Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

MOVEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY LEFT • 447At its height in 1973, the MIR numbered some 10,000 members.Estimates of the total membership of the political and militarybranches of the MIR put their strength between 100 and 500members, although its leader in exile, Andrés Pascal Allende, onceclaimed that the MIR had at least 3,000 active members during the1980s. The MIR stockpiled its arms through infiltration and theft ofChilean arsenals as well as through Cuban support. In its bombingsthe MIR used low-yield explosives generally available through theftsfrom mining operations. Following the death of the MIR’s originalleader, Miguel Enríquez, in a shoot-out with security forces on 5October 1974, Pascal took command but was forced to flee Chileby 1976. With the death of Enríquez, the original generation of theMIR’s leadership had ended.From 1974 to 1977 the MIR was relatively inactive but in 1977 escalatedits campaign within Chile largely through more bomb attacksand assassinations. On 24 September 1981, during attempts to setup bases within Chile and to create a liberated zone in the Neltume,Valdivia region in southern Chile, seven MIR fighters were killedby police. On 30 August 1983 the MIR assassinated Major GeneralCarol Urzúa Ibañez, military governor of Santiago. With the wave ofdissent that shook Chile beginning in 1983, the group was reinvigoratedand reestablished its political wing.The MIR carried out several machine-gun attacks on police and securityforces as well as bombings of police stations during the 1980s.On 15 July 1980 the MIR’s killers machine-gunned to death LieutenantGeneral Roger Vergara Campos, head of the Army IntelligenceSchool, also killing his driver. In June 1988 the MIR bombed fourbanks in Santiago, causing serious damage but no harm to life or limb.The MIR tried to target higher-ranking functionaries of the Chileangovernment rather than ordinary police officers or soldiers and wascareful to avoid taking the lives of civilians or bystanders. In addition,the MIR shunned targeting foreign nationals for assassination or kidnappingfor ransom. Although the MIR bombed four offices of U.S.-affiliated corporations in a 10-day period in October and Novemberof 1983, as well as the bank bombings in June 1988, these bombingsappeared intended to create maximum material damage rather than humaninjuries, which were minimal. Bombing attacks were also directedat power lines, but the MIR generally abstained from using car bombings,unlike the rival Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR).