Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American Cold War

ALLENDE’S CHILE
and the Inter-American Cold War

The New Cold War History
Odd Arne Westad, editor

Tanya Harmer

The University of North Carolina Press

CHAPEL HILL

© 2011 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved

Set in Arnhem & Franklin Gothic

Manufactured in the United States of America

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.

15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harmer, Tanya.
    Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American
         Cold War / Tanya Harmer.
    p. cm.—(The new Cold War history)
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    ISBN 978-0-8078-3495-4 (hardback)

1. Latin America—Politics and government—1948–1980. 2. United States—Foreign relations—Latin America. 3. Latin America—Foreign relations—United States. 4. United States—Foreign relations—1945–1989. 5. Chile—Foreign relations—1970–1973. 6.Cuba—Foreign relations—1959–1990. 7. Brazil—Foreign relations—1964–1985. 1. Title.

F1414.2.H317 2011

980.03—dc22                2011011686

To my parents, Anita and Jeremy

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Ideals: Castro, Allende, Nixon, and the Inter-American Cold War

2 Upheaval: An Election in Chile, September–November 1970

3 Rebellion: In Pursuit of Radical Transformation, November 1970–July 1971

4 Disputes: Copper,
Compañeros
, and Counterrevolution, July–December 1971

5 Battle Lines: Détente Unmasked, January–October 1972

6 Crossroads: Incomprehension and Dead Ends, November 1972–July 1973

7 Cataclysm: The Chilean Coup and Its Fallout

Conclusion

A Note on Sources

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Chile
xviii

Downtown Santiago
224

Salvador Allende in Cuba
37

Cuban DGLN officers in Chile
68

Emílio Garrastazu Médici and Richard Nixon in Washington
131

La Tribuna
, 11 November 1971
137

Salvador Allende at the United Nations General Assembly
196

Salvador Allende in Moscow
198

Castro and Salvador Allende in Cuba
201

Cuban-Chilean strategy meeting in Havana
235

I am indebted to many people for their support and guidance during the many years that I have been researching and writing this book. First, I owe an enormous debt to Arne Westad—my graduate teacher, doctoral supervisor, mentor, and friend. His inspiration, warm encouragement, energy, and enthusiasm for history and learning have been invaluable to me. As a student and now a lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE), I have also been incredibly fortunate to benefit from the exciting intellectual, research, and teaching environment of the International History Department, the LSE’s Centre for Diplomacy and Strategy, LSE IDEAS, Arne Westad’s Wednesday afternoon Cold War Research Seminar, and the LSE’s Latin America Research Seminar. Within this context, my particular thanks go to Nigel Ashton, Antony Best, Jeff Byrne, Steve Casey, Vesselin Dimitrov, Arne Hofmann, Artemy Kalinovsky, Ed Packard, George Philip, Kristina Spohr-Readman, Thomas Field, Victor Figueroa Clark, and Erica Wald, all of whom at one point or another read earlier portions of the book and offered helpful comments. I am also enormously grateful to Anita Prazmowska for helping me locate Polish documents that are referred to in this book while on sabbatical and then for spending hours translating them for me over coffee and baklava. The same goes for my former graduate student at the LSE, Laura Wiesen, who translated East German materials for me with great enthusiasm and professionalism. Without a doubt, the contents of this book are far richer as a result of the support and inspiration that the LSE has provided me with since I first arrived there as a rather nervous graduate student in 2001.

