Editing History of Chile (section)

===Popular Unity years===
{{Further|Chile under Allende|Chilean nationalization of copper|United States intervention in Chile}}

[[File:Allende supporters.jpg|thumb|Marchers for [[Salvador Allende]]]]
In the [[Chilean presidential election, 1970|1970 presidential election]], Senator [[Salvador Allende Gossens]] won a [[Plurality (voting)|plurality]] of votes in a three-way contest. He was a [[Marxism|Marxist]] physician and member of Chile's [[Socialist Party of Chile|Socialist Party]], who headed the "[[Popular Unity (Chile)|Popular Unity]]" (UP or "Unidad Popular") coalition of the Socialist, Communist, Radical, and Social-Democratic Parties, along with dissident Christian Democrats, the [[Popular Unitary Action Movement]] (MAPU), and the Independent Popular Action.

Allende had two main competitors in the election — [[Radomiro Tomic]], representing the incumbent Christian Democratic party, who ran a left-wing campaign with much the same theme as Allende's, and the right-wing former president [[Jorge Alessandri]]. In the end, Allende received a plurality of the votes cast, getting 36% of the vote against Alessandri's 35% and Tomic's 28%.

Despite pressure from the government of the United States,<ref name=CIA>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20001113/|title=Chile: 16,000 Secret Documents Declassified|year=2000|publisher=Chile Documentation Project, The National Security Archive|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=2005-03-21|archive-date=2015-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302100750/http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20001113/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[National Congress of Chile|Chilean Congress]], keeping with tradition, conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president [[Jorge Alessandri]]. This procedure had previously been a near-formality, yet became quite fraught in 1970. After assurances of legality on Allende's part, the murder of the Army Commander-in-Chief, General [[René Schneider]] and Frei's refusal to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende – on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the oligarchs – Allende was chosen by a vote of 153 to 35.

The Popular Unity platform included the nationalization of U.S. interests in Chile's major [[copper]] mines, the advancement of workers' rights, deepening of the [[Chilean land reform]], reorganization of the national economy into socialized, mixed, and private sectors, a foreign policy of "international solidarity" and national independence and a new institutional order (the "people's state" or "poder popular"), including the institution of a unicameral congress. Immediately after the election, the United States expressed its disapproval and raised a number of economic sanctions against Chile.<ref name="CIA"/>

In addition, the [[CIA]]'s website reports that the agency aided three different Chilean opposition groups during that time period and "sought to instigate a coup to prevent Allende from taking office".<ref name="CIA"/> The action plans to prevent Allende from coming to power were known as Track I and [[Project FUBELT|Track II]].

In the first year of Allende's term, the short-term economic results of Economics Minister [[Pedro Vuskovic]]'s [[Vuskovic plan|expansive monetary policy]] were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], accompanied by major declines in inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%). Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, which had the effect of increasing consumer spending and redistributing income downward. Joint public-private [[public works]] projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was [[Nationalization|nationalized]]. Many enterprises within the copper, [[coal]], [[iron]], [[nitrate]], and [[steel]] industries were [[Nationalization|expropriated]], nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and [[unemployment]] fell during the administration's first year. However, these results were not sustainable and in 1972 the Chilean ''escudo'' had runaway [[inflation]] of 140%. An [[economic depression]] that had begun in 1967 peaked in 1972, exacerbated by [[capital flight]], plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. The combination of inflation and government-mandated price-fixing led to the rise of [[black market]]s in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves.<ref>http://www.glamorama.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_178048856_151840537,00.html {{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Recognizing that U.S. intelligence forces were trying to destabilize his presidency through a variety of methods, the KGB offered financial assistance to the first democratically elected Marxist president.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Siegel|first1=Robert|title=The KGB in the Third World|website=NPR.org|publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4948068|access-date=October 6, 2005|archive-date=December 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209044144/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4948068|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the reason behind the U.S. covert actions against Allende concerned not the spread of Marxism but fear over losing control of its investments. "By 1968, 20 percent of total U.S. foreign investment was tied up in Latin America...Mining companies had invested $1 billion over the previous fifty years in Chile's copper mining industry – the largest in the world – but they had sent $7.2 billion home."<ref>{{cite news|title=A Draconian Cure for Chile's Economic Ills?|date=January 12, 1976 |agency=BusinessWeek}}</ref> Part of the CIA's program involved a propaganda campaign that portrayed Allende as a would-be Soviet dictator. In fact, however, "the U.S.'s own intelligence reports showed that Allende posed no threat to democracy."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities|title=Covert Action in Chile|url=https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2010-009-doc17.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2010-009-doc17.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=archives.gov|access-date=17 February 2015}}</ref> Nevertheless, the [[Richard Nixon]] administration [[United States intervention in Chile|organized and inserted secret operatives]] in Chile, in order to quickly destabilize Allende's government.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm|title=Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=7 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060607195322/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm|url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc01.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc01.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970 |date=November 18, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc27.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc27.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Cable Transmissions on Coup Plotting |date=October 18, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc05.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc05.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Operating Guidance Cable on Coup Plotting |date=October 16, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}</ref>

