Document #1107555
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
According to a senior adviser of the
Embassy of Chile in Ottawa, the Carabineros and Investigaciones
police forces are still under the control of the Ministry of
Defence (30 Sept. 1990). Before the military coup of 1973 the
police forces were under the control of the Ministry of the
Interior, and after the coup the forces came under the control of
the Ministry of Defence (Ibid.). A legislative proposal
aimed at returning the forces to the control of the Ministry of the
Interior was submitted to Congress in late 1990. The proposed
legislation, however, has not been passed (Ibid.).
Please find attached two early 1992 reports
of the Andean Commission of Jurists (listed below). One of the
reports states that the Interior Ministry, through a Presidential
Decree of 22 January 1992
would coordinate all the functions carried out by different
ministries in the area of public safety. It will coordinate the
work of Carabineros and the Intelligence Police through the Defense
Ministry and the Gendarmería through the Justice Ministry
(Andean Commission of Jurists Feb. 1992, 2-3)
The other attached document provides
information on the bills submitted by the President to the
Congress, aimed at establishing a Subsecretariat of Security and
Information that would coordinate operations by the police forces
and placing the operations of the Carabineros under the control of
the Ministry of the Interior (Ibid., Jan. 1992).
A 1991 article reports that President
Aylwin dismissed "about 100 officers [of the investigative police]
for rights abuses or drug trafficking" (Reuters 15 Mar. 1991). The
report adds that a regional head of the investigative police,
killed by unidentified attackers, had been appointed to the post in
1990 by President Aylwin (Ibid.). The article, however, does
not give other details on the line of command or control of the
President over the investigative police.
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
IRBDC.
Andean Commission of Jurists. February
1992. Andean Newsletter [Lima]. No. 63. "Chile: Public
Security."
. January 1992. Andean Newsletter
[Lima]. No. 62. "Chile: Intelligence Agency Created."
Embassy of Chile, Ottawa. 30 September
1992. Telephone Interview with Senior Adviser.
Reuters. 15 March 1991. AM Cycle.
"Gunmen Kill Chilean Police Chief Outside His Home." (NEXIS)
Andean Commission of Jurists. February
1992. Andean Newsletter [Lima]. No. 63. "Chile: Public
Security."
. January 1992. Andean Newsletter
[Lima]. No. 62. "Chile: Intelligence Agency Created."
Reuters. 15 March 1991. AM Cycle.
"Gunmen Kill Chilean Police Chief Outside His Home." (NEXIS)