[center]CHILE:
HOW WE DESTROY THE OLDEST DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH AMERICA,
AND TURN A PEACE-LOVING NATION
INTO A SLAUGHTERHOUSE[/center]
1) When the people of Chile freely choose a socialist, pro-democracy president, Nixon and Kissinger fear this will set a "good example" for the other oppressed peoples on the US�s "turf".
(2) At Nixon�s command, the CIA instigates the overthrow of the government.
(3) The SOA routinely trains the torturers who keep the military dictatorship in power.
With at least half the population suffering from malnutrition and the country facing severe shortages of food, housing, health care, and education after years of capitalist governments, medical doctor Salvador Allende nearly wins elections for the Presidency in 1958 and 1964, despite enormous criminal CIA manipulation of the elections.
Allende�s "threat", in the eyes of the US, is neither military nor economic, but purely ideological, i.e., psychological � the "threat of a good example" of a democratically-elected socialist who continues to honor the constitution.
"The US has no vital national interests within Chile. � The world military balance of power would not be significantly altered by an Allende government. � An Allende victory would represent a definite psychological set-back to the US and a definite psychological advantage for the Marxist idea." � CIA study, 9/7/70
"The Communist-dominated unions, especially those which follow the Moscow line, now generally accept the peaceful road as a viable alternative." � report of the US Senate Foreign Committee, 7/15/68
Nevertheless, the US determines to prevent a free and fair Allende victory in 1970.
"I don�t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." � Henry Kissinger, "national security" adviser to Nixon, referring to Chilean voters in 1970
More:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/poli/soa/chile.htm
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Milton Friedman did not save Chile
To say the late economist deserves credit for the country's building codes shows a lack of knowledge of pre-coup Chile
Naomi Klein
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 March 2010 17.15 EST
Ever since deregulation caused a worldwide economic meltdown in September '08 and everyone became a Keynesian again, it hasn't been easy to be a fanatical follower of the late economist Milton Friedman. So widely discredited is his brand of free-market fundamentalism that his admirers have become increasingly desperate to claim ideological victories, however far fetched.
A particularly distasteful case in point. Just two days after Chile was struck by a devastating earthquake, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens informed his readers that Milton Friedman's "spirit was surely hovering protectively over Chile" because, "thanks largely to him, the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse … It's not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick – and Haitians in houses of straw –when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down."
According to Stephens, the radical free-market policies prescribed to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet by Milton Friedman and his infamous "Chicago Boys" are the reason Chile is a prosperous nation with "some of the world's strictest building codes."
There is one rather large problem with this theory: Chile's modern seismic building code, drafted to resist earthquakes, was adopted in 1972. That year is enormously significant because it was one year before Pinochet seized power in a bloody US-backed coup. That means that if one person deserves credit for the law, it is not Friedman, or Pinochet, but Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist president. (In truth many Chileans deserve credit, since the laws were a response to a history of quakes, and the first law was adopted in the 1930s).
It does seem significant, however, that the law was enacted even in the midst of a crippling economic embargo ("make the economy scream" Richard Nixon famously growled after Allende won the 1970 elections). The code was later updated in the 90s, well after Pinochet and the Chicago Boys were finally out of power and democracy was restored.
Little wonder: as Paul Krugman points out, Friedman was ambivalent about building codes, seeing them as yet another infringement on capitalist freedom.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/mar/03/chile-earthquake
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Wikipedia:
~snip~
1950s and 1960s[edit]
See also: Project Camelot
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States put forward a variety of programs and strategies ranging from funding political campaigns to funding propaganda aimed at impeding the presidential aspirations of leftist candidate Salvador Allende. Throughout this time, the United States successfully impeded the left-wing parties from gaining power. In the 1958 presidential election, Jorge Alessandri - a nominal independent with support from the Liberal and Conservative parties - defeated Allende by nearly 33,500 votes to claim the presidency.[6] His laissez-faire policies, endorsed by the United States, were regarded as the solution to the country’s inflation problems. Under recommendations from the United States, Alessandri steadily reduced tariffs from 1959, a policy that caused the Chilean market to be overwhelmed by American products.[6] The government’s policies angered the working class, who asked for higher wages, and the repercussions of this massive discontent were felt in the 1961 congressional elections. The president suffered terrible blows, sending the message that laissez-faire policies were not desired. As the “grand total of $130 million from the U.S. banking Industry, the U.S. Treasury Department, the IMF and the ICA”[7] accepted by Alessandri illustrates, laissez-faire policies only made Chile more dependent on the United States.
Presidential candidate Salvador Allende was a top contender in the 1964 election. The US, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), covertly spent three million dollars campaigning against him,[8] before and after the election, mostly through radio and print advertising. The Americans viewed electing Christian Democratic contender Eduardo Frei Montalva as vital, fearing that Alessandri’s failures would lead the people to support Allende. Allende was feared by the Americans because of his warm relations with Cuba and his open criticism of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Furthermore, clandestine aid to Frei was put forward through John F. Kennedy's Latin American Alliance for Progress, which promised "$20 billion in public and private assistance in the country for the next decade."[9] In direct terms, the United States contributed US$20 million to the campaign, but they also sent in about 100 people with assigned tasks to prevent Allende's victory.[9]
1970 election[edit]
According to the 1975 Church Commission Report, covert United States involvement in Chile in the decade between 1963 and 1973 was extensive and continuous. The CIA spent $8 million in the three years between 1970 and the military coup in September 1973,[8] with over $3 million in 1972 alone. Covert American activity was present in almost every major election in Chile in the decade between 1963 and 1973, but its actual effect on electoral outcomes is not altogether clear. Chile, more than any of its South American neighbours, had an extensive democratic tradition dating back to the early 1930s, and even before. Because of this, it is difficult to gauge how successful CIA tactics were in swaying voters.
Allende Presidency[edit]
Salvador Allende ran again in the 1970 presidential election, winning a narrow plurality (near 37%). U.S. president Richard Nixon stated his fear that Chile could become "another Cuba", and the U.S. cut off most of its foreign aid to Chile and supported Allende's opponents in Chile during his presidency, intending to encourage Allende's resignation, his overthrow, or his defeat in the impending election of 1976.[10] To this end, the Nixon administration clandestinely funded independent and non-state media and labor unions.
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_intervention_in_Chile
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