Archives reveal that the US agreed, at the highest level, to “maximize pressure on Allende to prevent consolidation.”

11/12/2020 Chile, World



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Half a century later, Declassified documents in the United States revealed that, the year 1970, the authorities of that country discussed and they agreed, at the highest level, “to maximize the pressure on the Government of Salvador Allende to avoid its consolidation.”

A report published this Wednesday by the newspaper The country of Spain reports on a series of files that “they overturn the official version of the role played by the government of Richard Nixon “(1969-1974) in the failure of the project of the Popular Unity.

“Damage it and tear it down”

The note realizes that the November 6, 1970, the National Security Council met at the White House from United States, specifically to address the Chilean case, its implications and the strategy that Washington would assume: three days before, Salvador Allende had assumed as President of the Republic.

“We can take it down, maybe, without being counterproductive”He then commented Secretary of State, William Rogers, opposing open hostility and aggression.

Harder, the Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, Held: “We have to do everything we can to damage it and bring it down”.

The CIA Director Richard Helms, noted that Allende had appointed “a hard-line militant cabinet”, which “reflects the determination of the Socialists to affirm their most radical policy from the beginning.”

“If there is a way to unseat Allende, you better do it,” said President Nixon at the encounter, according to a Helms manuscript that is part of the declassified documents.

“Our main concern in Chile is the possibility that (Allende) can consolidate and the image projected to the world will be its success”Nixon added to those responsible for national security.

“We will be very cold and very correct, but doing things that will be a true message for Allende and others”, advancement.

Public speech and hidden strategy

Three days later, November 9, the National Security Advisor and Future Secretary of State Henry Kissinger distributed a secret memo with the decision adopted in the Council: it was titled “Policy towards Chile”.

“The president (Nixon) has decided that the public stance of the United States (towards Chile) will be correct, but cold, to avoid giving the Allende government a base on which to gather national and international support. for the consolidation of the regime “, it was indicated.

However, “The United States will seek to maximize pressure on the Allende government to prevent its consolidation and limit its ability to implement policies that are contrary to the interests of the United States and the hemisphere.“, he added.

The memorandum, in fact, details the methods that Washington would use to sabotage the UP: “US officials would collaborate with other governments in the region – in particular Brazil and Argentina – to coordinate efforts against Allende; loans from multilateral banks to Chile would be quietly blocked and credits and loans canceled to the export of the United States; US companies would be recruited to leave Chile; Y the value of the international market of Chile’s main export – copper – would be manipulated to damage the Chilean economy. “

“The CIA was also authorized to prepare action plans related to the future implementation of the strategy,” he says. The country.

Irrefutable evidence

The media highlights that “The new published papers debunk the misrepresentations that, for decades, various United States officials have tried to construct to evade their responsibility in the democratic breakdown of Chile and the 17 years of military dictatorship, which claimed thousands of victims. “

These attempts date back to September 1974, when the newspaper The New York Times revealed the CIA’s covert operations to overthrow Allende, prompting an investigation by the US Congress that concluded in the famous “Church report”: “Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973”, written by a special committee of the Senate, chaired by Senator Frank Church, but which did not access the complete record of the deliberations and decisions of the White House in the days before and after Allende’s inauguration, which now, 50 years later, are revealed.

The Kissinger factor

The report also highlights the key role that Kissinger played in the adoption, by the Nixon administration, of the toughest course of action against Allende.

As indicated, “Kissinger managed to delay” the aforementioned meeting of the Security Council by one day, which was originally scheduled to take place on November 5, 1970.

In those 24 hours, met alone with President Nixon to convince him to make “very clear where you stand on this issue.”

“Chile could end up being the worst failure of our Administration: ‘our Cuba’ in 1972”she warned him in the Oval Office.

“His resolution on what to do about it may be the most historic and difficult foreign affairs decision he will have to make this year.”Kissinger continued.

“What happens in Chile during the next six to 12 months will have ramifications that go far beyond relations between the United States and Chile.”, he exposed.

“The example of a successful Marxist government elected in Chile would surely have an impact on – and even a precedent value for – other parts of the world, especially Italy. The imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the global balance and our own position in it.“Kissinger emphasized over an hour.

Earlier in a telephone conversation, Nixon had told Kissinger that the “effect on the people of the world” that the UP example would have was significant.

“If (Allende) can show that he can establish an anti-American Marxist policy, others will do the same“, said the president.

“It will take effect even in Europe. Not only in Latin America“agreed Kissinger.

“What appeared to be speculation was more than true”

The country collected the opinion of Iván Jaksic, the 2020 National History Prize: “While we knew quite a bit about the Nixon government’s machinations to prevent or destabilize the Allende government, it is extremely important to have these documents., including handwritten notes and transcripts of telephone conversations. ”

“It is surprising to see how what previously appeared to be speculation was more than true. The crudeness of the language and the measures that are proposed to pressure the Allende government and send unequivocal signals to other countries are downright chilling“said the academic.

“It is clear that, for the United States Government, Chile mattered above all as an example that should not transcend; that is to say, a Marxism that comes to power through democratic means, “he added.

Also included in the note is a reflection of Ascanio cavallo, the well-known Chilean journalist co-author of the book “The hidden history of the military regime.”

“There is no one in Chile who doubts the will of the Nixon government that Allende not finish his term. But the Nixon himself and Kissinger – who in their memoirs makes a very brief reference to Chile – always denied an active role for the United States once Allende had assumed the presidency, contrary to what these papers indicate, which reveal that the US Administration discussed how to achieve their overthrowCavallo pointed out.



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