Salvador Allende's Leftist Regime, 1970-73 - Chilean Intelligence Agencies FAS | Intelligence | World Agencies | Chile ||||| Index | Search | Allende's Leftist Regime "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people." Henry Kissinger By the end of the 1960s, the polarization of Chilean politics had overwhelmed the traditional civility of Chile's vaunted democratic institutions. The centrist agreements of the past, which had enabled presidents to navigate a difficult course of compromise and conciliation, became more difficult to attain. The American Central Intelligence Agency had influenced elections in Chile dating back to 1958, but in 1970 the socialist candidate, a physician named Salvador Allende, was elected president. In a reflection of Chile's increased ideological polarization, Allende was elected president with 36.2 percent of the vote in 1970. Unable or unwilling to form coalitions, the left, center, and right had all nominated their own candidates in the mistaken hope of obtaining a majority. President Nixon directed CIA to prevent Allende's inauguration through a military coup.

One of the opponents of a coup, Army Chief of Staff General Rene Schneider was assassinated, but Allende took office as scheduled. The Allende experiment enjoyed a triumphant first year, followed by two disastrous final years. According to the Popular Unity [ Unidad Popular - UP] coalition , Chile was being exploited by parasitic foreign and domestic capitalists. The government therefore moved quickly to socialize the economy, taking over the copper mines, other foreign firms, oligopolistic industries, banks, and large estates. By a unanimous vote of Congress in 1971, the government totally nationalized the foreign copper firms, which were mainly owned by two United States companies, Kennecott and Anaconda. The nationalization measure was one of the few bills Allende ever got through the opposition- controlled legislature, where the Christian Democrats constituted the largest single party. Socialization of the means of production spread rapidly and widely. The government took over virtually all the great estates. It turned the lands over to the resident workers, who benefited far more than the owners of tiny plots or the numerous migrant laborers. By 1972 food production had fallen and food imports had risen.

Also during 1971-72, the government dusted off emergency legislation from the 1932 Socialist Republic to allow it to expropriate industries without congressional approval. It turned many factories over to management by the workers and the state. In his first year, Allende also employed Keynesian measures to hike salaries and wages, thus pumping up the purchasing power of the middle and working classes. This "consumer revolution" benefited 95 percent of the population in the short run because prices were held down and employment went up. Producers responded to rising demand by employing previously underused capacity. Politically, Allende faced problems holding his Popular Unity coalition together, pacifying the more leftist elements inside and outside Popular Unity and, above all, coping with the increasingly implacable opposition. Within Popular Unity, the largest party was the Socialist Party. Although composed of multiple factions, the Socialist Party mainly pressed Allende to accelerate the transition toward socialism. The second most important element was the PCCh, which favored a more gradual, legalistic approach.

Outside the Popular Unity, the most significant left-wing organization was the MIR, a tiny but provocative group that admired the Cuban Revolution and encouraged peasants and workers to take property and the revolutionary process into their own hands, much faster than Allende preferred. The most important opposition party was the PDC. As it and the middle sectors gradually shifted to the right, they came to form an anti-Allende bloc in combination with the Natinal Party and the propertied class. Even farther to the right were minuscule, paramilitary, quasi-fascist groups like Fatherland and Liberty (Patria y Libertad), determined to sabotage Popular Unity. The Popular Unity government tried to maintain cordial relations with the United States, even while staking out an independent position as a champion of developing nations and socialist causes. It opened diplomatic relations with Cuba, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and Albania. It befriended the Soviet Union, which sent aid to the Allende administration, although far less than Cuba received or than Popular Unity had hoped for. Meanwhile, the United States pursued a two-track policy toward Allende's Chile.

At the overt level, Washington was frosty, especially after the nationalization of the copper mines; official relations were unfriendly but not openly hostile. The government of President Richard M. Nixon launched an economic blockade conjunction with U.S. multinationals (ITT, Kennecott, Anaconda) and banks (Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank). The US squeezed the Chilean economy by terminating financial assistance and blocking loans from multilateral organizations. But during 1972 and 1973 the US increased aid to the military, a sector unenthusiastic toward the Allende government. The United States also increased training Chilean military personnel in the United States and Panama. According to notes taken by CIA director Richard Helms at a 1970 meeting in the Oval Office, his orders were to "make the economy scream." It was widely reported that at the covert level the United States worked to destabilize Allende's Chile by funding opposition political groups and media and by encouraging a military coup d'�tat. The agency trained members of the fascist organization Patria y Libertad (PyL) in guerrilla warfare and bombing, and they were soon waging a campaign of arson.

CIA also sponsored demonstrations and strikes, funded by ITT and other US corporations with Chilean holdings. CIA-linked media, including the country's largest newspaper, fanned the flames of crisis. While these United States actions contributed to the downfall of Allende, no one has established direct United States participation in the coup d'�tat and few would assign the United States the primary role in the destruction of that government. During the second and third years of the UP, demand outstripped supply, the economy shrank, deficit spending snowballed, new investments and foreign exchange became scarce, the value of copper sales dropped, shortages appeared, and inflation skyrocketed, eroding the previous gains for the working class. A thriving black market sprang up. The government responded with direct distribution systems in working-class neighborhoods. Worker participation in the management of enterprises reached unprecedented proportions. The strapped government could not keep the economy from going into free fall because it could not impose austerity measures on its supporters in the working class, get new taxes approved by Congress, or borrow enough money abroad to cover the deficit. Although the right was on the defensive in Allende's first year, it moved on the offensive and forged an alliance with the center in the next two years.

