During the Cold War from 1947 to 1991, the US and the USSR have not participated in any large-scale fighting directly but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. Chile in Latin America is considered as a key place in which the US should hold the upper hand. By the American intervention, Chile’s economy and especially politics have been deeply affected. The election in 1964, the assassination against generals René Schneider, and even the 1973 Chilean coup are involved directly to indirectly from the US government.
Firstly, the Scare Campaign was introduced as anti-communist by using media during the 1964 election in Chile. The US government was heavily involved and provided many of the propaganda skills, resources, and monies needed to develop it. During the campaign, they used a series of posters, leaflets, letters, and radio with the same idea which defamed socialist Salvador Allende and Marxism-Leninism. The reasons which made the ads powerful was because they reflected, appealed to, and constructed ideas about gender then prevalent in Chilean society. Marxism -Leninism was described as a monster that takes children away from the Chilean family and sends them to Cuba to be indoctrinated in communist propaganda and denationalized. In other ads, Cuban women were forced to join the military and their only accessory was a machine gun. In a very short amount of time, with the onslaught on large scale, the US Senate announced that they produced 24 daily new casts in Santiago and the provinces and distributed 3000 posters daily. As a result, Chilean were likely affected by the ads and the victory was given to Eduardo Frei Montalva.
Secondly, generals René Schneider was caught in Central Intelligent Agency sight because he expressed firm opposition to the idea of preventing Allende’s inauguration through a coup. Rene Schneider was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army from 1969. The CIA created a campaign to eradicate Allende supporters, including Rene Schneider, by supplied weapons to a group of Chilean officers led by Generals Camilo Valenzuela. In the attempt, Schneider was shot several times in the ambush in the capital city of Santiago. After this incident, the outrage exploded across the country and his death was a factor that then leads to Allende’s victory in the election in the same year.
Then, right after the victory of Allende, Henry Kissinger presents President Nixon with a briefing memorandum outlining which focuses on the new Chilean president. In the memorandum, Kissinger showed the problem that the US needs to face and several solutions with a different perspective. According to the article, from an economic perspective, the US will lose about 1.5 billion investment in Chile which equal to 10 billion dollars today. Besides, it is more likely that the introduction of Marxism-Leninism in Chile will then have an impact on other regions of the world, leading to a decline in the power of the United States. After showing the pro and cons of the modus vivendi strategy or some of the hostile approach, Kissinger finally asked for Allende’s strong opposition even though it helped Allende get more support from domestic and international as well. He said: “The dangers of doing nothing are greater than the risks we run in trying to do something.” Consequently, the 1973 Chilean coup was a US-backed Chilean military coup that deposed the government of President Salvador Allende.
Overall, the US government has shown its impact on the economy, culture, and politics in Chile associated with unethical campaigns. Also, the National Security Archive is considered as “smoking guns” evidence of US actions in Latin America.
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Cite:
– https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/dc.html?doc=7281124-National-Security-Archive-Doc-1-The-White-House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat#U.S._involvement