Department 50

As early as 1937, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile, which the Chilean Navy discovered via radio (perhaps in 1939).^[2][3] In 1941, the director general of the Investigations Police of Chile established Departamento 50 (a reference to the annex's telephone extension), also called the International Confidential Section, to investigate pro-Nazi activity in the area during World War II.^[4] The department had the support of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's wartime Special Intelligence Service.^[5]

The investigators broke up one spy ring in 1942 and another in 1944. Initially some agents attempted to flee to other countries, but due to Argentina severing ties with the Axis, many opted to remain in Chile. The Nazis captured intelligence regarding the routes of Allied merchant ships and planned to attack mines in northern Chile.^[5][6] About 100 spies were arrested in the 1944 raid,^[7] including coordinator Bernardo Timmermann.^[5] They reportedly received their orders from German High Command and the Axis espionage operations center, the latter jointly located at the German embassies in Chile's capital, Santiago, and Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires.^[7]

In November 1944, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover explained (in an article published by the Chilean police's official journal) that his agency had provided Department 50 with intercepted communications from a Nazi intelligence outpost in Valparaíso, Chile, which included information about the US, Chile, and other Latin American countries. The Nazis planned to attack Chilean communications and copper mines due to its alignment with the Allies after the US entered the war.^[8]

Due to the counterespionage effort, the center of Axis espionage operations shifted fully to Buenos Aires, where a diplomatic pouch was used;^[a] some captured spies disclosed details of agents operating in that city.^[7] Subsequently, merchant marine captain Albert von Appen was arrested. Based in Chile, he headed Latin America's Nazi espionage network (likely tied to the Abwehr) and had planned strategic sabotages, including of the Panama Canal and within countries entering the war.^[5][8]

In its final outing, Chile was joined by other governments in probing Nazi activity throughout Latin America, which it also detected in the coastal cities of Montevideo (Uruguay), São Paulo (Brazil), and Lima (Peru).^[5][12][3] Nazi espionage networks were dismantled in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.^[5] The department then largely disbanded,^[8] although its final activity was reportedly carried out in 1947.^[2]

Some counterespionage photos were taken, with most subjects demonstrating no awareness of a camera—possibly implying that hidden devices were utilized.^[13]