Excerpted from “Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating
to the Military Coup of September 11, 1973”
(National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 8)
By Peter Kornbluh
 
 
On September 11, 1973, a voilent military coup led by General Augusto Pinochete overthrew the democratically elected Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende, an event that dramatically changed the course of the country's history.  Because of CIA covert intervention in Chile and the repressive character of General Pinochet's rule the coup became the most notorious military takeover in the annals of Latin American history.

Revelations that President Richard Nixon had ordered the CIA to "make the economy scream" in Chile--to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him"--prompted a major scandal in the mid-1970s and led to an investigation by the U.S. Senate.  Since the coup, however, few U.S. documents relating to Chile have been actually declassified--until the late 1990s.  Through Freedom of Information Act requests, and other avenues of declassification, the National Security Archive was able to compile a collection of declassified records that shed light on events in Chile between 1970 and 1976.

These documents include:

** Cables written by U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry after Allende's election on September 4, 1970, detailing conversations with President Eduardo Frei on how to block the president- elect from being inaugurated.  The cables contain detailed descriptions and opinions on the various political forces in Chile, including the Chilean military, the Christian Democrat Party, and the U.S. business community.

** CIA memoranda and reports on "Project FUBELT"--the codename for covert operations to promote a military coup and undermine Allende's government.  The documents, including minutes of meetings between Henry Kissinger and CIA officials, CIA cables to its Santiago station, and summaries of covert action in 1970, provide a clear paper trail to the decisions and operations against Allende's government

** National Security Council strategy papers which record efforts to "destabilize" Chile economically, and isolate Allende's government diplomatically, between 1970 and 1973.

** State Department and NSC memoranda and cables after the coup, providing evidence of human rights atrocities under the new military regime led by General Pinochet.

** FBI documents on Operation Condor--the state-sponsored terrorism of the Chilean secret police, DINA.  The documents, including summaries of prison letters written by DINA agent Michael Townley, provide evidence on the carbombing assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington D.C., and the murder of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires, among other operations.

These documents, and many thousands of other CIA, NSC, and Defense Department records that are still classified secret, remain relevant to ongoing human rights investigations in Chile, Spain and other countries, and unresolved acts of international terrorism conducted by the Chilean secret police.  Eventually, international pressure and concerted use of the U.S. laws on declassification will force more of the still-buried record into the public domain--providing evidence for future judicial, and historical accountability.

Question: Based on your reading of the documents, what were the underlying assumptions about Allende's Popular Unity government held by US policymakers that contributed to the decision to intervene in Chile? What were the implicit and explicit motivations or ideas that resulted in this covert action?  Be sure to take into account the context of the Cold War as well as the history of US-Latin American relations. Refer to the documents to support your answer.
 
GO TO THE CHILE DOCUMENTS