Beyond the LSE, I am profoundly grateful to Piero Gleijeses and to Jim Hershberg, who took the time to read the manuscript version of the book. Not only did they express interest and faith in the project, but they also offered detailed comments and insightful suggestions, which I have done my best to incorporate into the final version. Alfredo Riquelme, Joaquín Fermandois, and Fernando Purcell at the Pontificia Universidad Católica (PUC) in Chile have also been incredibly supportive. For their advice and interest in my research, their collaboration in the LSE IDEAS Latin America International Affairs Programme, and their invitation to Chile during the spring of 2010, my thanks. Over the course of my research trips to Chile, I have also been warmly welcomed at Chile’s Foreign Ministry Archives and assisted by its staff. My thanks therefore go to those who helped make my visits there so fruitful, and particularly to the archive’s director, Carmen Gloria Duhart. In Cuba, the process of research is as complicated as it is exciting, and it would have been far more daunting without the support and guidance of Antoni Kapcia, Hal Klepak, and members of the Cuba Research Forum based at the University of Nottingham and the University of Havana. For their help in obtaining the right visa, introducing me to the right people, and providing a welcoming environment to discuss research in Cuba, I am greatly indebted. In Havana, my thanks go to Jorge Hernández and Luis René Fernández at the Centro de Estudios Sobre los Estados Unidos at the University of Havana, the staff at Casa Memorial Salvador Allende, and Carlos Alzugaray at the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales. I am also grateful to others working on Latin American and U.S. history with whom I have enjoyed stimulating conversations and from whom I have received invaluable feedback and support, not least Andrew Preston, Jim Siekmeier, Vanni Pettina, Andy Kirkendall, Alessandro Santoni, Olga Ulianova, Eugenia Palieraki, Matias Spektor, Hal Brands, Andy Scott, and Kristian Gustafson. Over the years, I have also been pushed forward by the many insightful comments and questions about my research at various conferences and seminars in the United Kingdom, Chile, Italy, France, and the United States. To those who were there and whom I have not mentioned in person, thank you. For their help in the final stages of the writing process, I am also enormously grateful to Charles Grench, Beth Lassiter, Brian MacDonald, and Ron Maner at the University of North Carolina Press, and to Michael Taber, who took the time to help me improve the manuscript. Needless to say, any errors or mistakes that follow are entirely my own.

The research and years I have dedicated to this project would simply not have been possible without the generous financial assistance I received as a doctoral student from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the International History Department at the LSE, and the University of London’s Central Research Fund. In particular, the AHRC’s doctoral scholarship and Study Abroad Grant allowed me to kick-start the project by funding extended research trips to Washington, Santiago, Brasilia, and Havana in 2004. The University of London’s Central Research Fund and the International History department’s travel bursaries and staff research fund then provided me with funds to return to Washington, Cuba, and Chile over the course of the next six years to conduct further archival research and interviews. I am also grateful to the Institute of History at the PUC in Chile for having paid for my travel to and living expenses in Santiago over the course of my stay there as a visiting professor in 2010.

Last but by no means least, I would like to say a special thanks to my friends outside of the world of academia and to members of my family, who either read bits of the book, gave me their heartfelt support over the years, or both. Words are not enough to express the gratitude I feel toward them, and I would certainly not be where I am now without them. I would especially like to thank my sister Jessy, Mark and Claire Plumb, Katie Plumb and Ian Jasper, Lindsay Evans, Kate Annand, Erin O’Connor, Javier Urrutia Denicola, Frederico Matos, the girls from 45 Ash Grove, and Tom Newman. Most of all, however, I would like to thank my parents, Anita and Jeremy, who not only endured the worst of a lengthy writing process with me but also made the best of it possible by opening my eyes to the world, encouraging me to discover it, and offering me love and support along the way.

AID

Agency for International Development, Department of State, United States

ARA

Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Department of State, United States (The abbreviation is based on the bureau’s earlier name, Office of American Republic Affairs.)

CIA

Central Intelligence Agency, United States

CODE

Confederación Democrática (Democratic Confederation), Chile

COMECON

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

DGLN

Departamento General de Liberación Nacional (General National Liberation Department), Ministry of the Interior, Cuba

DIA

Defense Intelligence Agency, United States

ELN

Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army), Bolivia, Chile

ENU

Escuela Nacional Unificada (Unified National School System), Chile

ERP

Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (Revolutionary Army of the People), Argentina

Eximbank

Export-Import Bank, United States

G77

Group of 77

GAP

Grupo de Amigos Personales (Group of Personal Friends)

GOC

Government of Chile

IBRD

International Bank of Reconstruction and Development

IDB

Inter-American Development Bank

INR

Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State, United States

IPC

International Petroleum Company

ITT

International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation

JCR

Junta Coordinadora Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Coordinating Junta)

MAPU

Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitario (Movement of Popular Unitary Action), Chile

MINREX

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Foreign Ministry), Cuba

MIR

Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (Movement of the Revolutionary Left), Chile

NSC

National Security Council, United States

NSDM

National Security Decision Memorandum

NSSM

National Security Study Memorandum

OAS

Organization of American States

OLAS

Organización Latinoamericana de Solidaridad (Organization of Latin American Solidarity)

PCCh

Partido Comunista de Chile (Chilean Communist Party)

PDC

Partido Demócrata Cristiano (Christian Democrat Party), Chile

PN

Partido Nacional (National Party), Chile

PS

Partido Socialista (Socialist Party), Chile

SRG

Senior Review Group, National Security Council, United States

UNCTAD

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UP

Unidad Popular (Popular Unity), Chile

USG

United States Government