Chile’s 9/11 hints at real intention of US action
ON THE morning of September 11 1973, exactly 40 years ago yesterday, a military junta led by Gen Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. Allende had led a coalition of socialists and community activists, the Popular Unity Front, to an electoral victory in Chile’s 1970 presidential elections. In a threeway contest, Allende won 36% of the vote and was elected president by the Chilean parliament in November 1970.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tried to pre-empt Allende’s assumption of office by staging a coup. Chile’s chief of staff, Rene Schneider, refused when approached. On October 22 1970 his car was ambushed. He died in hospital three days later. The failed coup rebounded to Allende’s advantage and he was installed as president.
CIA director Richard Helms later reported that his orders from the White House were to “make the (Chilean) economy scream”. A campaign of covert activities to destabilise Chile was set in motion. Opposition political parties were funded and secret contacts established with far-right paramilitary groups whom the CIA trained in sabotage. US corporations with interests in Chile financed covert CIA operations to back opposition media.
There was also a decisive chilling of relations with the newly elected leftist government. Acting in concert with US corpora-
‘The US has regarded Latin America as its dominion in whose politics it has the moral right to intervene’
tions, the US government orchestrated the denial of loans by the Inter-American Development Bank, the termination of existing loans and the blocking of funds from multilateral institutions.
The Popular Unity Front government had taken measures to uplift the most vulnerable in society. It instituted a programme of free milk for all schoolgoing children up to the age of 15; stimulated wage increases in every sector of the economy; lowered taxes for middleincome earners and exempted small property owners; launched literacy and adult education projects; and increased the social wage for the working poor. Its legislative programme initially enjoyed the support of the Christian Democratic Party. But during the government’s second year, the external pres- sures converged to produce an economic downturn. The government could not raise the loans to finance its ambitious reform programme. The government’s opponents had successfully engineered a fiscal crisis.
In contrast to its frosty attitude towards Chile’s government, during 1972 and 1973, the US increased military aid and stepped up the training of Chilean military personnel in the US and Panama. Saboteurs trained by the CIA also went into action, staging a number of arson attacks in late 1972. A strike by truckers in early 1973 threatened to bring the country’s road-transport system to a halt. Middle-class housewives, incited by CIAfunded radio stations, also took to the streets in noisy “empty pot” demonstrations.
Both sides hoped the congressional elections in March 1973 would resolve the political impasse. The Popular Unity Front coalition increased its share of the vote from 36% to 42%, dealing a serious blow to the opposition and its US backers. They turned to armed force. In June, tank commanders tried to stage a coup, but were disarmed by troops loyal to the government. In July and August, tension mounted as the opposition took to the streets again — joined by professionals and employers. As winter turned to spring, the first signs that the military had begun preparations for a coup became evident. They raided for arms against working-class neighbourhoods, the Popular Unity Front’s key constituencies, and compiled lists of activists for arrest. Allende and the leadership of the Socialist Party hoped to break the political deadlock by calling a referendum for September 11 1973. The newly appointed army commander, Augusto Pinochet, ordered an attack on the presidential palace and the overthrow of the government that very morning. Allende was killed during the assault.
Even by Latin American standards, the Pinochet dictatorship was brutal. In addition to arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture, it carried out executions in football stadiums. For 17 years, the Chilean junta acted with impunity. Last week, members of the Chilean judiciary redeemed themselves by admitting its connivance in that repression.
Since the Spanish-American War, the US has regarded Latin America as its dominion in whose politics it has the moral right to intervene. It either sent in the marines or incited generals to overthrow liberal and leftinclined governments. Chile in 1973 was but one of many coups.
At a time when a US administration is rattling its sabre in the presumption that it has the right to impose and depose governments “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli”, it is helpful to remind ourselves of this other 9/11. The proof of the US’s real intentions is written in the Latin American experience.
Jordan is a former arts and culture minister.