In Congress this center-right coalition erected a blockade against all Popular Unity initiatives, harassed Popular Unity cabinet ministers, and denounced the administration as illegitimate and unconstitutional, thus setting the stage for a military takeover. The most acrimonious battle raged over the boundaries of Popular Unity's "social property area" (�rea de propriedad social), which would incorporate private holdings through government intervention, requisition, or expropriation. The Supreme Court and the comptroller general of the republic joined Congress in criticizing the executive branch for overstepping its constitutional bounds. Allende tried to stabilize the situation by organizing a succession of cabinets, but none of them guaranteed order. His appointment of military officers to cabinet posts in 1972 and 1973 also failed to stifle the opposition. Instead, it helped politicize the armed services. Outside the government, Allende's supporters continued direct takeovers of land and businesses, further disrupting the economy and frightening the propertied class. The two sides reached a showdown in the March 1973 congressional elections. The opposition expected the Allende coalition to suffer the typical losses of Chilean governments in midterm elections, especially with the economy in a tailspin.

The National Party and PDC hoped to win two-thirds of the seats, enough to impeach Allende. They netted 55 percent of the votes, not enough of a majority to end the stalemate. Moreover, the Popular Unity's 43 percent share represented an increase over the presidential tally of 36.2 percent and gave Allende's coalition six additional congressional seats; therefore, many of his adherents were encouraged to forge ahead. In the aftermath of the indecisive 1973 congressional elections, both sides escalated the confrontation and hurled threats of insurgency. Street demonstrations became almost daily events and increasingly violent. Right-wing groups, such as Fatherland and Liberty, and left-wing groups, such as the MIR, brandished arms and called for a cataclysmic solution. The most militant workers formed committees in their neighborhoods and workplaces to press for accelerated social change and to defend their gains. The opposition began openly knocking on the doors of the barracks in hopes that the military would provide a solution. The regular armed forces halted an attempted coup by tank commanders in June 1973, but that incident warned the nation that the military was getting restless.

Thereafter, the armed forces prepared for a massive coup by stepping up raids to search for arms among Popular Unity's supporters. Conditions worsened in June, July, and August, as middle- and upper-class business proprietors and professionals launched another wave of workplace shutdowns and lockouts, as they had in late 1972. Their 1973 protests against the government coincided with strikes by the trucking industry and by the left's erstwhile allies among the copper workers. The Nationalists, the Christian Democrats, and conservative students backed the increasingly subversive strikers. They called for Allende's resignation or military intervention. Attempts by the Catholic Church to get the PDC and Popular Unity to negotiate a compromise came to naught. Meanwhile, inflation reached an annual rate of more than 500 percent. By mid-1973 the economy and the government were paralyzed. In August 1973, the rightist and centrist representatives in the Chamber of Deputies undermined the president's legitimacy by accusing him of systematically violating the constitution and by urging the armed forces to intervene.

In early September, Allende was preparing to call for a rare national plebiscite to resolve the impasse between Popular Unity and the opposition. The military obviated that strategy by launching its attack on civilian authority on the morning of September 11. Just prior to the assault, the commanders in chief, headed by the newly appointed army commander, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, had purged officers sympathetic to the president or the constitution. Allende either was assassinated or committed suicide while defending (with an assault rifle) his socialist government against the coup d'�tat. Several cabinet ministers were also assassinated, the universities were put under military control, opposition parties were banned and thousands of Chileans were tortured and killed, many fingered as "radicals" by lists provided by the CIA. Although sporadic resistance to the coup erupted, the military consolidated control much more quickly than it had believed possible. Many Chileans had predicted that a coup would unleash a civil war, but instead it ushered in a long period of repression. Debate continues over the reasons for Allende's downfall. Right-wing critics in particular accused the left of plotting an armed takeover, a charge that was never proved.

Critics also assailed the UP for being unclear about the limits of its reforms and thus frightening the middle class into the arms of the opposition. Critics of the right accused Popular Unity, in conjunction with the United States, of ruining the economy and of calling out the armed forces to protect its property and privileges. Critics of the Christian Democrats chastised them for refusing to compromise, locking arms with the rightist opposition, and failing to defend democracy. Observers in general scolded the far left for its adventurous excesses. Critics of the left blamed Allende for going to extremes, destroying the economy, violating the constitution, and undermining the spirit if not the letter of democracy. The far left retorted that Popular Unity failed because it was too timid to arm the masses. There was ample blame to go around. Groups at all points on the political spectrum helped destroy the democratic order by being too ideological and too intransigent. A minority president facing adamant domestic and foreign opposition was extremely unlikely to be able to uphold democracy and create socialism at the same time. The major media in the United States ignored the issue of CIA involvement until 1974, when Michael J.

Harrington (D-MA) leaked details of secret Congressional testimony by William Colby. And in late 1975, the Senate Committee headed by Frank Church released the report on "Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973." In 1982 the movie "Missing," directed by Costa-Gavras and starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, provided a dramatized account of Charles Horman, a 30-year-old American free-lance journalist secretly arrested and executed during the coup. Sources and Resources Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate), 18 December 1975. William Blum, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, s1995). Thomas Hauser, Missing. New York: Avon Books, 1982 [first published in 1978 as The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice] 255 pages.

Remembering Salvador Allende | openDemocracy Remembering Salvador Allende Senan Fox 21 August 2013 On September 11, 1973, the democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, died during a US-backed coup d’état. 40 years on, Allende is of critical importance to those of the left, the poor and the underprivileged. Chilean workers marching in support of Allende in 1964 Credit: Wikimedia Commons/ Library of Congress On September 4, 1973, as the Chilean military prepared to overthrow Salvador Allende in a US-backed coup d’état, the country’s President remained defiant as he spoke to an unprecedented one-million-strong pro-Allende demonstration in Santiago. The demonstrators filed past La Moneda, the country’s Presidential Palace, and shouted “Allende, Allende, el pueblo te defiende” (“Allende, Allende, the people will defend you”).

Following months of crippling strikes and an unsuccessful coup attempt in June of that year, the Chilean leader warned of those who “do not respect the majoritarian will of Chile”, and promised: “Let them know that I will not take a single step back! I will leave when I have carried out the people’s mandate! I have no alternative.” On the afternoon of September 11, as forces loyal to General Augusto Pinochet and the military junta surrounded the besieged Palace, Allende honoured the promise he made in his last radio broadcast to never resign to an unconstitutional government. By choosing to take his own life, he symbolically died as the freely elected President of Chile. Forty years after his death, Salvador Allende, the first democratically chosen Marxist leader in Latin America, remains a hero of the left, of the poor and of the underprivileged. A tenacious leader, he secured Chile’s top political post on his fourth attempt following his election in September 1970. Despite his Marxist credentials, Allende was quintessentially a Chilean nationalist who committed his life’s work to the betterment of his fellow countrymen and countrywomen, and to freedom from economic dependence or servitude to any outside power.

As a close political confidant, Sergio Vuskovic, has testified: “He was not a Marxist in the classical literal sense, and frowned upon communist dogmas that emphasized a single party dominated ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. What he did take from Marxism was a preoccupation with the workers and the poor, and the idea of equality. For these reasons, it would be more accurate to describe Allende as a libertarian socialist." He respected and enjoyed close ties with militant revolutionaries such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro but rejected the violent revolutionary approach for Chile and faithfully espoused social and political reforms within his country via democratic means. His left-wing politics were informed by the dire poverty experienced by most Chilean citizens that he witnessed as a doctor and as a politician. Upon securing the Presidency, Allende immediately set out to implement major social reforms. Examples included social security rights for all workers, land redistribution, rent reductions, improved health care facilities, improved housing and sanitation, free milk for nursing mothers and school children, anti-illiteracy campaigns, the raising of the minimum wage, and the granting of three thousand scholarships for the marginalized Mapuches Indian community.

Positive results from such initiatives included an increase in school enrollments and a reduction of nearly 20 per cent in malnutrition rates amongst the very young. In order to finance such programs, Allende embarked on an ambitious program encompassing the accelerated nationalization and expropriation of industries. Such policies were of deep concern to US corporations such as Kennecott, Anaconda, PepsiCo, and International Telephone and Telegraph. Such corporations played a major role in lobbying the US government to implement measures aimed at asphyxiating the freely elected government of Chile. According to Lubna Qureshi, an expert on the coup of 1973, the strategic threat of Soviet infiltration was not the foremost American concern in the Chilean case, rather “the predominant motivation was a fear of a demonstration effect and a diminution of US economic and political power and influence in Latin America.” Criticizing the wildly excessive profits enjoyed by US corporations from copper, Chile’s most lucrative resource, Allende argued that: “Those same enterprises exploited Chile’s copper for many years, in the last 42 years alone taking out more than four thousand million dollars in profits although their initial investment was no more than thirty million dollars… Four thousand million dollars would completely transform Chile.

A small part of that sum would ensure proteins for all the children of my country.” Successive US administrations had been influencing elections in Chile for years but Allende’s election to the Presidency in 1970 compelled Washington to redouble its efforts, and in the words of President Nixon “to make the [Chilean] economy scream”. The determination of the Americans to suffocate the Andean country’s left-wing government and to sow the seeds of a coup d’état could also be clearly seen in the words of the US Ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry, when he declared: “not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty.” To this end, the Central Intelligence Agency engaged in massive clandestine operations, which had a hugely detrimental effect upon the country. The CIA concerned itself with the restriction of vital Chilean imports, exports, and assets, misinformation campaigns, funding opposition groups, manipulating the parliamentary process, and fomenting labour protests including a significant miners’ strike and a paralysing truck drivers’ strike in late 1972 (in a country with no extensive railway network).

Most notoriously, Washington’s hand was shown in the kidnapping and ultimate murder of General Rene Schneider in October 1970, just a month after Allende’s election. Schneider was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean armed forces and was targeted for replacement due to his loyalty to his country’s constitution and his refusal to support the US-sponsored coup d’état strategy to topple Allende. By 1972, the collective effect of such interference was startling. From a figure of 977 strikes in the country in 1969, three years later the number had risen to an incredible 3287. By August 1973, inflation was at 320 per cent and the budget deficit was 115 per cent of the country’s receipts. By early September, political and economic paralysis, and CIA-backed Machiavellian machinations influenced a weakening of Allende’s congressional support from earlier in the year. However, the million-strong march on September 4 at least indicated that he still enjoyed considerable grass-roots support and that he stood a respectable chance of holding out until his term ended in 1976.

From Washington’s perspective, this ‘grim’ political reality compelled them to focus more exclusively on supporting the ‘Track II’ military coup option. The coup of September 11th 1973 was the endgame in Washington’s plans for Salvador Allende. Following his death, Chile was transformed from a civilian-ruled symbol of hope in the region since 1925 into a US-supported fascist dictatorship that ruthlessly crushed all political opposition and ruled the country with an iron fist until 1990. Over 3000 Chileans were killed or disappeared by the Pinochet regime and over 30,000 were imprisoned. In his last speech to the Chilean people just before his death, Allende placed the destruction of democracy in his country squarely at the door of the greedy within Chile and the forces of “foreign capital, and imperialism, who together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition.” Forty years after his death, historical archives regarding the coup d’état reflect the accuracy of the late President’s words.

Today the “great avenues” that Allende spoke of on his final day have indeed opened, and free Chileans can once again endeavour in his spirit to build a better society. About the author Dr Senan Fox is an Associate Professor of Modern History and International Relations at Kanazawa University, Japan. Related Articles In 1970s Chile democratically elected Salvador Allende took - QU - 301 View Full Document In 1970’s Chile, democratically elected Salvador Allende took over as President, and sought to reduce the country’s inflation rate and create more job opportunities. As he struggled between communist and socialist parties, Allende watched as his programs continuously failed and inflation rates rose during his tenure. Before he could get a handle on national issues, Allende was killed in a military coup d’état, and replaced by the military regime of Pinochet. According to excerpts of The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein, Chile is an example of shock therapy that is instituted through extreme violence and terror. Although the shock therapy of Chile provided short-term economic stability, they set themselves up for a debt crisis later on, and the short stability came with rapid human rights violations (Klein).

On a more positive note, Bolivia experienced greater success in the mid 1980’s. Bolivia was in a period of extreme inflation after a continuous string of unstable governments; Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozado implemented Decree 21060, which sought to change the theory that only a military government could reinstall a new economic plan. De Lozado is quoted defending his decision, “ If you keep to gradualism, people don't believe you, and the hyperinflation just keeps roaring stronger. So shock therapy is get it over, get it done, stop hyperinflation, and then start rebuilding your economy so you achieve growth” (de Lozado). While these programs had the right intentions, and the leaders of Bolivia did not become greedy or power hungry, even rejecting some unconstitutional offers to them unlike other Latin American leaders had in the past, This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document Bolivia did not experience overwhelming long-term success. Bolivia did improve in many aspects, such as GDP per capita, adult literacy, and child mortality rates, however they remain poor and divided until today (Sachs 107).

These other examples can give insight into whether or not shock therapy is truly the catalyst for the success or failure of an economic reform. Chile was generally unsuccessful, as the shock therapy carried with it an impending debt crisis, as well as torture and violence at the hands of the leader, Pinochet. Bolivia was moderately successful, but a collapse in the tin market along with other limiting factors economically stunted Bolivia, and the country was unable to pay off debts. While today, Bolivia is more successful than in 1985, and the country has had stable prices and increased growth, the effects were too minute to lift the country out of poverty. The question then, is why? Why was Poland more successful than these previous two countries? Drawing on my readings, I think one can conclude that shock therapy and its success depends entirely on the timing and sociopolitical context of the nation. Poland was, as Sachs describes, the most liberal of Post-Soviet countries. Additionally, it is geographically ideal, right next to economically stable and developed Western Europe. Poland had seen other countries reestablish themselves in the European Community, and This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document.

TERM Quinnipiac QU 301 - Spring 2013 Charlie Doe 10/24/13 QU 301 Prof. Ives A Long Way Back: The Rehabilitation of Child S QU 301 Salvador Allende | New Histories Salvador Allende • 0 Comments Article by Liam Geoghegan and Charlotte Wright. Edited by Harriet Di Francesco. Additional Research by Michelle Brien. Salvador Allende (full name Salvador Isabelino Allende Gossens), perhaps one of the better-known South American presidents outside of the continent, was a remarkable character. Born on 26th June 1908 in Valparaíso, Chile, Allende made a name for himself long before he was elected as the country’s president in 1970. Allende came from a middle class family with roots in freemasonry and politics. His grandfather was a freemason, Head of Health for the army and a senator; he eventually took the title of Gran Maestro of the Gran Logía de Chile in 1884.

In 1935 Allende followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and joined as a freemason, where he remained a member for thirty years. He had previously attempted to leave the organisation, but his resignation was refused. It was prior to his freemason years, however, that Allende had gained recognition. As a student of Medicine at the University of Chile, Allende was elected Vice President of the student federation in 1930. This was only a couple of years after having made a name for himself in the fight against the widely disliked President Ibañez, who took power in 1927. Although Allende was expelled for his actions he was allowed back to the university after the downfall of Ibañez in 1931, where he graduated as a surgeon. It was in the year of Ibañez’s downfall that Allende’s own political career began. He was co-founder of el Partido Socialista (the Socialist Party) along with Marmaduke Grove in 1931. Despite their common Marxist ideals, the party took an anti-Soviet line. From the mid-1930s onwards, Allende’s political career flourished.

He was elected Regional Secretary and then deputado (representative/MP) of Valparaíso and installed as Minister of Health in Cerda’s 1938 government. From 1945 he became a senator, representing a number of different provinces over the next twenty-five years. Prior to his ascendance to the presidency in 1970, Allende experienced three unsuccessful attempts to be elected (1952, 1958 and 1964). As the Chilean President, Allende represented the party Unidad Popular and is widely regarded as the first democratically elected Marxist in the Americas. His policies as head of the Chilean state concentrated on the welfare of the people. He attempted to resolve the two big issues of the time – malnourishment (50% of children in Chile were classed as malnourished) and unemployment (20% of Chilean men were out of work). Allende gave every child in Chile half a litre of milk a day, increased wages by 40%, nationalised the copper industry (by far Chile’s largest at the time) as well as the banks, and placed restrictions on the inflation of prices by companies.

