＂The hands of the United States are stained with the blood of Chileans＂ —— The beginning and end of the American plot to overthrow Allende’s government
Xinhua News Agency, Santiago, September 11th (international observation) "The hands of the United States are covered with the blood of Chileans" — — The whole story of American conspiracy to overthrow Allende’s government
Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Yubo
"I will defend the precious principles of the motherland with my life."
On September 11th, 1973, in Santiago, the capital of Chile, in the presidential palace surrounded by coup soldiers, Chilean President salvador allende made a radio speech to express his determination to fight to the end. Later that day, the presidential palace was captured and Allende was killed.
"This coup opened one of the darkest chapters in Chilean history." A report by Cuba’s Latin American News Agency commented on this.
September 11th this year marks the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of Allende’s government by a coup. Over the past half century, many historical studies and declassified archives show that the United States has tried its best to prevent Allende from coming to power and subvert Allende’s government. This year is also 200 years since the United States put forward "Monroe Doctrine". For a long time, the United States has held hegemonism, manipulated the rhetoric of "democracy and freedom" and used coup intervention, economic sanctions and other means to cause deep suffering to Latin American countries and people. Nowadays, more and more Latin American countries and people are awakening, and the voice against American hegemonic interference is growing.
"The only chance of success is to launch a military coup."
"Obviously, in order to prevent Allende’s government from exercising its power, no political or constitutional means can succeed, and the only possible chance of success is to launch a military coup immediately before or after Allende takes power … … I hope that the intelligence station will establish direct contact with influential military figures as much as possible. "
On September 9, 1970, the CIA sent a secret telegram to its intelligence station in Chile. Earlier, the vote in the Chilean presidential election had just ended, and Allende, the candidate of the People’s Unity Front of the left-wing party alliance, won the first vote, which made the US government very angry.
The U.S. government’s suppression of Allende can be traced back to 1964. This year, Allende, who lost in the last presidential election in Chile, ran again. At that time, the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union was in full swing, and the American government, which regarded Latin America as its "backyard", did not want to see the left-wing leader elected president of Chile.
As a result, the United States secretly supported Allende’s opponent, provided millions of dollars in campaign funds to Allende’s opponent’s party, and funded Chilean right-wing groups and media through the CIA, releasing a large number of information attacking and discrediting Allende and encouraging people not to vote for him.
The intervention of the United States got what it wanted, and Allende lost the presidential election in 1964. These behind-the-scenes manipulations obviously violate the "democracy" rhetoric that the United States has always preached, but the absurd reason given by American politicians is that the damage caused by American intervention to Chile is less than the harm that may be caused by the left-wing government elected by the people.
On September 4, 1970, Chile held a presidential election. Allende, who ran again, won the first vote, but did not get more than half of the votes. According to the law, it is necessary for Congress to vote for the president among the top two candidates. Seeing that the "second Cuba" is about to appear in Latin America, the panicked American government decided to increase its intervention and try its best to prevent Allende from winning the congressional vote. On September 15th, then US President Nixon issued instructions to CIA Director Richard Helms and others: "Don’t consider risks, don’t involve the embassy, 10 million US dollars is available, and increase it if necessary. Work all day and send our best people … … Let Chile’s economy scream in pain and come up with an action plan within 48 hours. "
The CIA came up with a plan to instigate a military coup in Chile. Documents later declassified by the CIA show that the US promised some Chilean officers that once they staged a coup, the US would provide any assistance except direct troops. At that time, the commander of the Chilean army, Rene Schneider, resolutely opposed the coup, so he became the "thorn in the side" of the CIA. On October 22, 1970, he was attacked by a gang associated with the CIA and died a few days later. This self-defeating move by the United States shocked the whole country of Chile, and the voice against foreign interference was rising. In the congressional vote held on October 24th, Allende won by a clear margin and was elected President of Chile.
"Anyone who affects the interests of the United States will automatically become its enemy."
