USA Regrets Role in Chile's September 11 Tragedy

04/17/2003 10:34

US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, admitted Washington's participation 
in Chile coup of 1973 "It is not a part of American history that we're 
proud of," Powell said to an American student, who had asked about the 
role of Nixon's administration in the coup that toppled the democratic 
government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. After his honest 
words, Powell quickly added that reforms instituted since then make it 
unlikely that the policies of that Cold War era will be repeated, but 
it was enough to provoke the reaction of his hard-wing officials.  

In a highly unusual move, the State Department issued a statement 
that put distance between the department and its top official. The 
statement asserted that the U.S. government "did not instigate the 
coup that ended Allende's government in 1973". The problem is that 
there is a pending law suit against the US government and Powell's 
comment was not helpful.  

During the brutal coup in which the Chilean military, with Augusto 
Pinochet at the head, seized power, at least 1,500 were killed and 
human rights organizations across the world claim for other 2,000 
"disappearances" under Pinochet's regime. This would be a serious 
problem for the United States of America if that country becomes 
member of The Hague international tribunals.  

In fact, despite US disclaims, there is enough evidence to point 
out US then-administration as part of the plot against the Chilean 
Socialist leader. According to unclassified documentation, President 
Richard Nixon and then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were 
aware of the movements to oust Allende and had contacts, through 
their Ambassador in Santiago, with local plotters.  

A recent investigation of Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the US 
National Security Archive, proves that these documents describe how 
"angry Nixon demanded a coup, if necessary, to block the inauguration 
of Marxist Salvador Allende following his victory in the 1970 Chilean 
elections". Kornbluh also revealed that an early coup plan, known as 
"Track II", "continued through the assassination of
pro-constitutional 
Chilean Gen. Rene Schneider, who was gunned down by military 
plotters on Oct. 22, 1970".  

Kornbluh, also a student of Latin American issues, whose book, "The 
Pinochet File," will be released in September, disputed US official 
account. "The U.S. government carried out a clear effort to undermine 
and destabilize Allende's ability to govern, creating the climate 
necessary for a coup to take place," Kornbluh said.  

Documents, show that the CIA kept on plotting against Allende's 
government all along his three years of mandate until got what Nixon 
had demanded at the beginning. Even when at the start of the Chilean 
tragedy almost three decades ago, the U.S. government wasn't even 
sure that Chile was important to American national interests, except 
for some multi-national corporations which had mining and other business 
interests, Nixon went ahead. He wanted to show the world how strong 
were the United States of America, no matter the cost the Chilean 
people had to pay.  

Backing dictators in Latin America was a US pattern since the 1954 
coup in Guatemala, but Chile inaugurated a new deadly combination: 
dictatorship plus neo-liberalism. Pinochet's ruling was a leading case 
for the policies implemented some years later by Margaret Thatcher in 
the UK and Ronald Reagan in USA; the same policies that led to poverty 
to millions across the world during the nineties. Blames on Nixon 
administration involvement in the post-Sept. 11, 1973, period was 
reinforced last November when 11 residents of Chile filed a complaint 
against Kissinger and the U.S. government seeking damages for deaths 
and other rights abuses by the Pinochet government. This explains 
State Department's immediate reaction to Powell's words.  

The Socialists are in power again in Chile. The current President, 
Ricardo Lagos, is the former Allende's Ambassador to Moscow and his 
administration made efforts to bring Pinochet to courts. However, 
the octogenarian Gen. is still free, as well as Kissinger. Both, 
the masterminds of Chile's September 11 tragedy can tell a story 
that still shames the world almost 30 years later.

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Source and Copyright: PRAVDA.Ru
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/9766_chile.html

Cheers, Steve..

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