Allende’s policies may have been popular with the masses, but they made him a seemingly unending list of enemies both domestically and internationally. In addition, many of the policies proved unsuccessful. This was due partly to these oppositions and partly to the rate at which he attempted to implement change. Allende’s economic actions meant he was hated by businessmen, landowners and employers. His secularisation of education upset the Catholic Church. His Marxist tendencies and friendships with leaders such as Fidel Castro made him an enemy of both John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. In fact, the Nixon administration organised an attempted coup against him in 1970. Allende’s personal life is as interesting as his political one. Friendly to his staff, well-dressed, and always polite, he comes across as an all-round “nice guy.” He was a lover and writer of poetry. Incidentally this passion has been continued by his niece, the famous author, Isabelle Allende. One of Allende’s stranger traits was his deep fear of earthquakes. This phobia, however, did have its silver lining.

During an earthquake in 1939, Allende rushed from the mason’s temple fearing for his life, running straight into Tencha Bussi – a woman who shared his fear. This was apparently grounding enough to begin a romance and the couple eventually wed. The final act of his life is possibly the most interesting and the most remarkable. On 11th September 1973 a coup was staged against him. As the coup ensued around the palace, Allende sent out a radio broadcast to his people from his presidential office. Allende informed them of his love for his country. He was found dead after the successful takeover. Allende’s death is officially recorded as a suicide (a fact which is accepted by his family). It is believed that he shot himself using a gun given to him by Castro. However, both his supporters at the time and even many people today believe that Allende was murdered by his enemies. Allende led an amazing life. His legacy as one of the great socialist leaders is certainly justified. It is not often that political leaders appear to be truly good men.

Touched by the suffering of others and with the people’s interests at the centre of his policies, Allende is a unique example of a genuine and decent statesman. In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected President of this country.What country is this? Question and answer In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected President of this country.What country is this? Salvador Allende Gossens (Spanish pronunciation: [salßa'ðo? a'?ende '?osens]; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a [ country in Latin America.[1] ] Get an answer In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected President of this country.What country is this? Original conversation User: In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected President of this country.What country is this? Weegy: Salvador Allende Gossens (Spanish pronunciation: [salßa'ðo?

a'?ende '?osens]; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a [ country in Latin America.[1] ] Expert answered| cjam_1977 |Points 260| User: In the period after independence, this country was run by a succession of dictators known as caudillos. Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile - Oct 24, 1970 - HISTORY.com Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile Share this: Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile Author Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile URL Publisher A+E Networks Salvador Allende, an avowed Marxist, becomes president of Chile after being confirmed by the Chilean congress. For the next three years, the United States would exert tremendous pressure to try to destabilize and unseat the Allende government. Allende’s election in 1970 was his third attempt at the presidency. In 1958, and again in 1964, Allende had run on a socialist/communist platform.

In both elections, the United States government (as well as U.S. businesses such as International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), which had significant investments in Chile) worked to defeat Allende by sending millions of dollars of assistance to his political opponents. In 1970, the United States again worked for Allende’s defeat, but he finished first out of the four candidates. However, since he had garnered less than 40 percent of the popular vote, the final decision had to be made by the Chilean congress. The United States worked feverishly to derail Allende’s selection but the election was upheld on October 24, 1970. Allende immediately confirmed the worst fears of U.S. officials when he extended diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba, and also began to take action to nationalize the holdings of U.S. corporations in Chile, notably ITT and Kennecott Copper. U.S. officials also believed that Allende was supporting revolutionary activities in Latin America and viewed him as a significant threat to hemispheric security and U.S. economic interests in Chile. Yet, Allende posed an interesting problem. Unlike Castro, he had come to power peacefully and democratically.

Thus, the United States could hardly launch a Bay-of-Pigs-like attack on the Allende regime. Undaunted, the administration of President Richard Nixon began to formulate plans to destabilize the Chilean government and see to the removal of Allende. These plans came to fruition in 1973 when a coup by the Chilean military overthrew Allende and assassinated him. Related Videos Salvador Allende Salvador Allende ▼ Primary Sources ▼ Salvador Allende Salvador Allende was born in Valparaiso, Chile , in 1903. As a medical student he became involved in radical politics and he was arrested several times while at university. In 1933 Allende helped to found the Chilean Socialist Party , a Marxist organization that was opposed to the Soviet Union influenced Communist Party . Allende was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1937 and served in the government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda as Minister of Health (1939-41). He was also senator between 1945 and 1970. Allende was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1952, 1958 and 1964.

When he was elected as president in 1970 he became the first Marxist to gain power in a free democratic election. The new government faced serious economic problems. Inflation was running at 30 per cent and over 20 per cent of the male adult population were unemployed. It was estimated that half of the children under 15 suffered from malnutrition. Allende's decide to take action to redistribute wealth and land in Chile . Wage increases of around 40 per cent were introduced. At the same time companies were not allowed to increase prices. The copper industry was nationalized. So also were the banks. Allende also restored diplomatic relations with Cuba , China and the German Democratic Republic . The CIA arranged for Michael V. Townley to be sent to Chile under the alias of Kenneth W. Enyart. He was accompanied by Aldo Vera Serafin of the Secret Army Organization (SAO). Townley now came under the control of David Atlee Phillips who had been asked to lead a special task force assigned to remove Allende. The CIA attempted to persuade Chile's Chief of Staff General Rene Schneider , to overthrow Allende.

