Military Coup In Chile

Chile had been engulfed in an authoritarian period for years. This came to a halt in the 1960s, when social movements began to emerge prompting many to question existing social and political policies. The US had previously been involved in funding political campaigns, but relations turned sour in 1970. Salvador Allende won the presidency under the platform that more would be given to the citizens of Chile, as opposed to foreign investors. After becoming a socialist state, many of the reforms under the newly elected president began to loosen the American stronghold of the Chilean economy. In 1973, the US supported and aided a military coup that removed the democratically elected president. This leads to the question: why were the internal affairs
Although there was a 1 in 10 chance that Allende would get voted in to office, Nixon believed that to save Chile it was worth spending upwards to $10,000,000 (Helms 1970). Their plan was to “make the economy scream” by reducing the money flow into the country by major banks (Helms 1970). Additionally, they hoped a coup would successfully work in preventing Allende’s victory. Unfortunately, for the US, there was a three-way split between the parties running. This was a regular occurrence in Chilean politics, which led to congress taking a vote to decide who to appoint to the presidency. Salvador Allende’s election was surrounded with illegitimate claims, many claiming that the victory was not valid because Allende had not received the majority of the votes. Nevertheless, Allende was sworn into office on November 3, 1970. Wealthy landowners were afraid to get their land taken away. President Allende, who for years campaigned for social reforms to allow the economic gap to close, nationalized mines owned by Anaconda and Kennecott, US companies, in 1971 (Allende 1988). Previously, Latin American countries welcomed in foreign investors to help structure their economies, but built resentment because they were not benefiting from the
The US painted Allende as a threat to democracy and a potential foe. Chile aspired to be like communistic Cuba in the sense of being self-reliant through a revolution without an armed conflict. This target could not have come a worse time. The US was involved in the Cold War with the USSR. The end of WWII gave rise to a new world order, one full of uncertainty and doubt. As states began to rebuild themselves and set forth new policies to avoid another international catastrophe, a growing threat to American ideals began to grow behind the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union. The two superpowers began to battle it out for political influence. Communism was seen as a risk to the US’ democratic way of life. The US was already vigilant with its southern neighbors. Growing unrest and the implementation of reforms on economic policies put the US on edge. Throughout Latin America, countries had begun to move away from their usual American standards. In Nicaragua, the “Marxist regime allied to the Soviet Union and Cuba” was a constant danger (Falcoff 1987). US foreign policy in Latin America began to shift in a way that benefited the US through opening trade, lower tariffs and political allies. Knowing that countries needed to reconstruct themselves and were in grave need of economic assistance, the US manipulated the situation to