We ended our last episode with the United States contemplating its next move against the Chilean left. The socialist Salvador Allende had just won the Chilean presidency in the 1970 election in spite of the US’s covert actions throughout the decade prior and its “Spoiling Operation” in the 1970 election.

In today’s Part 2 of “The US in Chile,” we discuss how the US maneuvered to try to prevent Allende from being confirmed by the Chilean Congress, including their involvement in the assassination of General Rene Schneider. We then turn to the US’s posture towards Allende once he is confirmed by the Congress and remind our listeners of the US’s attempts to make the Chilean economy “scream.” Finally, we consider the US’s role in the 1973 coup that ousted Allende and installed General Augusto Pinochet as the head of a brutally repressive military dictatorship.

Show Notes

National Security Archive on the Schneider Assassination

60 Minutes Segment on Kissinger

Interview with Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive

Credits

Theme music by our youngest brother Tate.

Cover art by Arthur Santoro.

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