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Chile’s Coup and Authoritarian Period
LSJ 322/SIS 322
Fall 2009
Chile in the 1960’s• Period of social and political tumult• Nueva canción movement• Three major political forces: Marxists/Socialists,
Christian democrats, Conservatives
• Eduardo Frei elected 1964: – Church Committee (1975) : CIA funded more than half
of Frei’s campaign, as well as other parties– major social and economic reforms:
• Agrarian reform to redistribute land• “Chileanization” of copper mines
(Chile produced 25% of world’s copper)
Unidad Popular (1970)
• Reformist coalition aimed to establish “via chilena al socialismo”, socialism without armed revolution
• “El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido” QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.
“El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido”
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,el pueblo unido jamás será vencido...
De pie, cantarque vamos a triunfar.
Avanzan yabanderas de unidad.
Y tú vendrásmarchando junto a mí,
y así verástu canto y tu bandera florecer,
la luzde un rojo amaneceranuncia yala vida que vendrá.
The people united will never be defeated,The people united will never be defeated.
Arise, sing,we are going to win.
Flags of unityare now advancing.
And you will comemarching together with me,
and so you'll seeyour song and your flag blossom.The lightof a red dawnalready announcesthe life to come.
De pie, lucharel pueblo va a triunfar.
Será mejorla vida que vendrá
a conquistarnuestra felicidady en un clamormil voces de
combate se alzarán,dirán,canción de libertadcon decisiónla patria vencerá.
Y ahora el puebloque se alza en la luchacon voz de gigantegritando: ¡adelante!
Arise, fightthe people are going to win.
The life to comewill be better.
To conquerour happiness.
and a clamorof a thousand fighting voices will rise,speakinga song of freedom.With determinationthe fatherland will win.
And now the people,who are rising in strugglewith the voice of a giantcrying out: Forward!
El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido
El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!
La patria está forjando la unidad de norte a sur, se movilizará
Desde el salar ardiente y mineral
Al bosque austral, unidos en la lucha y el trabajo irán,
La patria cubriránSu paso ya anuncia el
porvenir.
The people, united, will never be defeated!The people, united, will never be defeated!
The fatherland is forging unity, from north to south people will mobilize.
From the burning minerals of the salt mines to the southern forests, united in struggle and labor they go,
Covering the fatherland. Their footsteps announce the future.
De pie, cantar, el pueblo va a triunfar. Millones ya imponen la verdad
De acero son, ardiente batallón,
Sus manos van, llevando la justicia y la razón,
Mujer, con fuego y con valor, ya estás aquí junto al trabajador.
Arise, sing, the people are going to win,
Millions now are imposing the truth.
Their steel battalions are on fire,
Taking in their hands justice and reason.
Woman, with fire and valor, you are already here alongside the worker.
Allende’s election
• Sept 4, 1970: elected; assumed presidency November 3
• Platform: Continued “Chileanization” of copper, nationalized mines owned by Anaconda and Kennecott in 1971
• Turned over land in large estates, and some factories, to workers
• Audio: Inti-Illimani on the reforms
“Canción de la propiedad social privada,” Inti Illimani
Ya no serán los campos Sólo de algunosVa a recibir el puebloTodos los frutos
Nacionalizaremos Muchas riquezasSistemas financierosGrandes empresas
The fields will no longer belong
Only to a fewThe people will now receiveAll the fruits.
Let´s nationalizeOur richesFinancial systemsBig businesses
Con esta economíaSerá el estado (bis)Quien domine el controlDe los mercados (bis)
Y se irán expropiandoCarbón y yodoSalitre y otras yerbasPoquito a poco
Toda la mineríaEl hierro y cobreCon las demás riquezas De nuestro norte.
With this economyIt will be the state (repeat)That dominates the control Of the market (repeat)
Carbon and iodide Salt and other minerals Will be expropriatedLittle by little
All the minesSteel and copperAnd the other richesOf our north.
El poder de los señoresQue hablan en gringo (bis)Y unos pocos criollosQue dan lo mismo.
Hay algunos propietariosLos pequeños y medianosAgrícolas e industrialesQue también son explotados.
Son víctimas directasDe monopoliosQue por todo les paganMenos que el costo.
