Chile Marks 50th Anniversary of Salvador Allende's Election

[Judi Lynn]

Declassified Records Capture U.S. Reaction to First Free Election of a Socialist Leader

September 4, 1970, Historic Vote Prompted Nixon/Kissinger Regime Change Effort

Washington D.C., September 4, 2020 – “Chile voted calmly to have a Marxist-Leninist state, the first nation in the world to make this choice freely and knowingly,” U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry dramatically reported to Washington in a cable titled “Allende Wins” on September 4, 1970. “[W]e have suffered a grievous defeat; the consequences will be domestic and international; the repercussions will have immediate impact in some lands and delayed effect in others.”

On the 50th anniversary of the history-changing election of Salvador Allende in Chile, the National Security Archive today posted a selection of previously declassified documents recording the reaction of U.S. officials to the first democratic election of a Socialist leader in Latin America, or elsewhere. Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy makers had dedicated tens of millions of dollars in overt aid and covert actions to preventing the popular head of the Chilean Socialist party from being elected. Allende’s victory set in motion a furious effort, ordered by President Nixon, supervised by his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, and implemented by the CIA, to destabilize Chile and undermine Allende’s ability to govern—an effort that set the stage for the September 11, 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. “I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people,” Kissinger famously told his top aides.

Before the election, U.S. officials believed that the CIA “spoiling operations”—covert propaganda efforts to undermine Allende’s popularity before the election—would succeed. In a confidential conversation with Chile’s Christian Democrat President Eduardo Frei on the evening of September 3, 1970, Ambassador Korry predicted that the conservative National Party candidate, Jorge Alessandri, would defeat Allende in a three-way race. When Frei asked who would win, according to Korry’s report on their meeting, “I replied that I believed Alessandri would gain no less than 38 pct, that Allende could not realistically hope for more than 35 pct and that [the Christian Democrat candidate, Radomiro] Tomic might surprise the Marxists by squeezing in second, thus making it a tighter all round race.” In fact, Allende narrowly defeated Alessandri with 36.3 percent of the balloting; Tomic came in a distant third.

Ambassador Korry filed no fewer than eighteen election-day reports on the September 4 balloting. Report number 1 suggested a “very large” turnout “without incident,” with Chileans so committed to voting that hospital patients were being “brought to polls on litters, some appearing to be indulging in their last rite….” As Allende’s narrow victory became apparent, however, the tone of Korry’s reporting changed from humorous observation to angry denunciation of Chile’s political culture for creating the conditions for, and then civilly accepting, Allende’s democratic election.

More:
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-09-04/allende-wins?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=4428305b-f207-4f9a-96c0-0c7690e9bb7e

[Kid Berwyn]

1. "Copper, the bread of Chileans." -- Pablo Neruda

“I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” — Henry Kissinger

[Judi Lynn]

2. Coming from what you'd expect to be an educated man. Horrifying, in the least. n/t