Human Lives Human Rights: Salvador Guillermo Allende, a Chilean Marxist physician and socialist politician, was elected as the president of Chile in the 1970 presidential election.
Allende was assassinated by the Chilean army in 1973, while he was the president of this country. In these three years of his presidency, Allende sought to nationalize major industries, expand education and improve the living standards of the working class.
By nationalizing Chilean industries, Allende wanted to cut off American companies from this infrastructure and benefit all Chileans from their revenues. Naturally, such actions were not in line with the US imperialist policies.
On the other hand, Allende not only did not compromise with American imperialism, but also was not following the footsteps of former Soviet leader Brezhnev and former Cuban leader Castro. Therefore, he did not even had the support of the leading axis of the communist world.
Also, the economic policies of Allende and the extremism and chaos of Chile’s left-wing extremist groups, led to widespread strikes, riots and insecurity in the country. As a result, General Prats, commander of the Chilean Army, was forced to resign. Allende, who had heard Prats deputy, Augusto Pinochet, opposes any action against the government; appointed him as the Commander-in-Chief on of the Chilean army.
This was Allende’s biggest mistake, because after very short time since Pinochet’s appointment, he besieged Santiago with the help of the Navy, bombed the Presidential Palace with the help of the Air Force and ground troops entered the capital with tanks; carried out a comprehensive coup against the legitimate president of Chile, Salvador Allende, and during this coup; Allende was killed.
What is clear today is that Pinochet was not the only one to carry out the coup and assassinate Allende, but had the full support of the United States government and the CIA. It has been revealed today that the CIA was involved in a complex and completely secret operation that was encrypted under the name of Pinochet; It sought to encourage a coup in Chile as well as the collapse of the Allende government from within the system.
The revealed documents include minutes of meetings between Henry Kissinger, the then US President’s national security adviser, and CIA officials telegrams to their station in Santiago; Undeniable traces of US-backed decisions and covert operations against the Allende administration.
Also leaked documents from US National Security Council strategy plans also reveal plans and actions taken to destabilize the Chilean economy and to sanction and diplomatically isolate the Allende administration between 1970 and 1973.
Finally, Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende with the full support of the United States, bringing dark days for the people of Chile. Thousands were executed, thousands disappeared. A number of people were even executed in Chilean stadiums, which are the venue for sporting events and a symbol of fair play. However, all this was not possible without the back and support of the US government in the targeted assassination of Salvador Allende and the brutal dictatorship of Pinochet.
