Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Government Involvement in Chiles 1973 Coup - Research Paper Example

 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the United States Government Involvement in Chile’s 1973 Coup During the run-up to the Chile presidential elections of 1970, 40 committee members ordered the central intelligence agency to perform a spoiling operation. As suggested by Zinn and Arnove (510), the operation was aimed at preventing Allende from wining. At the presidential elections, Salvador Allende emerged as the leading candidate. As a result of this, different leftist parties went about on a mission of strengthening the Popular Unity coalition. A strategy was taken after the 4th September 1970 elections to prevent Allende from taking over office. The strategy involved the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) influencing a congressional run off vote as a constitutional requirement since Allende’s victory was not on absolute majority. According to Mirza (270), the intention of the operation was to make the Chileans aware of dangers of the Marxist regime which was to come with Allende’s reign. Allende was a member of the Socialist Party of Chile and he was the Popular Unity between the coalition of communists, socialists, radicals and the Christian democrats. A Marxist, Allende’s program was to nationalize most of the banks and private industries. He also programmed massive land expropriation as well as collectivization. His opposers included Radomiro Tomic of the Christian Democratic Party and Jorge Alessandri. Allende received 36% of the vote winning over Alessadri (34%) and Tomic (27%). Allende won the majority but had votes that were less than the popular vote which did not meet the requirements set out in the constitution. The controversy behind Allende’s victory was that he was against the United States’ national interest over Chile. In spite of pressure from the United States, supporters of Allende together with Christian democrats voted for Allende. Soon after the elections, the government of the United States disapproved the elections and put economic sanctions on Chile. On the 15th of September, US President Nixon authorized the release of ten million dollars to the Central Intelligence Agency to unseat Allende. The action was to take place without notifying the Department of State Defense or the US ambassador in Chile. The CIA took various actions, for instance, it made overtures to foreign governments against Salvador’s presidency. According to Hastedt (80), the CIA also circulated propaganda for local media placement which aimed at mobilizing support to raise public opposition against Allende. The CIA contacted a lay man who had connections with church leaders to influence them against Allende. Chilean military officers improved their connections with station officers. Eduardo Frei of the Christian Democratic Party was encouraged to use his influence and encourage officers to form a new government before Allende was elected by the congress as the president. Frei was reluctant to take this action. Between 5th and 20th October, 1970, the station mobilized more contacts with the key Chilean military officers convincing them to engage in a coup .An attachee of the US embassy’s army was put under CIA station as the operational controller. He also relayed vital information to the military. Four of the CIA officers in non-official cover were instructed to meet with the Chilean officers who participated in plotting the coup. This was the track 11 plan which involved a military coup although it failed. The truck one plan involved political action which was aimed at discouraging the congress from electing Allende as the president. Track two failed as a result of the assassination of the army commander, Schneider. He was a strong supporter of the constitution of Chile and a defender of a military coup against Allende. As noted by Schmitz (101), the CIA and the United States government had agreed that absence of Schneider would prove a better position to plan the coup. One of the coup plotters, Robert Viaux, who was a retired army general of Chile exchanged contacts with one of the CIA officers on 9th October, 1970. In the following meeting with Viaux, the station put forward his request for weapons and his life assurance policy. After considering Viaux’s proposal for the plan, the CIA board disapproved it and argued that the group was not able to carry out the coup. However the representative of Viaux’s group suggested that the coup’s first plan was the abduction of Army commander, Schneider. The plan was not trusted as it had a list of false plans. According to Hastedt (70), on October 22, the same year, Viaux’s group performed an attempt to kidnap Schneider which resulted in his death. His death brought a lot of tension in the armed forces and among the supporters of the coup. There was immediate shelving of the military actions. The CIA group had also exchanged contacts with General Camilo Valenzuela’s group. The group was considered to posses the ability to perform a coup successfully. Though Viaux’s group acted independently, the CIA offered thirty five thousand dollars to them to maintain the secret. Allende’s presidency was passed by the congress on 24th October. After Allende’s inauguration, on November 3rd of the same year, the major goal was to make the opposition more active so as to defeat Allende in the next election. In 1971, in order to revise the support of the Christian Democratic Party, a new covert action was put forward. In the same year, there was a credit squeeze mostly as a result