As a big Latin American country, Chile’s political changes are one of the important weathervanes of regional politics. The United States is afraid that Allende’s mode of coming to power by popular election will spread, which will lead to the rise of the left-wing wave in Latin America and challenge the hegemonic position of the United States in Latin America. Therefore, after the first failed attempt to instigate a coup in 1970, the United States decided to weaken Allende’s government from the political, economic and military aspects together to create conditions for promoting a coup in Chile.
On the political level, according to The New York Times, the US government allocated 815,000 US dollars to create divisions among various parties in Allende’s government. From 1970 to 1973, the CIA spent more than $8 million in Chile, most of which was used to fund strikes and demonstrations organized by right-wing opposition groups. At the same time, the CIA "black propaganda machine", which was polished and matured in the 1964 Chilean election, was running at a high speed. According to the information collected by Chilean journalist Victor Errero, only between September 15th and November 3rd, 1973, the CIA published 726 defamatory articles in Chile and abroad through various channels, accusing Allende of trying to control the media.
On the economic level, in order to crack down on Chile’s economy, on the one hand, the US government prevented international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from providing loans to Chile, on the other hand, it depressed the price of copper in the international market and cracked down on the export of copper products, an important foreign exchange source of Chile.
On the military level, the report "Secret Operation in Chile 1963-1973" published by the US government shows that the United States has continued to provide assistance to the Chilean military, and its arms sales to Chile have also remained at a high level. At the same time, it has also trained a large number of Chilean officers and cultivated pro-American forces in the Chilean army.
Under the influence of a series of destructive and repressive measures in the United States, by the eve of the coup in 1973, Allende’s government was in trouble: the internal division of the government was serious, domestic prices soared, protests occurred frequently, and the internal stability of the army became increasingly unstable. Finally, on September 11th of this year, Augusto Pinochet, then commander of the Chilean army, staged a coup and overthrew Allende’s government.
"Without the support and financial assistance of the United States, the forces of the Chilean opposition would not be so strong." Chilean historian Victor Brown Guier told Xinhua News Agency. Chilean academic circles generally believe that American intervention created conditions for the Chilean army to launch a coup, which led to the collapse of Allende’s government.
Since then, 17 years of military government rule has caused great harm to Chile. According to official Chilean data, during this period, more than 40,000 people in Chile were arrested for political reasons, more than 3,000 people died or disappeared at the hands of the secret police, and at least 200,000 people were forced into exile. In this regard, the United States is to blame. As an article in the British "Guardian" said: "The hands of the United States are covered with Chilean blood."
Luis Quillo, a representative of communist party, Chile, said that the American intervention "profoundly changed the historical process of Chile, violated the protection of international law on the right of countries to choose their political and social systems, and was a systematic violation of human rights". Alejandro Navarro, a former Chilean senator, said: "The United States has never cared about the democracy of the American people, but only cares about its own economic and political interests. The United States regards Chile and Latin American countries as its own ‘ Property ’ Anyone who affects the interests of the United States will automatically become its enemy. "
Monroe Doctrine is imperialist power politics.
Allende’s tragedy fully exposed the hypocrisy and hegemony of the United States. The history of Latin America proves that when the governments of some countries do not agree with the wishes of the United States, politicians in Washington will not hesitate to plan and instigate coups, or even go on stage with butcher knives.
In 1915, there was unrest in Haiti. The United States sent troops to Haiti on the grounds of "protecting expatriates" and exercised full control over the country until 1934. In the early 1950s, the Guatemalan government carried out land reform and distributed the idle land of the United States-funded fruit company to landless farmers. Under the lobbying of United Fruit Company, the American government supported Castillo Amas to launch a coup to overthrow the government.
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玻利维亚前外长费尔南多·瓦纳库尼日前接受新华社记者采访时指出，200年来，美国抱持“门罗主义”，将拉美视为“后院”，以霸权主义和干涉行径阻碍拉美国家发展，攫取拉美地区资源。
“‘门罗主义’的本质是干涉拉美国家，在拉美推行霸权主义，”瓦纳库尼说，“美国悍然干涉拉美国家内政的事例200年来不胜枚举。这完全就是帝国主义的强权政治，它注定会走向失败，因为越来越多的国家希望自主决定自己的民主、经济模式和国家治理模式。”（参与记者：赵凯、廖思维、吴昊）