By Sara De Witt

Why did Kissinger mastermind plans destined to end a democratic elected government in Chile in 1970 and leave so many of its citizens murdered, tortured and disappeared?

On 4th September 1970 Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile. Henry Kissinger, who was already monitoring events, initiated activities to destabilise the situation and halt him taking over this role. Following Kissinger’s instructions his agents tried to elicit support from the two houses of Parliament not to recognise Allende’s victory since this had not reached the 50% of the votes needed to avoid another presidential run, but this failed as he obtained the necessary support from politicians..

Following Kissinger’s instructions and the CIA’s financial and military support, an Army General, Roberto Viaux organised the kidnapping attempt of the Commander in Chief of the Army, Rene Schneider. The aim was to trigger a coup d’etat. This operation failed as Rene Schneider resisted his kidnappers; he was shot and died a couple of days later.

Who was Salvador Allende? Why did he elicit the interest of Richard Nixon, the US President, Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor, the CIA and the Australian secret services working in collaboration with the CIA between 1971-1974. There is no information available yet, if secret services from any other countries were also involved in collaborating with the CIA.

Salvador Allende was a doctor with a long political trajectory within left politics in Chile. He was a member of the Socialist Party and had  been a presidential candidate four times already before 1970. He had built strong support among manual and agricultural workers, students and intellectuals. Salvador Allende’s own beliefs and those of his presidential programme were more influenced by John Keynes’ economic approach, rather than the free market ideas prevalent in the USA.

Allende believed that a socialist society could be achieved without violence and confrontation; he was hoping that Chile would become a socialist country by peaceful means.

The Chilean state had a big impact on the economic development of the country in all areas. Under the Production Development Corporation (CORFO), a governmental department, industrialization continued to be incentivised and mining and electrification for isolated communities went ahead. Allende stated that the economy of Chile would have a private sector, a mixed one and a social one. He wanted to recover for the country our natural resources, hence the copper industry was nationalised.

Health and the protection of children and women were priorities. Allende, like many other health workers, was aware of the impact of poverty and malnutrition. Children ‘s nurseries were made available in places of high need. The government also implemented a policy of providing a pint of milk daily and free of charge for every child in the country. The contraceptive pill was made available over the counter at chemists.

Kissinger advised Nixon that the Chilean experiment, were it to continue, would have an impact not only in Chile but in the rest of Latin America and also Europe. The CIA was funding a right wing group, Freedom and Motherland, which was launching terrorist attacks on electricity pylons, train tracks and so on. The CIA funded the strike of the trucks owners who stopped the transportation of products within the country; they paralysed roads and motorways. Many industries stopped producing in order to boycott the government and the same occurred with the distributors of groceries and vegetables who hoarded the goods instead of selling them to the public.

Nixon and Kissinger were making the Chilean economy “scream” as they had initially planned.

Under the Allende government, with the boycott increasing, people who supported the government learned through their experience and organised themselves. In the agricultural areas, on many farms where the production had been halted by the owners, the workers took possession of the land and organised the work to continue producing.

The same occurred in several industries. When the owners stopped or delayed production, workers would take control and continue producing. In many industries they also set up an alternative distribution network of the items to avoid the black market. Neighbourhood communities were also involved in the distribution of food.

An interesting feature was the impulse given to art and music, for example the New Chilean song movement, which reflected the experience of people trying to create a new society.

On 11th September 1973, the Chilean Army staged a coup in which Salvador Allende died in the government headquarters fighting against the Army. There is no clear evidence if he committed suicide or if he was killed by the Army.

The armed forces and the police set up a team to manage the country and the killing of people started immediately. Many workers in factories, farms, schools and colleges and hospitals stayed in their workplaces as an initial step to defend the government of Allende and oppose the coup. The Army visited the universities and many factories where workers were either killed or taken to newly created torture and detention centres.

Henry Kissinger gave instructions to Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator since he was interested in the elimination of left wing Chileans in Latin America and in Europe due to the ‘damage they could cause’. He was also interested in making sure the Chilean experiment would not be followed. The Chilean secret police made nearly 3,000 people disappear – thousands were tortured and imprisoned, children included.

Kissinger was also involved in the violation of human rights in Argentina. Several Latin American countries with dictatorships or right wing governments were set up the Condor Programme, which organised joint work between the secret services of those countries. They would exchange detained people of interest among themselves without the intervention of the judicial system.

Among the victims were Orlando Letelier, Chilean Ambassador to the USA at the time of the coup. In September 1976 the Chilean secret police, assisted by Cubans living in the USA, planted a bomb in Letelier’s car, which exploded killing him and his secretary. This occurred in Washington, reflecting the commitment of the CIA and USA government to the Chilean dictatorship.

Another person who disappeared under this programme was William Beausire, a stockbroker with dual nationality, Chilean and British. He was travelling from Chile to France in 1974, but was detained at the airport in Argentina and taken to Chile where he was tortured and disappeared.

Has there ever been an attempt to take Henry Kissinger to court? After the disclosure of some secret documents of the CIA in 2001, two sons of Rene Schneider filed a lawsuit against Kissinger and the USA government for the wrongful death of their father. This lawsuit was dismissed because Kissinger had immunity for actions taken as National Security Advisor to the President.

Some former Chilean political prisoners also tried to take Kissinger to court but their cases were also dismissed.

The information we now have about Henry Kissinger’s activities in his role as Security Advisor raise so many questions among people who were at the receiving end of his policies and among human rights organisations and people with ethical principles. It may well be that people are left feeling there are no tools that can be used against powerful people who commit serious crimes. Unfortunately this only triggers mistrust in organisations supposed to protect people throughout the world.

Sara De Witt was detained under the Pinochet coup and now lives in London.

Image: La Moneda presidential palace at the time of the Chilean coup 1973. https://www.flickr.com/photos/stgonostalgico/4823042954. Creator: santiagonostalgico. Licence: CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic