In the previous episode, Episode 6 – The Voice of America, we diverted a bit and talked about how the VOA was used parallel to other media broadcasts run by the CIA to affect regime change in Latin American nations. One of those nations was Chile, where in 1973, the Nixon Administration used a variety of covert methods to destabilize the country. This ultimately led to a violent military coup that resulted in the death of democratically elected president Salvador Allende, and the installation of a brutal military dictatorship that lasted for over a decade.

The US culpability in the 1973 coup still casts a long shadow in Latin America. The United States does have the capacity to be a positive influence in Latin America, but the US has yet to even release all the classified documents from the coupo, let alone make any attempt to atone for what transpired.

Music by: Andrii Poradovskyi (lNPLUSMUSIC – Pixabay)

Primary Sources

“New Information on the Murders of U.S. Citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi by the Chilean Military.” n.d. Nsarchive2.Gwu.edu. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB33/index.html.

“Virtual Reading Room Documents Search Results.” n.d. Foia.state.gov. https://foia.state.gov/search/Results.aspx?searchText=boris%20weisfeiler&collection=CHilE.

“Virtual Reading Room Documents Search Results.” n.d. Foia.state.gov. https://foia.state.gov/search/Results.aspx?searchText=boris%20weisfeiler&collection=CHilE. Santiago to State, 7-23-1987

San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), March 21, 1972: 35. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.csuci.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&docref=image/v2%3A142051F45F422A02%40EANX-NB-15169126ECA5C488%402441398-15168C6AF5F82389%4034-15168C6AF5F82389%40.

 “NSC Memorandum, ‘Chile — 40 Committee Meeting, Monday — September 14,’ September 14, 1970 | National Security Archive.” n.d. Nsarchive.gwu.edu. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document
/23591-nsc-memorandum-chile-40-committee-meeting-monday-september-14-september-14-1970.https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/23591-nsc-memorandum-chile-40-committee-meeting-monday-september-14-september-14-1970.

 “CIA, Cable from Santiago Station, [Report on Plan to Kidnap Gen. Rene Schneider and Initiate a Military Coup], SECRET, October 19, 1970 | National Security Archive.” n.d. Nsarchive.gwu.edu. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/23597-cia-cable-santiago-station-report-plan-kidnap-gen-rene-schneider-and-initiate.

 “New Information on the Murders of U.S. Citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi by the Chilean Military.” n.d. Nsarchive2.Gwu.edu. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB33/index.html.

 “Virtual Reading Room Documents Search Results.” n.d. Foia.state.gov. https://foia.state.gov/search/Results.aspx?searchText=boris%20weisfeiler&collection=CHilE.

 “Virtual Reading Room Documents Search Results.” n.d. Foia.state.gov. https://foia.state.gov/search/Results.aspx?searchText=boris%20weisfeiler&collection=CHilE. Santiago to State, 7-23-1987

Secondary Sources:

Bonnefoy, Pascale. “Chile Halts Inquiry on American Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago.” New Yor4k Times Online, March 10, 2016,New York Times Company.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/world/americas/chile-halts-inquiry-on-american-who-disappeared-31-years-ago.html?partner=bloomberg

Feldstein, Mark. “The Nixon White House Plotted to Assassinate a Journalist 50 Years Ago.” March 25, 2022. WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post. https://proquest.ezproxy.csuci.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/nixon-white-house-plotted-assassinate-journalist/docview/2643122653/se-2?accountid=7284

Gullette, Margaret Morganroth. “THE ALZHEIMER’S DEFENSE: ‘FAKING BAD’ IN INTERNATIONAL ATROCITY TRIALS.” In Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People, 112–35. Rutgers University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1q1cqsm.8.

Gustafson, Kristian. Hostile Intent: U.S. Covert Operations in Chile, 1964-1974 (Washington D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc., 2007).

Kornbluth, Peter. The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. Rev. ed. New York. The New Press. 2013.

Preston, Andrew. American Foreign Relations: A Very Short Introduction, (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

Winn, Peter. Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile’s Road to
Socialism. (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).