At the beginning of the twentieth century, American business became interested in Chilean copper. In 1905 the Braden Copper Company, which would later be absorbed into Kennecott Copper Corporation, began mining at El Teniente, a mountain of ore set in the Andes about one hundred miles southeast of Santiago, Seven years later a forerunner of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company began operations at Chuquicamata, in the northern desert.
These two American-owned companies, Kennecott and Anaconda, grew into the twin titans of the world copper business. By mid-century, El Teniente was the largest underground copper mine in the world, and Chuquicamata was the largest open-pit mine.
The
In the early 1960s, the CIA concentrated its support on the center-left Christian Democratic Party, whose leader, Eduardo Frei, was an ebullient reformer in exactly the right mold to fit
Allende
Allende was the classic bourgeois revolutionary. Although born into privilege, he was a passionate advocate of radical social change. His militancy grew from a combination of Marist gospel and the realities of life he saw around him. Despite
In 1970, Allende ran for president as the candidate of a leftist coalition called Popular Unity. The challenge of keeping him out of power came to obsess the American embassy in
The Spoiling
Phillips, who had run the highly successful “Voice of Liberation” radio campaign during the 1954 coup against President Jacobo Arbenz of
Newspapers and radio stations, including several the CIA was subsidizing, denounced Allende and warned graphically of the horrors his government would surely bring. American banks stopped granting short-term credits to Chilean businesses; agents spread rumors of impending food rationing, bank collapses, and nonexistent plans by Allende to seize private homes.
The 1970 Election
On September 4, 1970, Chilean voters went to the polls and gave Allende his victory by plurality. Such outcomes were not unusual in
It is a tribute to the Chilean political system that despite all the CIA’s efforts, neither President Frei nor members of Congress could be persuaded that the threat Allende posed was great enough to require a break with
Orchestrated Overthrow
When Allende won the presidential election on September 4, 1970, he set off panic in the corridors of American power. He was a lifelong anti-imperialist and admirer of Fidel Castro who had vowed to nationalize the American owned companies that dominated his country. On November 6, 1970, just two days after Allende donned the presidential sash in
The Americans needed to push
Agustin Edwards, one of
Kissinger asked Helms to meet with Edwards to glean “whatever insight he might have” on ways of stopping Allende. Kissinger met with another powerful figure eager to protect large interests in
ITT was one of the world’s largest conglomerates. It had large holdings in
John McCone, the former CIA director, had joined ITT less than a year after leaving the CIA but remained a consultant to the agency, meaning that he was simultaneously on both payrolls. This unique arrangement made him the ideal link between ITT and the top levels of the
Economic Warfare
The first blows they struck were economic. The cutting of aid, loans and credits to
Soon after Allende’s inauguration, most of the leading American companies active in
Allende faced intense pressure from groups of workers and peasants whose revolutionary passion he had helped awaken. His rhetoric led many of them to dream of a new social order in which they would enjoy higher wages, better housing, and other amenities of the good life. They pushed him relentlessly toward radicalism, as did militant Chilean leftists who took up their cause. Among them were radicals who embraced Che Guevara’s theory that the only way to bring justice to
On July 11, 1971, the Chilean Congress unanimously approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the nationalization of Kennecott, Anaconda, and the smaller Cerro Mining Corporation. Allende proclaimed that the date would henceforth be “National Dignity Day.” Soon after taking this momentous step, the Allende government took another one, assuming management control of the ITT-owned Compania de Telephonos de
Downward Spiral
Although Allende could never move quickly enough to satisfy his most radical supporters, his march toward socialism horrified other Chileans and helped polarize the country. At the same time, the
By the end of 1972, Allende’s divisive policies and the American destabilization campaign had combined to throw
Allende Addressed the UN
Against this backdrop, Allende arrived in
Our economy could longer tolerate the subordination implied by having more that eighty percent of its exports in the hands of a small group of large foreign companies that have always put their interest ahead of those of the countries where they make their profits.
These same firms exploited Chilean copper for many years, made more than four billion dollars in profit in the last forty-two years alone, while their initial investments were less than thirty million.
We find ourselves opposed by forces that operate in the shadows, without a flag, with powerful weapons, from positions of great influence. We are potentially rich countries, yet we live in poverty. We go here and there, begging for credits and aid, yet we are great exporters of capital. It is a classic paradox of the capitalist economic system.
Pinochet Overthrows Allende
Plotters at CIA headquarters in
The CIA had noticed General Pinochet’s growing willingness to consider the idea of a coup. At a birthday party for General Pinochet’s younger daughter, on September 9, Chilean officers made their final decision to strike against President Allende. The coup proceeded methodically. Soldiers across the country and began securing radio stations, town halls, police stations, and other centers of power.
On September 11, 1973, Allende addressed his last words to his people:
I will not resign. I am ready to resist by all means, even at the cost of my own life. Foreign capital – imperialism united with reaction – created the climate for the army to break with their tradition. Long live
Soon after Allende delivered his impassioned farewell, infantry units began advancing on the palace under cover of artillery fire. Defenders fired back, and men of both sides fell. Shortly before noon, tow British-made Hawker Hunter fighters roared out of the sky. They swooped down and fired at the palace, striking so accurately – one missile flew right through the palace’s main door – that some theorists later suggested that the pilots must have been American. Eighteen rockets hit the old building, which burst into flames.
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Pinochet Rules
One of Pinochet’s first acts after the coup was to order a nationwide series of raids on leftists and other supporters of the deposed regime. The harshness with which this campaign was conducted, the tens of thousands of people who were arrested, the conditions under which they were held, and the fact that many were never seen again set the tone for what would be years of repression. Officials of the Allende government were rounded up and sent to a prison on desolate
Pinochet moved quickly to resolve the conflicts with American companies that had contributed so decisively to hostility between
“My evaluation is that you are a victim of all left-wing groups around the world, and that your greatest sin was that you overthrew a government that was going communist,” Kissinger told Pinochet. “We welcomed the overthrow of the communist-inclined government here. We are not out to weaken your position.”
