Allende came to rely on the GAP as his principal protective force, despite the organization having no formal legal status.[1] GAP leveraged its hybrid status to conduct recce and intelligence-gathering in Chile under the pretense of presidential protection but with information actually being collected for the benefit of MIR paramilitary operations against the political opposition.[1] However, a 1972 operation in Curimon, in which intoxicated GAP personnel fumbled their mission to locate the whereabouts of Arturo Marshall, made Chilean military intelligence aware of the use of GAP in this manner.