At the height of the Cold War, Latin America became a bastion of ideological conflict that saw the CIA back multiple military juntas overthrowing left-leaning governments throughout the region. During this period, the CIA played a significant role in Chile before and after September 11th, 1973, by destabilizing Salvador Allende’s government while propping up a military government under the rule of General Augusto Pinochet. In order to identify the reasons behind the CIA’s motivation in engineer the coup along with the repercussions it produced, retracing significant incidents before and after the military overthrow will unveil the following events that occurred in Chile. Therefore, Allende’s previous attempts at gaining leadership and his determination
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Furthermore, detailing Allende’s governance once in office demonstrates how the state of Chile’s deteriorated, creating preconditions for a military overthrow. Lastly, the rule of Pinochet’s government endows the result of American foreign interest in Chile, that has left a legacy of division in the Latin American nation to this day.
Long before Salvador Allende would become the leader of Chile through the 1970 federal election, the CIA was involved in covert operations attempting to impede the Marxist socialist efforts to achieve presidency in previous elections. Allende participated in three efforts to gain government during the 1952, 1956 and 1964 presidential elections, securing a greater share of votes in each effort while representing the Socialist Party of Chile which was co-founded by him in 1933 ( ). The presence of the CIA in Chile resumed so long as a socialist candidate participated in elections throughout the Cold War, which brought the Monroe doctrine to the forefront of American foreign policy. Through financial means, the CIA became invested in opposing Salvador Allende’s efforts by setting up a campaign to hinder his …show more content…
Nonetheless, the CIA planned two different routes it could act upon to disrupt Allende’s leadership. The first plan of action named “Track 1” was to block Allende from taking office on September 4th organized through a politically motivated course to urge collaborating congressional politicians part of the CDP to block Allende through a vote in Congress ( ). “Track 2” was an effort to by the CIA to financially orchestrate a coup through a military intervention created from internal pressure and collaboration of the military and elite members of society by bringing about instability through economic, political, and social unrest ( ). These two different paths played out consecutively as the CIA became increasingly anxious to do whatever possible to impede Allende from becoming president. However, on September 4th, 1970, Salvador Allende won through a minor plurality receiving only 1% more than his opponent who was backed by the CIA and was former conservative president, Jorge Alessandri ( ). With no candidates receiving 50% of votes to gain majority, the election was sent to Congress for a vote to elect a president where Allende received support from the CDP which ignored the plea from the CIA to vote against the socialist candidate ( ). Track 1 had been disbanded by the CIA once it became apparent that the CDP would vote in favor of
Furthermore, detailing Allende’s governance once in office demonstrates how the state of Chile’s deteriorated, creating preconditions for a military overthrow. Lastly, the rule of Pinochet’s government endows the result of American foreign interest in Chile, that has left a legacy of division in the Latin American nation to this day.
Long before Salvador Allende would become the leader of Chile through the 1970 federal election, the CIA was involved in covert operations attempting to impede the Marxist socialist efforts to achieve presidency in previous elections. Allende participated in three efforts to gain government during the 1952, 1956 and 1964 presidential elections, securing a greater share of votes in each effort while representing the Socialist Party of Chile which was co-founded by him in 1933 ( ). The presence of the CIA in Chile resumed so long as a socialist candidate participated in elections throughout the Cold War, which brought the Monroe doctrine to the forefront of American foreign policy. Through financial means, the CIA became invested in opposing Salvador Allende’s efforts by setting up a campaign to hinder his …show more content…
Nonetheless, the CIA planned two different routes it could act upon to disrupt Allende’s leadership. The first plan of action named “Track 1” was to block Allende from taking office on September 4th organized through a politically motivated course to urge collaborating congressional politicians part of the CDP to block Allende through a vote in Congress ( ). “Track 2” was an effort to by the CIA to financially orchestrate a coup through a military intervention created from internal pressure and collaboration of the military and elite members of society by bringing about instability through economic, political, and social unrest ( ). These two different paths played out consecutively as the CIA became increasingly anxious to do whatever possible to impede Allende from becoming president. However, on September 4th, 1970, Salvador Allende won through a minor plurality receiving only 1% more than his opponent who was backed by the CIA and was former conservative president, Jorge Alessandri ( ). With no candidates receiving 50% of votes to gain majority, the election was sent to Congress for a vote to elect a president where Allende received support from the CDP which ignored the plea from the CIA to vote against the socialist candidate ( ). Track 1 had been disbanded by the CIA once it became apparent that the CDP would vote in favor of