Carabineros' management liaises with the ministry through the latter's Carabineros Subsecretariat. It also maintains a high-level relationship with the Ministry of the Interior for all matters related to security and public order.

As an armed institution, the Carabineros is essentially an obedient, non-belligerent, professional and hierarchical body. Its functions are aimed at prevention, education, social solidarity, public well-being, national integration and control of public order. The Carabineros directorates include the following:

-Intelligence Directorate (Direccion de Inteligencia, DIPOLCAR): responsible for the ongoing provision of intelligence, to advise the High Command, the institution and the government in their decision making. It has Analysis, Counterintelligence and Intelligence departments, and seeks to fulfil its preventive function by knowing about criminal actions before they are carried out. The current director is General Gabriel Vasquez Rios.

-Logistics Directorate (Direccion de Logistica, DILOCAR): regulates, executes and evaluates the institution's logistics in order to provide the goods, materiel and services required by the Carabineros; advises the High Command (Alto mando) on the acquisition of weapons, budgeting, vehicle maintenance, fund management for construction, etc. The current director is General Inspector Gustavo Lagos Robles.

-Intendency Directorate (Direccion de Intendencia, DICAR; under the Logistics Directorate): provides advice and support to the High Command on economic, financial, supply, compensation, accounting and auditing matters, participates in financial negotiations between the institution and other bodies, and provides its services to all units throughout the country. Its current director is General Francisco Sepulveda Quintana.

-Informatics and Telecommunications Directorate (Direccion de Informatica y Telecomunicaciones, DINTELCAR; also under the Logistics Directorate): responsible for incorporating, maintaining and renewing the technological components in the areas of informatics and telecommunications. Its director is General Alejandro Olivares Pizarro.

-Order and Security Directorate (Direccion de Orden y Seguridad, DIOSCAR): responsible for providing security to the nation through the institution's operations, by preventing crimes and offences, maintaining public order, investigating punishable acts ex officio or by order of a tribunal, and provides assistance to meet the needs of the state or its officials through ordinary, extraordinary and specialized services. Its director is General Inspector Guillermo Thompson Callejon.

This last Directorate has under its responsibility the Borders and Special Services Directorate (Direccion de Fronteras y Servicios Especiales, DIFESCAR), which in turn directs, coordinates, evaluates and regulates the activities of the specialized services of the Carabineros. These include the departments of Transit Services (Servicios de Transito, OS2), Border Service (Servicio de Fronteras, OS3), Air Police Prefecture (Prefectura Aeroespacial, OS4), Forestry and Environment (Forestal y Ecologico, OS5), GOPE [full name not given] (OS6), Crime Laboratory (Laboratorio de Criminalistica, OS8), Crime Investigation (Investigacion Delictual, OS9), Private Security Matters Advisory (Asesoria en Asuntos de Seguridad Privada, OS10), and Youth Police (Policia de Menores, OS11). Its director is General Alberto Cienfuegos. [Please note that the source does not mention the OS7, which is reported by other sources, such as those cited in Response to Information Request CHL24829.E of 22 August 1996, to be the Drug Unit of the Carabineros.]

Other directorates include the Transit Directorate (Direccion de Transito), the Drug and Crime Prevention Directorate (Direccion de Drogas y Prevencion Delictual), the Family Directorate (Direccion de la Familia), and the Personnel Directorate (Direccion de Personal), which has under it the Education Directorate (Direccion de Educacion) and the Social or Welfare Directorate (Direccion de Bienestar). The Welfare Directorate has the Health Service (Servicio de Sanidad) under it.

The directorates operate under the Carabineros SubDirectorate (Subdireccion de Carabineros, SUBDIGCAR), which in turn responds to the General Directorate (Direccion General de Carabineros, DIGCAR). These branches are headed by General inspector Manuel Ugarte Soto and General Director Fernando Cordero Rusque, respectively.

Please consult the attached documents for additional information. Details on the Air Police Prefecture (OS4) are provided in the attached excerpts from Chile: A Country Study. However, its operational links with other state security organizations, its role in past or recent human rights abuses, or the terms and conditions of employment of its members, could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Carabineros de Chile. n.d.. [Internet] [Accessed 17 July 1997]

Carabineros de Chile. n.d.. [Internet] [Accessed 17 July 1997] (Organizational chart)

Chile: A Country Study. March 1994. ("The Carabineros," "Organization," "Recruitment and Training" and "Uniforms") [Internet] [Accessed 17 July 1997]

Amnesty International Report. Yearly.

Andean Newsletter [Lima]. Monthly.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly.

Current History [Philadelphia]. Monthly.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. Monthly.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. Weekly.

Latin American Regional Reports: Southern Cone Report [London].

LCHR Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly.

NACLA Report on the Americas [Washington, DC]. Monthly.

News from Americas Watch [New York]. Monthly.

Problèmes d'Amérique latine [Paris]. Quarterly.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.

IRB, UNHCR and Internet databases.

Note:

This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.