of Allende’s government’s policies. The policies compelled the government to clear its foreign debts by November the same year as noted by Manor (122). Neruda who was a nominated candidate for the presidential elections in Chile later gave his support to Allende. Later Allende appointed him as Chile’s ambassador to France and served from 1970 to 1972. He became of ill health and retuned to Chile later. In 1971, he was awarded the Nobel Prize which he had sought for long. In 1972, there was established a new covert action project whose mission was to give support to democratic Radical Party and the national party. By October 1972, the US government came up with a consensus which excluded the intervention in any planned coup. The Popular Unity government seemed to fear threats of a military coup and was not sure on what actions to take. On August1973, one million dollars was approved to the 40 committee as a supplementary to support Chile’s government opposition according to Beder (40). By the end of august the station urged for the permission to give enough support to the opposition. This was aimed at assisting the oppositions to encourage incorporation of Chile’s military into the cabinet. The resignation of army commander, Carlos Prats who was replaced by Augusto Pinochet seemed to increase the unification of Armed forces. It also appeared to strengthen the armed forces as political pressure group. From 1972 to 1973, the Chilean economy was faced with several strikes as suggested by Smith (55). In September1972 twenty thousand dollars was given by the forty committee funding business organizations that had strike. In 1973, CIA offered here quarters of the funding to research organization. The CIA continued cooperating with coup plotters all through from 1972 to1973. A truckers strike operated in July 1973 paralyzed the nation. Its aim was to attempt a military intervention though the United States refused to support the plan. However in August it funded political parties and some groups of the private sector. Finally Allende was ousted from power in September, 1973 and killed; some sources claiming that he committed suicide. The military took over power which brought with it a repression period in Chile that provoked worldwide protest. The Chilean military reign was characterized by abuse of human rights as noted by Daugherty and Bowden (44). Thousands of people were killed. At the beginning of the coup, Europe had engaged in mass demonstrations against the involvement of CIA. Cuba under the United Nations disapproved the plots which had been hatched by the embassy of the United States. The United States government representative refused the accusation that they took part coup. However, the United States government and the CIA never took part directly but they were somehow responsible. To support this argument Ambassador Davis claimed that the United States had always supported the opposition forces of Chile. It is also evident that having attempted a military coup in 1970, CIA was responsible for the outcome according to Rector (256). Following the scandal of the water gate, the senate thoroughly reviewed the United States intelligence community. It reviewed its administration, operations and functions. The church committee named after its chairman Frank Church was selected by the senate. Its mandate was to investigate actions and operation undertaken by intelligence and security services. It also checked on the abuse of services offered by the office of the president. The church committee conducted its activities by interviewing several witnesses and consulting relevant documents and materials. Between 1975 and 1976, the committee issued fourteen reports. The reports involved the assassination of foreign leaders with the help of intelligence and executive branch. According to Johnson (197), this was an act against the international law. The committee also reported political blackmail and spying at the local level. In April 1976, the church committee handed over its final reports. It concluded that Federal Bureau of Investigation and a number of intelligent forces were involved in campaigns which threatened human rights. They also concluded that, those actions could be avoided through establishing permanent congressional review. The congressional review was to check on the operations of the intelligence community. References: Beder, Sharon. Suiting themselves: how corporations drive the global agenda. London: Earthscan. 2006. Daugherty, William. & Bowden, Mark. Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky.2006. Hastedt, Glenn. Encyclopedia of American foreign policy. New York NY: Infobase Publishing. 2004. Johnson, Loch. Strategic intelligence, Volume 1. Connecticut US: Greenwood Publishing Group. 2007. Manor, Arc. U. S. Covert Actions by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Chile (Including the Assassination of Salvador Allende) 1963 to 1973. the Church Committee Report and the Hinchey Report as Presented to the U. S. Congress. Rockville MD: Arc Manor LLC. 2008. Mirza, Rocky. American Invasions: Canada to Afghanistan, 1775 to 2010. Bloomington: Trafford Publishing. 2010. Rector, John. The history of Chile. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2005.256 Schmitz, David. The United States and right-wing dictatorships, 1965-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006. Smith, Thomas. Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. New York NY: Infobase Publishing. 2003. Zinn, Howard. & Arnove, Anthony. Voices of a people's history of the United States. New York NY: Seven Stories Press. 2004. Read More