In addition, Nixon gave instructions to make the Chilean economy scream,<ref name=Times>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article568154.ece |title=How 'weak' Allende was left out in the cold by the KGB |date=September 19, 2005 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London, UK |access-date=April 10, 2009 |archive-date=January 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232904/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and international financial pressure restricted economic credit to Chile. Simultaneously, the [[CIA]] funded opposition media, politicians, and organizations, helping to accelerate a campaign of domestic destabilization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/chile/doc/hinchey.html|title=Equipo Nizkor – CIA Activities in Chile – September 18, 2000.|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=13 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513083911/http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/chile/doc/hinchey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1972, the economic progress of Allende's first year had been reversed, and the economy was in crisis. Political polarization increased, and large mobilizations of both pro- and anti-government groups became frequent, often leading to clashes.

By 1973, Chilean society had grown highly polarized, between strong opponents and equally strong supporters of Salvador Allende and his government. Military actions and movements, separate from the civilian authority, began to manifest in the countryside. The [[Tanquetazo]] was a failed military coup d'état attempted against Allende in June 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp|title=CIA Activities in Chile|date=September 18, 2000|publisher=Hinchey Report|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=April 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110606/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp|archive-date=October 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In its "[[Wikisource:Agreement of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile|Agreement]]", on August 22, 1973, the [[Chamber of Deputies of Chile]] asserted that Chilean democracy had broken down and called for "redirecting government activity", to restore constitutional rule. Less than a month later, on September 11, 1973, the Chilean military deposed Allende, who [[Death of Salvador Allende|shot himself in the head]] to avoid capture<ref name=Allende>{{cite news|url=http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=164983&tabla=notas |title=Admite hija de Allende suicidio de su padre |date=August 17, 2003 |newspaper=[[El Universal (Mexico City)|El Universal]] |location=Mexico City, Mexico |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014043246/http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=164983&tabla=notas |archive-date=October 14, 2012 }}</ref> as the [[Palacio de La Moneda|Presidential Palace]] was surrounded and bombed. Subsequently, rather than restore governmental authority to the civilian legislature, [[Augusto Pinochet]] exploited his role as Commander of the Army to [[Chilean coup of 1973|seize total power]] and to establish himself at the head of a [[Military dictatorship|junta]].

[[CIA]] involvement in the coup is documented.<ref name="NSA-2000-9-19">Peter Kornbluh, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet’s Repression Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128142216/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ |date=2006-11-28 }}, Chile Documentation Project, National Security Archive, September 19, 2000. Accessed online November 26, 2006.</ref> As early as the [[Church Committee]] Report (1975), publicly available documents have indicated that the CIA attempted to prevent Allende from taking office after he was elected in 1970; the CIA itself released documents in 2000 acknowledging this and that Pinochet was one of their favored alternatives to take power.<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/chile.htm The Kissinger Telcons: Kissinger Telcons on Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912025948/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/chile.htm |date=2007-09-12 }}, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 123, edited by Peter Kornbluh, posted May 26, 2004. This particular dialogue can be found at [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/Box%2022,%20File%203,%20Telcon,%209-16-73%2011,50%20Mr.%20Kissinger-The%20Pres%202.pdf TELCON: September 16, 1973, 11:50 a.m. Kissinger Talking to Nixon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128094653/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/Box%2022,%20File%203,%20Telcon,%209-16-73%2011,50%20Mr.%20Kissinger-The%20Pres%202.pdf |date=November 28, 2006 }}. Accessed online November 26, 2006.</ref>

According to the [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] and [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]], the [[KGB]] and the Cuban [[Intelligence Directorate]] launched a campaign known as [[Operation TOUCAN (KGB)|Operation TOUCAN]].<ref name=Andrew>{{cite book |title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World|last=Andrew |first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Andrew (historian)|author2=[[Vasili Mitrokhin]] |year=2005 |publisher=Basic Books |location=UK |isbn=0465003117 |pages=69–85 }}</ref><ref name="notworking"/> For instance, in 1976, the New York Times published 66 articles on human rights abuses in Chile and only 4 on Cambodia, where the communist [[Khmer Rouge]] killed some 1.5 million people of 7.5 million people in the country.<ref name="notworking">{{cite book|title=Not working|author=Alejandra Marchevsky, Jeanne Theoharis|date=10 April 2006|page=87|publisher=NYU Press |isbn=0-8147-5710-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Soviet struggle for Third World domination|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 15, 2006}}</ref>