CIA Overthrow of Allende — Chile 1973

Overview

On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, led by General Augusto Pinochet, bombed the presidential palace in Santiago and overthrew President Salvador Allende, the world’s first democratically elected Marxist head of state. Allende died during the assault. The coup inaugurated seventeen years of military dictatorship characterized by systematic human rights abuses, forced disappearances, torture, and the radical transformation of Chile’s economy.

The role of the United States in engineering this outcome is confirmed through thousands of declassified documents. President Richard Nixon, enraged by Allende’s election in 1970, personally ordered CIA Director Richard Helms to prevent Allende from taking office and, when that failed, to destabilize his government. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger oversaw a comprehensive campaign that included funding opposition media and political parties, organizing an economic blockade, encouraging military insubordination, and establishing direct contacts with Chilean military plotters.

For decades, the US government denied significant involvement in the coup, characterizing American policy as limited diplomatic and economic pressure. The declassification of thousands of documents during the Clinton administration (1999-2000) and subsequently proved these denials false, revealing a systematic campaign of covert intervention that bore direct responsibility for the destruction of Chilean democracy and the human catastrophe that followed.

Origins & History

Chile in the late 1960s was one of Latin America’s most stable democracies, with a multi-party system, a free press, and a tradition of civilian government. It was precisely this democratic character that made Salvador Allende’s electoral victory so alarming to Washington.

Allende, a physician and lifelong socialist politician, had run for president three times before winning a narrow plurality in the September 4, 1970 election with 36.3% of the vote. His platform — the “Chilean Path to Socialism” — proposed nationalizing Chile’s copper mines (largely owned by US corporations Anaconda and Kennecott), expanding social programs, redistributing agricultural land, and establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and other socialist nations. Allende explicitly committed to achieving these goals through democratic institutions rather than revolution.

President Nixon’s reaction was immediate and visceral. On September 15, 1970, just eleven days after the election, Nixon met with CIA Director Richard Helms, Kissinger, and Attorney General John Mitchell. According to Helms’s handwritten notes of the meeting — subsequently declassified — Nixon ordered the CIA to prevent Allende from taking office. The notes read: “One in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile! Not concerned risks involved. $10,000,000 available, more if necessary. Full-time job — best men we have. Make the economy scream.”

The CIA launched a two-track strategy. Track I involved political and economic pressure to persuade the Chilean Congress to block Allende’s confirmation (under Chilean law, when no candidate won a majority, Congress chose between the top two finishers). Track II was more aggressive: a covert operation to provoke a military coup before Allende could take office.

Track II’s most dramatic action was the kidnapping attempt against Chilean Army Commander-in-Chief General Rene Schneider, a constitutionalist who had pledged that the military would respect the electoral result. On October 22, 1970, a group of military conspirators, equipped with weapons provided by the CIA, attempted to kidnap Schneider. The attempt went wrong, and Schneider was shot and killed. Rather than provoking a coup, his murder generated a wave of revulsion that strengthened support for Allende’s confirmation.

Allende took office on November 3, 1970. The Nixon administration immediately shifted to a long-term destabilization strategy. Kissinger’s policy directive of November 9, 1970, stated: “The US objective is to ensure that Allende will not be able to consolidate his hold on power.”

Over the following three years, the US pursued an economic squeeze — blocking international loans to Chile, cutting bilateral aid, and encouraging private companies to restrict credit and investment. Simultaneously, the CIA funneled millions of dollars to opposition media (particularly the newspaper El Mercurio), opposition political parties, and right-wing organizations conducting strikes and protests. The agency also maintained contacts with military officers sympathetic to a coup.

Chile’s economy, already stressed by Allende’s rapid nationalization programs and subject to the US economic blockade, deteriorated sharply through 1972 and 1973. A truckers’ strike in October 1972, partially funded by CIA money, disrupted supply chains and contributed to shortages and inflation. By mid-1973, the economic and political situation had become deeply polarized, with both the extreme left and the extreme right growing more militant.

Key Claims

As a confirmed operation, these are established facts:

• President Nixon personally ordered the CIA to prevent Allende from taking office and, failing that, to destabilize his government
• Kissinger directed a comprehensive covert campaign against Allende’s government, including economic warfare, funding of opposition media and parties, and contacts with military plotters
• The CIA provided weapons to the group that kidnapped and killed General Schneider in an attempt to provoke a pre-inauguration coup
• The CIA funneled millions of dollars to El Mercurio and other opposition media to create a climate of crisis
• The US economic blockade contributed significantly to Chile’s economic deterioration under Allende
• The CIA maintained contacts with Chilean military officers who would ultimately carry out the September 11, 1973 coup
• The Pinochet regime, installed with US support, committed systematic human rights violations including murder, torture, forced disappearance, and political imprisonment on a massive scale
• The US provided political, economic, and military support to the Pinochet regime after the coup

Evidence

Declassified documents: The evidence for US involvement comes primarily from thousands of pages of declassified CIA, State Department, NSC, and White House documents. The most significant releases include:

Helms’s handwritten notes from the September 15, 1970 meeting with Nixon, documenting the president’s order to “make the economy scream” and his authorization of $10 million for covert action.

Kissinger’s policy directives and NSC meeting minutes documenting the systematic strategy to prevent Allende from consolidating power.

CIA cables and reports documenting the Track I and Track II operations, including the supply of weapons to Schneider’s kidnappers, funding to El Mercurio and opposition parties, and contacts with Chilean military plotters.

State Department correspondence revealing the economic pressure campaign, including instructions to block international loans and discourage private investment in Chile.

