CHILE: Pinochet and the US

The visit of Madeleine Albright to Chile highlighted the disagreement between the State Department and the CIA over whether the documents on the role of the CIA in the overthrow of Allende should be made public. WAISers who have worked in government disagree as to whether Albright herself would have access to them. In any case, this was a sore point with the backers of Allende, who thought the worst.

The Armed Forces justified the intervention of the CIA, but they were angered when it was revealed that the CIA had planned to replace Pinochet with someone else in response to criticisms of his brutality. The CIA and therefore the US were viewed askance by both the left and hr right.

There were reasonable fears that, in response to the Pinochet trial, the Armed Forces might be tempted to stage another coup. President Lagos was very diplomatic in trying to appease them. As usual, they were demanding funds and equipment which they did not need, even though the armed forces of Argentina, Peru and Bolivia are presented as threat justifying the acquisition of late-model military equipment, including jet planes. The US must shared the blame for this unnecessary expense, since its manufacturers of this equipment pressure Chile, with the help of the US government, to purchase it.

The real enemy of Chile is the poverty of the masses and nature. It is not generally realized that Chile is the country most exposed to earthquakes, more than Japan. The most devastating earthquakes in history occurred in Chile in 1960. Whole towns were flattened. Ironically. is occurred on Iquique Day, a national holiday celebrating the taking of that northern city in the War of the Pacific (1879-83) against Peru and Bolivia, They are days of mourning in Peru and especially Bolivia, which celebrates the Day of the Sea to keep alive the resentment of the Bolivian people over their loss of their strip of the Pacific Coast. Such hatreds die slowly.

Ronald Hilton - 8/24/00