Consejo Coordinador de Seguridad Pública, commonly known as La Oficina (lit. "The Office"), was a Chilean civilian intelligence organisation that operated from 1991 to 1993. It was created by the government of

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after dictator Augusto Pinochet, a ...

on April 26, 1991, following the assassination of

Jaime Guzmán Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz (June 28, 1946 – April 1, 1991) was a Chilean constitutional law professor, speechwriter and member and doctrinal founder of the conservative Independent Democrat Union party. In the 1960s he opposed the Universit ...

on April 1 of the same year. La Oficina repressed violent left-wing organisations that posed a threat to the

Chilean transition to democracy The Chilean transition to democracy is the name given to the process of restoration of democracy carried out in Chile after the end of the military dictatorship of Pinochet, in 1990, and particularly to the first two democratic terms that suc ...

. The leadership of La Oficina was made up of politicians from the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. It has been accused that the organisation used methods similar to those used by the preceding military dictatorship of Pinochet including torture. La Oficina worked with a network of informants and promoted a culture of squealing in the targeted organisations. Informants connected to the targeted organizations were instructed to cease all forms of armed resistance, surrender their weapons, and hand up their fellow combatants. If they offered helpful information, they were also guaranteed regular work. The groups targeted by La Oficina were: * Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez - Autónomo (FPMR-Autónomo), originally the paramilitary arm of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, but by the 1990s an independent organisation. * Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro (MJL or MAPU Lautaro), a splinter group of the

Popular Unitary Action Movement The Popular Unitary Action Movement or MAPU ( es, Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitario) was a small leftist political party in Chile. It was part of the Popular Unity coalition during the government of Salvador Allende. MAPU was repressed du ...

that believed in insurrection against the military dictatorship and the civilian governments that succeeded it by seeking compromises. * Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria - Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres - Patria Libre (MIR-EGP-PL).

References

{{reflist 1991 establishments in Chile 1993 disestablishments in Chile Defunct Chilean intelligence agencies Presidency of Patricio Aylwin