He refused and on 22nd October, 1970, his car was ambushed. Schneider drew a gun to defend himself, and was shot point-blank several times. He was rushed to hospital, but he died three days later. Military courts in Chile found that Schneider's death was caused by two military groups, one led by Roberto Viaux and the other by Camilo Valenzuela . It was claimed that the CIA was providing support for both groups. Allende's attempts to build a socialist society was opposed by business interests. Later, Henry Kissinger admitted that in September 1970, President Richard Nixon ordered him to organize a coup against Allende's government. A CIA document written just after Allende was elected said: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup" and "it is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG (United States government) and American hand be well hidden." David Atlee Phillips set Michael V. Townley the task of organizing two paramilitary action groups Orden y Libertad (Order and Freedom) and Protecion Comunal y Soberania (Common Protection and Sovereignty).

Townley also established an arson squad that started several fires in Santiago. Townley also mounted a smear campaign against General Carlos Prats , the head of the Chilean Army. Prats resigned on 21st August, 1973. On 11th September, 1973, a military coup removed Allende's government from power. Salvador Allende died in the fighting in the presidential palace in Santiago. General Augusto Pinochet replaced Allende as president. (1) Larry Rohter, New York Times (13th February, 2000) With a trial of General Augusto Pinochet increasingly unlikely here, victims of the Chilean military's 17-year dictatorship are now pressing legal actions in both Chilean and American courts against Henry A. Kissinger and other Nixon administration officials who supported plots to overthrow Salvador Allende Gossens, the Socialist president, in the early 1970's. In perhaps the most prominent of the cases, an investigating judge here has formally asked Mr.

Kissinger, a former national security adviser and secretary of state, and Nathaniel Davis, the American ambassador to Chile at the time, to respond to questions about the killing of an American citizen, Charles Horman, after the deadly military coup that brought General Pinochet to power on Sept. 11, 1973. General Pinochet, now 85, ruled Chile until 1990. He was arrested in London in 1998 on a Spanish warrant charging him with human rights violations. After 16 months in custody, General Pinochet was released by Britain because of his declining health. Although he was arrested in Santiago in 2000, he was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial. The death of Mr. Horman, a filmmaker and journalist, was the subject of the 1982 movie "Missing." A civil suit that his widow, Joyce Horman, filed in the United States was withdrawn after she could not obtain access to relevant American government documents. But the initiation of legal action here against General Pinochet and the declassification of some American documents led her to file a new suit here 15 months ago. William Rogers, Mr.

Kissinger's lawyer, said in a letter that because the investigations in Chile and elsewhere related to Mr. Kissinger "in his capacity as secretary of state," the Department of State should respond to the issues that have been raised. He added that Mr. Kissinger is willing to "contribute what he can from his memory of those distant events," but did not say how or where that would occur. Relatives of General René Schneider, commander of the Chilean Armed Forces when he was assassinated in Oct. 1970 by other military officers, have taken a different approach than Mrs. Horman. Alleging summary execution, assault and civil rights violations, they filed a $3 million civil suit in Washington last fall against Mr. Kissinger, Richard M. Helms, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and other Nixon-era officials who, according to declassified United States documents, were involved in plotting a military coup to keep Mr. Allende from power. In his books, Mr. Kissinger has acknowledged that he initially followed Mr. Nixon's orders in Sept. 1970 to organize a coup, but he also says that he ordered the effort shut down a month later.

The government documents, however, indicate that the C.I.A. continued to encourage a coup here and also provided money to military officers who had been jailed for General Schneider's death. "My father was neither for or against Allende, but a constitutionalist who believed that the winner of the election should take office," René Schneider Jr. said. "That made him an obstacle to Mr. Kissinger and the Nixon government, and so they conspired with generals here to carry out the attack on my father and to plot a coup attempt." In another action, human rights lawyers here have filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Kissinger and other American officials, accusing them of helping organize the covert regional program of political repression called Operation Condor. As part of that plan, right-wing military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay coordinated efforts throughout the 1970's to kidnap and kill hundreds of their exiled political opponents. (2) Stansfield Turner , Secrecy and Democracy (1985) The most adverse exposure was a series of revelations about more than ten years of CIA interference in Chile, from 1963 to 1973.

This was one of the most massive campaigns in US intelligence annals. The earliest effort was an attempt to shape the outcome of the 1964 presidential election in Chile, when the CIA underwrote more than half of the expenses of the Christian Democratic Party's campaign. This support was directed at defeating the communist candidate, Salvador Allende. It was probably not known to the Christian Democratic candidate, Eduardo Frei. In addition to funding Frei, the CIA waged an extensive anticommunist propaganda campaign, using posters, the radio, films, pamphlets, and the press, to convince the Chileans that Allende and communism would bring to their country Soviet militarism and Cuban brutality. As part of this campaign, hundreds of thousands of copies of an anticommunist pastoral letter of Pope Pius XI were distributed. Frei won handily, but allegations of CIA involvement seeped out. As a result, the CIA was reluctant to play as large a role in the next Chilean presidential election, in 1970. Not only was its role smaller; it did not support a specific candidate. The effort was directed strictly against Allende and was based primarily on propaganda, employing virtually all Chilean media and some of the international press as well.