The Church Committee (1975): The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities investigated CIA activities in Chile and produced a detailed report documenting US covert intervention. The committee’s findings, based on testimony from CIA officials and access to classified documents, established the basic facts of US involvement that would be further confirmed by subsequent declassifications.

The Chile Declassification Project (1999-2000): Under President Clinton, the US government undertook a systematic declassification of approximately 24,000 documents related to US policy toward Chile from 1968 to 1991. This release provided the most comprehensive picture yet of US involvement in the coup and subsequent support for the Pinochet regime.

Chilean investigations: Chile’s Rettig Commission (1991) and Valech Commission (2004) documented the human rights abuses committed under the Pinochet regime, providing the context for understanding the consequences of US-supported regime change. The Rettig Commission documented 3,197 victims of political violence, while the Valech Commission identified over 28,000 victims of political imprisonment and torture.

Debunking / Verification

Confirmed: US covert intervention to prevent Allende’s election, destabilize his government, and create conditions for a military coup is established fact, documented in the US government’s own declassified records and acknowledged by officials. The subsequent US support for the Pinochet regime is equally well-documented.

Debated: The relative weight of US intervention versus internal Chilean factors in causing the coup remains debated. Some historians argue that Chile’s political polarization and economic crisis would likely have produced a military intervention regardless of US involvement. Others counter that US economic warfare and covert funding were decisive in creating the crisis conditions. The question of whether the US specifically ordered or directed the September 11 coup, as opposed to creating conditions that made it possible and inevitable, involves nuances of interpretation.

Acknowledged: US officials have acknowledged the intervention in various forms. Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a reporter’s question in 2003, stated: “It is not a part of American history that we’re proud of.” The declassification process itself represented an implicit acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

Cultural Impact

The Chilean coup of 1973 became one of the defining events of the Cold War era and remains a central reference point in debates about US foreign policy, democracy promotion, and the consequences of covert intervention.

In Chile, the coup and its aftermath continue to shape national politics and identity. September 11 is commemorated annually as a day of remembrance for the victims of the dictatorship. The tension between those who view Pinochet as a necessary savior from communism and those who remember his regime as a criminal dictatorship continues to influence Chilean political life. The 2019-2020 social protests and the subsequent constitutional convention process were, in part, a reckoning with the institutional and economic legacy of the Pinochet era.

Internationally, the Chilean coup became a symbol of American hypocrisy — the gap between the rhetoric of democracy and freedom and the reality of supporting authoritarian regimes when democratic outcomes conflicted with US economic or strategic interests. The image of the bombing of La Moneda — a democratic president’s palace attacked by his own military with the backing of the world’s leading democracy — became one of the Cold War’s most powerful and disturbing images.

The coup catalyzed the global human rights movement. The brutality of the Pinochet regime, documented by Chilean exiles and international organizations, contributed to the development of human rights as a central concern of international politics. Organizations like Amnesty International gained membership and influence in response to the Chilean crisis. The principle that human rights should constrain foreign policy — codified in the 1976 International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act — was partly a response to US support for regimes like Pinochet’s.

The 1998 arrest of Pinochet in London on a Spanish extradition warrant was a landmark in international human rights law, establishing the precedent that former heads of state could be held accountable for crimes against humanity committed while in office.

Timeline

• September 4, 1970 — Salvador Allende wins Chilean presidential election with 36.3% of the vote
• September 15, 1970 — Nixon orders CIA to prevent Allende from taking office; “Make the economy scream”
• October 22, 1970 — CIA-backed group attempts to kidnap General Schneider; Schneider is shot and killed
• November 3, 1970 — Allende takes office as president
• 1970-1971 — Allende nationalizes copper mines and implements socialist economic policies
• 1971-1973 — US economic blockade and CIA covert funding of opposition intensify
• October 1972 — CIA-funded truckers’ strike disrupts Chilean economy
• June 29, 1973 — Failed coup attempt (the “Tanquetazo”) signals growing military insubordination
• September 11, 1973 — Military coup; La Moneda bombed; Allende dies in the palace
• September-December 1973 — Mass arrests, executions, and disappearances; National Stadium used as detention center
• 1973-1990 — Pinochet dictatorship; systematic human rights abuses; “Chicago Boys” economic reforms
• 1975 — Church Committee investigates and documents CIA intervention in Chile
• October 1988 — Chileans vote “No” in plebiscite on Pinochet’s continuation in power
• March 1990 — Patricio Aylwin inaugurated as president; democratic transition
• 1991 — Rettig Commission documents 3,197 victims of political violence
• October 1998 — Pinochet arrested in London on Spanish extradition warrant
• 1999-2000 — Clinton-era Chile Declassification Project releases 24,000 documents
• 2004 — Valech Commission identifies 28,000+ victims of political imprisonment and torture
• December 10, 2006 — Pinochet dies in Santiago without having been convicted

Sources & Further Reading

• Kornbluh, Peter. The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. The New Press, 2003
• Hersh, Seymour M. The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House. Summit Books, 1983
• National Security Archive. “Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973.” George Washington University
• Guardiola-Rivera, Oscar. Story of a Death Foretold: The Coup Against Salvador Allende. Bloomsbury Press, 2013
• US Senate Select Committee. “Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973.” Staff Report, Church Committee, 1975
• Winn, Peter. Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile’s Road to Socialism. Oxford University Press, 1986
• Verdugo, Patricia. Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death. North-South Center Press, 2001
• Documentary: The Battle of Chile. Directed by Patricio Guzman, 1975-1979