The power of the menWho speak in “gringo” (repeat)And of a few criollosWho are basically the same thing.
There are some owners Small landowners and middle sized
Agriculturalists and businesspeopleWho are also exploited.
They are direct victimsOf monopoliesFor everything they get paidLess than cost.
Son propiedad privadaY en el gobierno Con mejor garantíaSeguirán siendo.
Pero no hay que enchuecarseCon los empleadosY para los obreros Buenos salarios (bis)
Yo me moriré cantandoPorque he nacido chicharraLes doy también la partidaPara la reforma agraria.
They are private property ownersAnd with the new governmentThey will continue to be suchWith better guarantees.
But they must not get stingyWith their workersFor all the workers,Decent salaries (repeat)
I will die singingBecause I was born a chatterboxBut I also want to suggest we talk
aboutAgrarian reform
Con arado se despiertan Tierras que estaban dormidas,Por eso hagamos, compadreLas formas cooperativas.
Ya se acaba el latifundioEl campo al quien lo trabajaSe hace la reforma agrariaEl momento es importanteNadie se ponga adelante.
Y los técnicos agrariosYa se ponen al servicioDel campesino chilenoQue ha encontrado su destino
Lands that had lain dormantWill awaken with the plowFor this reason, brother, let´s makeCooperative forms of agriculture.
The latifundio is finishedThe fields will be for he who works
themThe agrarian reform will be doneThis is an important momentNo one should step ahead (of others).
And the agricultural techniciansWill place themselves at the serviceOf the Chilean peasantryWho have found their new destiny
Ya se acaba el latifundio
El campo al quien lo trabaja
Se hace la reforma agraria
El momento es importante
Nadie se ponga adelante.
Con el pueblo en el gobierno
Se descubren mil caminos
Aceleran la reforma
Los consejos campesinos
Ya se acaba…
The latifundio is finished
The fields will be for he who works them
The agrarian reform will be done
This is an important moment
No one should step ahead (of others).
With the people in government
A thousand paths will be discovered
The reforms will be accelerated
By peasant councils
Repeat.
US reaction• Document 1: Sept 15, 1970 handwritten notes
taken by CIA director Richard Helms, recording orders of US President Nixon to foster a coup in Chile:
• 1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!• Worth spending• Not concerned• No involvement of Embassy• $10,000,000 available, more if necessary• full-time job – best men we have• make the economy scream• 48 hours for plan of action
US reaction
• Two tracks to prevent Allende’s ascension: Track 1:“Parliamentary trickery”; Track 2: coup
• Document 2: October 16, 1970 cable conveying Kissinger’s orders to CIA station chief in Santiago– “operating guidance”– “imperative that USG and American hand
be well hidden”
Economic turmoil• US began economic blockade of Chile• Intervened with World Bank, IADB to freeze
Chile’s credit• In first year, economy grew 8%, inflation low; but
by 1973, inflation topped 300% • Shortage of commercial goods• Society deeply polarized• October 1972: beginning of major strikes (funded
in part by CIA: $2 million to truckers)• Allende called for a popular referendum on his
economic program, to be held Sept. 11, 1973
Allende’s last words
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
After the coup
• Thousands of Chileans, members of Allende’s UP party, were rounded up by armed forces, placed in concentration camps
• The Red Cross estimates that as many as 7000 were held in the National Stadium
In the National Stadium
“Every night we would hear the screams of the workers who were executed in the east wing of the National Stadium in Santiago. The next day, the blood stains were washed away with hoses. Every day, observers would see a pile of shoes that had been worn by the victims of the previous night."
• (Pablo Antillano, Venezuelan journalist in the Morning Star, September 28, 1973. Chile. Libro Negro)
Document 3
• Report by US Naval Attache Patrick Ryan on Chile’s coup: “close to perfect”. This was written on October 1
Document 4
• Dept of State Memo by Jack Zubisch Nov 16, 1973, sent to US Secy of State detailing post-coup executions.
• Shows list of numbers killed, etc• Amnesty International and the UN Human
Rights Committee: 250,000 Chileans detained for political reasons between September-December 1973, many tortured and executed
• Testimony from the stadium
