United States Intervention in Chile - 1973 Coup

1973 Coup

Like Caesar peering into the colonies from distant Rome, Nixon said the choice of government by the Chileans was unacceptable to the president of the United States. The attitude in the White House seemed to be, "If in the wake of Vietnam I can no longer send in the Marines, then I will send in the CIA."

--Senator Frank Church, 1976

In the Chilean coup of 1973, Augusto Pinochet rose to power. While declassified documents related to the military coup have shown that the CIA "probably appeared to condone" the 1973 coup, there is no evidence that the US actually participated in it.

On November 9, 1970 the US National Security Council, in Decision Memorandum 93, noted that President Nixon had decided:

(1) The public posture of the United States will be correct but cool to avoid giving the Allende government a basis on which to rally domestic and international support for consolidation of the regime; but that (2) the United States will seek to maximize pressure on the Allende government to prevent its consolidation and limit its ability to implement policies contrary to US and hemisphere interests.

During the period leading up to the coup, the CIA received information about potential coup plots. The 1975 Church report noted:

The intelligence network continued to report throughout 1972 and 1973 on coup plotting activities. During 1972 the Station continued to monitor the group which might mount a successful coup, and it spent a significantly greater amount of time and effort penetrating this group than it had on previous groups. This group had originally come to the Station's attention in October 1971. By January 1972 the Station had successfully penetrated it and was in contact through an intermediary with its leader.

Intelligence reporting on coup plotting reached two peak periods, one in the last week of June 1973 and the other during the end of August and the first two weeks in September. It is clear the CIA received intelligence reports on the coup planning of the group which carried out the successful September 11 coup throughout the months of July, August, and September 1973.

One such coup plot was the Tanquetazo which Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon made reference to in the course of an informal telephone call on 4 July 1973:

Nixon: I want you to take the Fourth off now so ... I just looked over the news thing, nothing new here. It's relatively quiet. The Latin American guys are having there usual - you know I think that Chilean guy may have some problems.

Kissinger: Oh, he has massive problems. He has definitely massive problems.

Nixon: If only the Army could get a few people behind them.

Kissinger: And that coup last week - we had nothing to do with it but it still came off apparently prematurely.

Nixon: That's right and the fact that he just set up a cabinet without any military in it is, I think, very significant.

Kissinger: It's very significant.

Nixon: Very significant because those military guys are very proud down there and they may just - right?

Kissinger: Yes, I definitely think he's in difficulties.

According to the CIA document "CIA Activities in Chile", during the late summer of 1973, the local CIA station suggested that the US commit itself to support for a military coup. In response, CIA Headquarters reaffirmed to the station that "there was to be no involvement with the military in any covert action initiative; there was no support for instigating a military coup."

On the issue of CIA involvement in the 1973 coup, the CIA document is equally unequivocal:

On 10 September 1973 -- the day before the coup that ended the Allende government -- a chilean military officer reported to a CIA officer that a coup was being planned and asked for US government assistance. He was told that the US Government would not provide any assistance because this was strictly an internal chilean matter. The Station Officer also told him his request would be forwarded to Washington. CIA learned of the exact date of the coup shortly before it took place. During the attack on the Presidential Palace and its immediate aftermath, the Station's activities were limited to providing intelligence and situation reports.

The Church report also answered the allegation that the US government involved itself in the 1973 coup:

Was the United States DIRECTLY involved, covertly, in the 1973 coup in Chile? The Committee has found no evidence that it was.

There is no hard evidence of direct U.S. assistance to the coup, despite frequent allegations of such aid. Rather the United States - by its previous actions during Track II, its existing general posture of opposition to Allende, and the nature of its contacts with the Chilean military- probably gave the impression that it would not look with disfavor on a military coup. And U.S. officials in the years before 1973 may not always have succeeded in walking the thin line between monitoring indigenous coup plotting and actually stimulating it.

In all probability, the exact timing of the 1973 coup perhaps came as a surprise to the US. However, it was without doubt a major vindication for the Republican administration. Conrad Black, in his work "Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full", notes:

After more than thirty years, no evidence has come to light in either country that the United States played a direct role in the overthrow of the Allende government, but it was certainly a geopolitical bonanza for the United States, as Allende was cavorting with Castro with a particularly irritating relish.

On September 16, 1973, approximately one week after Pinochet had assumed power, the following exchange about the coup took place between U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon:

Nixon: Nothing new of any importance or is there?

Kissinger: Nothing of very great consequence. The Chilean thing is getting consolidated and of course the newspapers are bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.

Nixon: Isn't that something. Isn't that something.

Kissinger: I mean instead of celebrating – in the Eisenhower period we would be heroes.

Nixon: Well we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one though.

Kissinger: We didn't do it. I mean we helped them. created the conditions as great as possible.

Nixon: That is right. And that is the way it is going to be played.

There is no evidence that the U.S. instigated or provided material support to Pinochet's successful coup in 1973, but the Nixon administration was undoubtedly pleased with the outcome; Nixon had spoken with disappointment about the failed coup earlier that year.