CHILE: PLOT AGAINST ALLENDE STOPPED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300220008-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: April 19, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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By Stephen Torgoff
-Quick action on the part of Chilean revolutionary forces
has exposed and stopped a plot to overthrow the Popular
Unity government.
Documents detailing the conspirators' plans have now
been published in the Chilean press. Commentators assert
that the main plotters remain at large and that the planned
coup has been only postponed, not cancelled.
At 1:30 a.m. on March 25 five army units were to
"arrest" Allende and seize the streets of Santiago. The
refusal by the government to allow a rightist march earlier
that evening helped force the postponement of the
military insurrection.
A similar "March for Democracy" was planned for
April 12 by the rightist parties.
The march will take place in a climate created by
national and international incidents indicating what the
left press in Chile calls a "pincer movement" to encircle
the country. They include:
- The plot itself, which may implicate the entire rightist
opposition.
- A series of armed confrontations in the streets involving
ultra-right paramilitary groups.
- U.S. attempts to sabotage Chile's renegotiation of its
foreign debt.
- U.S. involvement, now confirmed through columnist
Jack Anderson, in attempts to wreck the Chilean economy
and promote a military uprising.
- Manufacture by the rightist opposition within the
Chilean legislature of the basis for a "legal-.coup" through
Allende's impeachment in the midst of a "constitutional
crisis."
- An international press campaign accusing the UP of
conspiring against neighboring governments. This cam-
-paign has been coordinated by the Inter-American Press
Society, widely believed to be a CIA organ.
AMR uncovers plot
The planned coup d'etat was uncovered by the
Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), which later
released to the press secret documents written by the
plotters: The conspirators reportedly met four times in
March in a mansion outside Santiago and in parked cars.
In attendance at the first meeting were representatives of
the fascist "Fatherland and Liberty" group, the ultra-right
National party and upper-echelon army officers, retired
and active duty, believed to belong to right-wing cliques
within the army. Also involved were a representative from
the newspaper "Mercurio," often referred to as the
Chilean New.York Times, and several shadowy figures
who kept their identity hidden. In another meeting.
leading members of the Christian Democratic party (PDC)
openly participated, including the chairman of the, Senate
and ex'PDC President Eduardo Frei 's Minister of Finance.
This conspiracy further exposes the alliance of the
"liberal" Christian Democrats with the openly fascist right
and with armed groups receiving U.S. support.
The plan was to create a climate of crisis and chaos,
stirred by bloody incidents, in which the army would be
"forced" to
. intervene. ~un~mij?
street incidents sin~~RQQr
armed rightist youths attempted to attack the presidential
palace in downtown Santiago. Leftist youth armed with
clubs and stones fought them back, until police in. U C'- XJ `
tervened. On March 24, a repetition of last December's
";March of the Empty Pots" was scheduled. This so-called
"march of women" against the Allende government was to
end, as did the last march, in street attacks by armed
rightist bands, who would have gone on to create a night of
terror. Finally, five army units were to be moved into
action.
Tanks and armored vehicles were to surround the
presidential palace, the president's residence, and the jail
which holds General Robert Viaux, leader of the failed
1969 coup attempt, linked by Jack Anderson to the CIA. /
After Allende was to have been taken prisoner and Viaux
freed, all units were to be dispatched to take and control
the streets of Santiago, while leading leftists and all
communication centers were seized.
One retired general and two junior officers have been
arrested in conjunction with the plot. The leader of
"Fatherland and Liberty," briefly in custody, was ,released
on less than $84 bail by the courts.
At the last minute the government banned the "March
of Women" to remove opportunities for provocation. On
the day before the plot's scheduled culmination, 180,000
workers mobilized by the Central Labor Organization
iCUTI filled the streets of Santiago to stop rightist con-
spiracv and support the government.
Plot 'only postponed'
The publication of the conspirators' documents is
believed to have deeply embarrassed some "respectable"
figures implicated in the plot. However, the largest pro-
guternment newspaper, Clarin, has asserted that the plan
has been only postponed. not cancelled. The Christian
Democrats have made a third bid for a mass march on
April 12, now to be called "March for Democracy."
The PDC's proposed route passes the newly constructed
building for the- upcoming conference of the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNC-
TAD) named in the conspirators' documents as the site for
a bloody attack on traditional leftist construction workers,
who would be made to look responsible for the incident.
During the last rightist march, rioters attempted to burn
the building down but were beaten back by workers. The
scheduling and proposed route of this march have been
denounced as a deliberate provocation by the UP, and
although the PDC has been granted a permit, the
'government has announced that the route must be
changed.
Also last week, Chile's attempt to renegotiate its foreign
debt with 16 capitalist nations collectively known as the
Paris Club took a turn for the worse when the club, under
U.S. leadership, turned down Chile's offered payment
plan. Chile owes $3.8 billion, making it the second most
indebted nation in the world, and 60 per cent of that is
owed to the U.S. In 1971 debt repayment and interest took
35 percent of the Chile's export income - 20 percent is
arc the most se usually considered the highest bearable rate by most
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