U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 - Chile

Chilean law enforcement actively cooperated in international terrorism investigations and cooperated with the United States to monitor and combat terrorist financing. Law enforcement officials monitored possible extremist links between Chile's Iquique Free Trade Zone and the Tri-Border Area; trade links between these two areas are increasing. Chile's National Intelligence Agency remained an analytical body, relying on law enforcement and investigative agencies for collection and operations.

Chile hosted an Interpol working group meeting on terrorism in Central and South America in October to discuss the activities of individuals related to radical fundamentalist movements in the region. The meeting was attended by members of both the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence communities from Chile, the United States, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina.

Thirty-eight members of Chile's law enforcement agencies participated in money-tracing and document-tracking techniques training, and several investigators and lawyers took part in a cyber-crime seminar. The United States worked closely with Chilean counterparts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Senior analysts from Chile's armed forces, academia, and non-governmental organizations participated in a counterterrorism seminar with an OAS counterterrorism expert. The seminar highlighted the role of illegal financing, corruption, and drug trafficking in enabling terrorists to carry out attacks.

Grupo de Operaciones Especializados (GOPE), a 300-person unit of the Carabinero police force, served as the nation's primary counterterrorist reaction force. The force is well-trained and participates each year in Exercise Fuerzas Comando, a SOCOM-sponsored special operations seminar designed to refine the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by Special Operations counterterrorism forces.

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