Fatherland and Liberty The Fatherland and Liberty Nationalist Front ( Spanish : Frente Nacionalista Patria y Libertad or simply Patria y Libertad , PyL ) was a nationalist and authoritarian political and paramilitary group denounced by their opponents as being fascist and a front for Central Intelligence Agency activities in Chile . The group was formed by Pablo Rodríguez Grez in 1970 , and turned more and more clandestine throughout the presidency of Salvador Allende . It was officially disbanded on September 12 , 1973 , following Pinochet ' s coup . In June 1973 , the group attempted to carry out a coup against the Allende government but failed , in an event known as the Tanquetazo . In July 1973 , it received orders from the Chilean Navy , which opposed the Schneider Doctrine of military adherence to the constitution , to sabotage Chile ' s infrastructure . The collaboration between Fatherland and Liberty and the Chilean Armed Forces increased after the failed October 1972 strike which had sought to overthrow the Allende administration . In agreement with the sectors opposing Allende in the military , the group assassinated on 26 July 1973 Allende ' s naval aide , Arturo Araya Peeters . The first sabotage was committed this same day . Others include creating a power outage while Allende was being broadcast . Members of PyL were then recruited by Chilean security services and participated in the persecution of those opposed to Pinochet ' s junta . Since the transition to democracy , some small groups have since claimed to be its successor , but are not officially linked to the original PyL . Creation of the group . Headed by Pablo Rodríguez Grez , the group was spawned in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile . It formally organized itself in 1970 , a short time after the election of Salvador Allende . " Patria y Libertad " gathered mainly upper and middle - class students who , united by common anti - Communist beliefs and anti - parliamentarism , engaged in street brawls against leftist opponents , armed with nunchakus and molotov cocktail s . " Patria y Libertad " criticized the division of Chile among various political parties , and hoped for the appearance of a " " caudillo " " which would transcend political divisions and become the " incarnation of the national sentiment " . Along with the youth movement of the Christian Democracy and of the National Party , they participated in demonstrations against the Allende administration . Financial support . The group was funded by the CIA during the first year of Allende ' s presidency , including via the Agency ' s Track II program . According to Prof . Michael Stohl , and Prof . George A . Lopez , " After the failure to prevent Allende from taking office , efforts shifted to obtaining his removal . At least $ 7 million was authorized by the United States for CIA use in the destabilizing of Chilean society . This included financing and assisting opposition groups and right - wing paramilitary groups such as Patria y Libertad ( " Fatherland and Liberty " ) . " . Although PyL was already dissolved , some of their former integrants continued collaborating with Pinochet ' s regime . Former head of DINA Manuel Contreras declared to Chilean justice in 2005 that the CNI , successor of DINA , handed out monthly payments between 1978 and 1990 to the persons who had worked with DINA agent Michael Townley in Chile , fomer members of PyL : Mariana Callejas ( Townley ' s wife ) , Francisco Oyarzún , Gustavo Etchepare and Eugenio Berríos . Assassinated in 1995 , Berrios , who worked as a chemist for the DINA in Colonia Dignidad , also worked with drug traffickers and DEA agents . Michael Townley has been convicted for the 1976 assassination of former Chilean minister Orlando Letelier , and was involved in the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires . Clandestine activities . June 1973 sabotage plan . The Chilean Navy ' s June 1973 plan included sabotaging bridges , oil pipeline s , energy towers and the fuel supply . The plan was revealed after the transition to democracy by Roberto Theime , leader of military operations for Fatherland and Liberty . Thieme exiled himself to Argentina after the failed " Tanquetazo " , but returned to Chile in mid - July 1973 , two months before the military coup . Thieme also revealed that in 1973 , he was pressured by the military to assassinate Senator Carlos Altamirano , who had been the general secretary of the Chilean Socialist Party since 1971 . Olof Palme assassination . The Swedish journalist Anders Leopold , in his 2008 book " Det svenska trädet skall fällas " , makes the case that PyL leader Roberto Thieme was the assassin in the still - unsolved 1986 murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme . According to Leopold , the Swedish prime minister was killed because he had freely given asylum to so many leftist Chileans following the 1973 coup against Salvador Allende . 2004 declarations . Roberto Thieme , leader of the military operations of PyL , signed on 2 December 2004 , along with other leaders José Agustín Vásquez and Arturo Hoffmann , a declaration which referred to the Valech Report and begged pardon for their responsibilities in the repression against civilians operated by Pinochet ' s junta . They indicated that many members of the group had been recruited by the Chilean security services and had thus collaborated to the repression , including acts of torture and of forced disappearances . Thieme also opposed the neoliberal economic policies of Pinochet ' s regime , and criticized Pinochet ' s lack of repentance following his 1998 arrest in London and subsequent judicial procedures in Chile . Judicial procedures . Juan Patricio Abarzúa Cáceres , a former member of PyL , was arrested in 2005 , charged of the " disappearance " of Juan Heredia , a Popular Unity government sympathiser " disappeared " on September 16 1973