| Country: | Chile |
| Details of Formation: | DICOMCAR was created by the director general of the police force, César Mendoza, without the knowledge of the Junta del Gobierno. The group was first mentioned in April 1985. |
| Details of Termination: | After DICOMCAR committed killings, investigations were conducted, followed by widespread anti-government protests. The crimes were prosecuted and the responsible perpetrators arrested. There are no reports of DICOMCAR actions after the court case. We code this as the end of the DICOMCAR PGM. Other death squads continued to operate. In 1993, a news source says that DICOMCAR had been disbanded, but without specifying the date of the termination. |
| Purpose: | DICOMCAR’s purpose was to intimidate political opposition with violence. |
| Organisation: | DICOMCAR was a political intelligence unit of Chile’s paramilitary police, the carabineros. It was created by the director general of the police force, César Mendoza, but there is no information on whether Mendoza also was the leader of the group. |
| Weapons and Training: | Death squads in Chile, probably including the DICOMCAR, had vehicles, weapons and communications equipment. |
| Size: | Investigations on DICOMCAR killings revealed that 14 policemen had been linked with the DICOMCAR death squad. But given their activities, the group was likely much larger. |
| Reason for Membership: | -- |
| Treatment of Civilians: | DICOMCAR killed, kidnapped, mutilated, beat, tortured and raped unarmed political opposition. The confirmed killings attributed to DICOMCAR include the head of the teachers union, an official of the Catholic Human Rights Office, and a Communist leader. |
| Other Information: | DICOMCAR was the abbreviation for Police Communications Directorate. It functioned as death squad. |
| References: | Information was taken from news sources listed in the PGMD |