C H R O N O L O G Y
January 1961
March 1961
October 1963
The United States begins subsidizing Chile's
Christian Democratie Party (PDC).
Salvador Allende begins to deal with the KGB.
The United States publishes the first National
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) about Chile.
November 1963
John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson
beeomes president.
March 1964
The CIA begins its covert action program to prevent
Allende's electoral victory in the 1964 presidential
election.
Sept. 4, 1964
May 1968
Eduardo Frei wins the Chilean presidential eleetion.
The U.S. government decides to initiate a covert
operation to affect the 1969 congressional elections
in Chile.
January 1969
The United States publishes the second NIE about
Chile.
Jan. 20, 1969
Richard Milhous Nixon is inaugurated the thirtyseventh president of the United States.
v
i
:ii
HOSTILE
INTENT
March 1969 Chile holds congressional elections.
October 1969 Gen. Roberto Viaux leads Tacnazo revolt.
March 1970 The United States begins its spoiling operation
against Allende.
July 1970 The United States issues National Security Study
Memorandum 97 (NSSM 97).
August 1970 Track I begins.
Sept. 4, 1970 Allende wins a plurality in the Chilean presidential
election.
Sept. 15, 1970 The NSC takes control of planning covert operations
in Chile. Track II (Operation FU/BELT) begins.
Oct. 22, 1970 Gen. Rene Schneider is assassinated; he dies on
October 25.
Oct. 24, 1970 Allende is confirmed as president of Chile; he is
inaugurated on November 5.
November 1970 Raymond Warren replaces Henry Hecksher as COS
in Santiago.
Nov. 5, 1970 NSSM 97 is revised.
Nov. 9, 1970 National Security Decision Memorandum 93 is
issued.
Nov. 17, 1970 The United States begins a new covert action
program in Chile and continues to fund El Mercurio
January 1971 The United States authorizes support totaling $ 1.28
fr^r
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September 1971 Nathaniel Davis becomes the U.S. ambassador to
r h i i p
CHRONOLOGY
xiii
December 1971 Chileans stage the first major protest of the Allende
government, the March of the Empty Pots.
January 1972 Gen. Augusto Pinochet becomes the army chief of
staff. He later claims that this is when he begins
plotting against Allende.
March 1972 The International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT)
scandal breaks in Jack Anderson's syndicated
column The Washington Meny-Go-Round.
June 1972 The United States publishes tlie third NIE about Chile.
Aug. 1972 Chilean strikes begin.
Nov. 1972 Allende calls his first emergency military cabinet.
May 1973 The Chilean navy begins coup plotting in earnest.
June 28, 1973 The Chilean army's Second Armored Regiment
attempts a coup (El Tanquetazo) independently; it
fails.
July 15, 1973 The "Committee of 15" admirals and generals
decide to begin coup plotting.
Aug. 1973 Allende calls his second military cabinet. The CIA
starts issuing periodic warnings of a coup.
Aug. 7, 1973 The Chilean navy reveals a communist mutiny plot.
Aug. 23, 1973 Gen. Carlos Prats resigns. Pinochet becomes army
commander in chief and commits the army to the
coup.
Sept. 7, 1973 The coup plot, as it actually unfolded, is completed
and put into operation.
Sept. 8, 1973 The CIA receives its first hard intelligence on the
coup.
xiv
HOSTILE
INTENT
Sept. 11, 1973 Allende is overthrown.
Jan. 23, 1974 The Chilean Junta issues decree law 1899, banning
all political activity outright.
March 1974 The CIA stops funding the PDC.
INTRODUCTION:
THE CIA IN CHILE
No matter what we do it will probably end up
dismal.'
—Secretary of State William Rogers, commenting to
Kissinger about Chile, September 14, 1970
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the elected leader, Salvador Allende. This was not a palace eoup, but a
social upheaval of the first order, a shuddering spasm of violence and
frustration and cruelty, an event that left hundreds of bodies in its path.
The central act of the coup, the stonning of La Moneda, was a well-planned
attack, which proceeded almost perfectly. Yet it found the ultimate target
of the coup, Allende, already dead by suicide. It is a testimony to the
event's emotional power that, in our cruel world, it should still be consid
ered important in the United States despite happening in such an isolated
and distant land, so long ago. It makes more sense when one notes that the
American government had, without a doubt, a direct interest—and per
haps a role—in what went on that day.
Pivotal to this drama are the actions of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) and the orders it received from a series of U.S. administrations.
Over the course of more than ten years, the CIA produced propaganda,
manipulated the press, funded opposition groups, dealt with coup plotters
and rebellious amiy officers, funded strikes, and in many other ways made
life difficult for Allende, a proud Marxist, the first to gain power via the
ballot box during the Cold War era. Yet debates about the extent and
intent of U.S. government action in Chile remain. Did the Richard Nixon
administration, most notably, try to have Allende assassinated? Did the
1