The program failed when Allende won a plurality, though not a majority, of the popular vote. Under Chilean electoral law, that threw the choice to a joint session of the legislature some seven weeks later. At the direction of the White House, the CIA moved to prevent the selection and inauguration of Allende. It attempted to induce his political opponents to manipulate the legislative election up to and including a political coup. Some 726 articles, broadcasts, editorials, and similar items were sponsored in the United States and Chile, and many briefings were given to the press. One of those, to Time magazine, reversed the magazine's attitude toward Allende. The overall effort failed, however, because of the unwillingness of the appropriate Chilean politicians to tamper with the constitutional process. Complementing the CIA effort, the US government exerted economic pressure on Chile, again to no avail. A second approach, entirely under CIA auspices, encouraged a military coup. President Richard Nixon directed that neither the Departments of State and Defense nor the US Ambassador to Chile be informed of this undertaking. During a disorganized coup attempt that took place on October 22, the Chief of Staff of the Chilean Army was murdered.

The CIA had originally encouraged the group responsible, but sensing that this group was likely to get out of control, the Agency had withdrawn its support a week earlier. Allende was installed as President on November 2. Over the next three years, until 1973, the National Security Council authorized the CIA to expend some $7 million covertly to oppose Allende with propaganda, financial support for anti-Allende media in Chile, and funding for private organizations opposed to Allende. Other agencies of the US government applied economic and political pressure. On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military staged a coup in which Allende died, reportedly by suicide. The CIA did not sponsor this coup, but how much its encouragement of the 1970 coup and its continued liaison with the Chilean military encouraged the action is honestly difficult to assess. With Allende gone, the decade-long covert action program was phased out. More was at stake, though, than covert action in Chile.

The coup-related deaths in both 1970 and 1973 and the exposure of the role of the United States in helping to topple a democratically elected government, albeit a Marxist one, brought intense scrutiny to the ethics of using covert action to change the political complexion of other countries. As a result, such covert action came to a near halt by the mid 1970s. (3) Julian Borger, The Guardian (6th July, 2001) A judge in Santiago has drawn up a list of questions for the US statesman and Nobel laureate, Henry Kissinger, about the 1973 killing of the American journalist Charles Horman, whose execution by forces loyal to General Augusto Pinochet was dramatized in the Hollywood film, Missing. The questions, drawn up by the investigating magistrate Juan Guzman and lawyers for the victims of the Pinochet regime, were submitted to Chile's supreme court, which must now decide whether to forward them to the United States. The list is under seal but it is thought to cover the extent of Mr Kissinger's knowledge of the Horman case.

Horman's family have repeatedly claimed that the Nixon government, in which Mr Kissinger was national security advisor and secretary of state, knew more about what happened when the journalist was murdered in Chile than it has ever admitted. Mr Kissinger, awarded the Nobel peace prize for his role in bringing the Vietnam war to an end, is now under increased scrutiny for his leading role in a number of controversial US actions abroad, including the bombing of Cambodia and Washington's support for authoritarian rightwing governments such as Gen Pinochet's. Charles Horman's widow, Joyce, said yesterday that Mr Kissinger was "ultimately the one who has to answer the questions for the disappearance of my husband". She added: "He was really calling the shots, as far as I'm concerned, in questions of state and the CIA, with regard to the protection and knowledge of what happened to Americans there." Encouraged by the success of international human rights cases against Gen Pinochet and Balkan war crimes suspects, human rights activists have recently drawn up allegations against Mr Kissinger. While visiting Paris in May, Mr Kissinger was subpoenaed by a French judge to answer questions about the death of French citizens under the Pinochet regime.

Mr Kissinger refused to appear in court to answer the questions, saying he had a prior engagement. This year, a Washington-based British journalist, Christopher Hitchens, published The Trial of Henry Kissinger, in which he accused the veteran proponent of realpolitik of conspiring to sabotage 1968 Vietnam peace talks and pursuing an illegal war in Cambodia, among other charges. Mr Kissinger called the book "contemptible". (4) The Boston Globe (12th December, 2006) In America, the danger is not that too much is remembered of the Pinochet era but that too much of the American role in helping to foment those old horrors may be forgotten. There is a deceptively comforting story line that sequesters the present from the past, disguising any continuity between the regime change produced in Chile on Sept. 11, 1973, and other American experiments of that nature. In that reassuring historical narrative, Pinochet was perhaps guilty of trampling on democratic niceties and of kidnapping, torturing, and killing socialists and Marxists , but he represented, after all, the lesser of two evils.

The alternative evil was commonly depicted as Soviet influence, left-wing radicalism, the expropriation of private property, and falling pro-American dominoes across Latin America. The former US ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, who passed away three days before Pinochet, once propounded a theory to justify American backing for military dictatorships in Latin America. Her rationale rested upon a distinction between totalitarian states like those in the communist world and mere authoritarian regimes. The latter were supposed to be more tolerable because, in contrast to the communist states, they left open the possibility of eventually permitting a return to democracy. It was a theory that failed the test of time, as demonstrated by the nearly bloodless implosion of communism and the flowering of democracy in Poland, Hungary, and the former Czechoslovakia. Reflecting the spirit of such Cold War notions, a CIA document from the month after Allende was elected president on Sept.

11, 1970, says, "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup" and "it is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG" - US government - "and American hand be well hidden." Whatever the details of US complicity in Pinochet's eventual seizure of power, Americans must not forget that their own democratic leaders share complicity in the disappearances, torture, and killings perpetrated after 1973 by their man in Chile. (5) Jeremy McDermott, The Scotsman (12th December, 2006) The human-rights abuses committed under Pinochet's military junta were widely known throughout the country. Rights groups estimate that more than 3,000 people were killed after 1973 when Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president, was overthrown and allegedly took his own life with a gun given to him by his friend, Fidel Castro. Most of the murders took place in the first year of military rule, when Santiago's National Stadium was turned into a detention and torture centre.

