SANTIAGO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) — Decades ago, a live speech echoed on radio stations across Chile. “I will not resign… I will pay with my life for the loyalty of the people.”
The farewell speech was delivered by former Chilean President Salvador Allende, who refused safe passage on the morning of September 11, 1973, in the midst of a U.S.-sponsored military coup against the democratically elected government. Allende was barricaded in the presidential palace at La Moneda, giving his life in defense of democracy, as General Augusto Pinochet’s troops approached.
The tanks roamed the streets of Santiago. The planes bombed La Moneda. Gunshots and explosions echoed throughout the city. The coup marked the beginning of Pinochet’s 17-year military regime, considered one of the darkest chapters in Chilean history.
According to a Chilean government report, more than 40,000 people were arrested for political reasons, more than 3,000 died or disappeared at the hands of secret police, and at least 200,000 fled into exile under Pinochet’s government.
US-backed coup
Chile celebrated the 50th anniversary of the coup on Monday. People marched in front of the presidential palace and laid flowers in memory of the victims. “We commemorate a painful date and undoubtedly a turning point in our history,” said President Gabriel Boric.
In the 1970s, there were clear signs of impending crisis in Chile, from a divided government to rising prices to frequent protests. The funding of the US CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and covert operations to destabilize the South American country cannot be ignored.
A series of historical studies and declassified archives for half a century have shown that the United States did everything possible to prevent the leftist Allende from coming to power and later overthrow his government.
Allende had been a U.S. target since the 1960s, when the Cold War between the United States and the defunct Soviet Union was at its height. The United States, viewing Latin America as its “backyard,” was reluctant to allow the leftist leader to be elected president of Chile.
Declassified documents show that the CIA spent millions of dollars between 1962 and 1964 to finance the election campaigns of Allende’s rivals and anti-Allende propaganda. These behind-the-scenes maneuvers worked and Allende lost the 1964 presidential election.
On September 4, 1970, Allende narrowly won in a race against other presidential candidates. Alarmed by the prospect of a “second Cuba” in Latin America, the U.S. government intervened to prevent Allende from winning the congressional vote.
Five days later, the CIA sent a secret cable to its station in Chile: “In looking for ways to prevent an Allende government from exercising power, it is quite clear that (a) the political/constitutional path is not in any way viable “Gone is.” and (b) the only prospect of success is a military coup before or immediately after Allende’s rise to power… The station is required to establish as many direct contacts with influential military figures in the near future as possible”.
The CIA’s hasty plan was to provoke a coup by Chilean coup plotters. Documents later declassified by the CIA show that Washington informed these officials that the U.S. government would give them full support in the event of a coup.
The plan failed: Allende won the vote in Congress in October of that year and took office as president.
Get rid of the enemy
As a major Latin American country, Chile’s political events in the region have been closely followed. The United States feared that Allende’s rise to power through democratic means could lead to the rise of left-wing movements in Latin America and challenge American hegemony in the region. Therefore, after the first coup attempt in 1970, the United States decided to weaken the Allende government through political, economic and military means to create the conditions for another coup.
On the political front, the US government allocated $815,000 to fill several gaps in the Allende administration, according to media reports. From 1970 to 1973, the CIA spent more than $8 million in Chile, most of it to finance strikes and protests organized by right-wing opposition groups. Meanwhile, the CIA’s “black propaganda” machine, honed in the 1964 election, was in motion again.
According to Chilean journalist Víctor Herrero, between September 15 and November 3, 1973, the CIA produced 726 radio and television articles, reports and editorials in Chile and the world criticizing the Allende government for its attempt to close the press check.
To “make the Chilean economy scream,” the U.S. government tried to prevent loans from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions. It also depressed the price of copper in the international market, impacting copper exports, an important source of foreign exchange for Chile.
A US government report said it had continually supported the Chilean army by maintaining numerous arms sales to the country. In addition, the United States trained numerous Chilean military officers, thereby encouraging pro-American influences within the Chilean military.
Chilean scholars believe that such US intervention paved the way for the military coup that overthrew the government.
The United States has prioritized its own economic and political interests over the well-being of democracy in America, argued Alejandro Navarro, a former Chilean senator. Navarro said the U.S. considers Chile and other Latin American countries its “property” and anyone who harms U.S. interests becomes its enemy.
MONROE DOCTRINE
The tragedy of the Allende government revealed the hypocrisy and dominance of the United States. The history of Latin America has shown that Washington was not afraid to launch coups when the governments in question did not align with U.S. interests.
Take the Caribbean as an example. The United States invaded Haiti in 1915 on the orders of then US President Woodrow Wilson to calm political unrest following the assassination of Haitian President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. American diplomats and defense officials feared that Haiti’s instability could lead to foreign dominance over the Caribbean country. As a result, the American occupation lasted until 1934.
In the early 1950s, then-Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán implemented land reforms that included redistributing unused land from the American United Fruit Company to landless farmers. This led to the company putting pressure on the US government to support a coup led by Carlos Castillo Armas to overthrow the Arbenz government.
The US actions have fueled anger in Latin America. In March 2022, Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo declared December 20 a national day of mourning to commemorate Panamanians who died during the US invasion of the country in 1989.
During the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in January this year, leaders jointly called on the United States to end its ongoing blockade against Cuba.
On June 27, Nicaragua’s foreign minister sent a letter signed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling on the United States to pay more than $12 billion in compensation for the International Court of Justice ruling of 1986, which found the United States guilty of financing the civil war in Nicaragua.
37 years have passed and the United States has not paid its “historic debt.” The US views Latin America as its “backyard” and continues to seek hegemony under the guise of promoting “democracy and freedom,” putting its own interests first since the adoption of the Monroe Doctrine 200 years ago.
Former Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni pointed out that while the Monroe Doctrine and its derived policies preached an “America for the Americans,” in reality they sought an “America for the United States.”
Huanacuni emphasized that Nicaragua’s demand for compensation from the US represents Latin America’s collective voice to counter US hegemony and pursue multilateralism through integration. End