Pinochet was facing charges over the "Caravan of Death" in 1973, when it is alleged a military death squad rounded up suspected leftists from prisons around the country and murdered them. However, it was not such abuses that led to his support eroding - it was allegations of corruption, in 2005, when undeclared foreign bank accounts containing some £15 million were traced to him and members of his family. Chile - The Popular Unity Government, 1970-73 The Popular Unity Government, 1970-73 Chile Table of Contents In September 1970, Salvador Allende, the UP candidate, was elected president of Chile. Over the next three years, a unique political and economic experience followed. The UP was a coalition of left and center-left parties dominated by the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista--PS) and the Communist Party of Chile (Partido Comunista de Chile--PCCh), both of which sought to implement deep institutional, political, and economic reforms. The UP's program called for a democratic "Chilean road to socialism".

When Allende took office in November 1970, his UP government faced a stagnant economy weakened by inflation, which hit a rate of 35 percent in 1970. Between 1967 and 1970, real GDP per capita had grown only 1.2 percent per annum, a rate significantly below the Latin American average. The balance of payments had shown substantial surpluses during all but one of the years from 1964 to 1970, and, at the time the UP took power, the Central Bank of Chile had a stock of international reserves of approximately US$400 million. The UP had a number of short-run economic objectives: initiating structural economic transformations, including a program of nationalization; increasing real wages; reducing inflation; spurring economic growth; increasing consumption, especially by poorer people; and reducing the economy's dependence on the rest of the world. The UP's nationalization program was to be achieved by a combination of new legislation, requisitions, and stock purchases from small shareholders.

The other goals--output and increased consumption, with rising salaries and declining inflation--were to be accomplished by a boost in aggregate demand, mainly generated by higher government expenditures, accompanied by strict price controls and measures to redistribute income. The UP's macroeconomic program was based on several key assumptions, the most important being that the manufacturing sector had ample underutilized capacity. This provided the theoretical basis for the belief that large fiscal deficits would not necessarily be inflationary. The lack of full utilization was, in turn, attributed to two fundamental factors: the monopolistic nature of the manufacturing industry and the structure of income distribution. Based on this diagnosis, it was thought that if income were redistributed toward the poorer groups through wage increases and if prices were properly controlled, there would be a significant expansion of demand and output. In regard to inflation, the UP program placed blame on structural rigidities (namely, slow or no response of quantity supplied to price increases), bottlenecks, and the role of monopolistic pricing, and it played down the role of fiscal pressures and money creation. Little attention was paid to the financial sector, given the orientation of the new regime's economic technocrats toward the import-substitution, structuralist philosophy of the Economic Commission for Latin America.

In fact, Allende's minister of foreign relations and vice president, Clodomiro Almeyda, relates in his memoirs how in the first postelection meeting of the economic team, these technocrats argued expressly and convincingly that monetary and financial management did not deserve too much attention. Alfonso Inostroza, the Central Bank president, stated in early 1971 that the main objective of the monetary policy was to "transform it into a key instrument . . . to achieve the complete mobilization of productive resources, and their allocation to those areas that the government gives priority to . . . ." This was consistent with the view of inflation of those espousing structuralism. The UP perspective on the way the economy functioned ignored many of the key principles of traditional economic theory. This was reflected in the greatly diminished attention given to monetary policies, but also in the complete disregard of the exchange rate as a key variable in determining macroeconomic equilibrium. In particular, the UP program and policies paid no attention to the role of the real exchange rate as a determinant of the country's international competitive position.

Moreover, the UP failed to recognize that its policies would not be sustainable in the medium term and that capacity constraints were going to become an insurmountable obstacle to rapid growth. Custom Search BBC NEWS | Americas | Profile: Salvador Allende Profile: Salvador Allende The 30th anniversary of Allende's death has led to an outpouring of public emotion Chile's Salvador Allende died in a United States-backed coup on 11 September 1973 - three years earlier he had become Latin America's first democratically-elected Marxist president. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda described him as an "immortal corpse", while one of the foreign musicians who travelled to Santiago for a concert commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death titled a performance "Salvador Allende, Son of God". But Mr Allende has his critics. Economists say the 1970-1973 Allende experiment - which saw the nationalisation of the banking and copper industry - was nothing short of a disaster. Strikes held by shop keepers, students and professionals in protest at the forced redistribution of wealth to workers and peasants, meant Allende was under siege from even his own supporters.

Fourth attempt Salvador Allende was born in 1908 in the central port town of Valparaiso - his father was a lawyer. Expelled from university for political activities, Allende later returned and graduated in medicine in 1932. A year later he helped found the Chilean Socialist Party. Allende supporters have marked his 1970 victory He was appointed Minister of Health in 1939 during which time he introduced accident and health insurance cover and benefits for working women. In 1970 he became president on his fourth attempt. Pursuing a leftist agenda, Allende established diplomatic relations with Cuba and moved closer to China, North Korea and North Vietnam. Suicide claim But as inflation spiralled out of control the chasm between the left and right in Chile widened. In 1973, the army led by Augusto Pinochet attacked the presidential palace. When soldiers reached Allende he was already dead. His doctor believed he committed suicide and his family have never disputed it. His body lay in an unmarked grave until 1990 when he was formally buried in a ceremony at which there were calls for national reconciliation.

Question: Salvador Allende was elected president of which country in 1970?
Answer: Chile