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[00:00:35] We now rejoin Bringing Light Into Darkness episode on Chile and the 9-11 1973 coup.
[00:00:44] Enjoy!
[00:00:45] So before we return to the discussion of the 1973 coup, I wanted to finish up a more
[00:00:53] current evaluation of Chile with one more article.
[00:00:56] This one was written this year, April 21st 2023.
[00:01:01] It was in the Financial Times.
[00:01:04] Chile's President moves to bring Lithium under state control was the name of the
[00:01:10] article.
[00:01:11] And again we're talking about the new President Gabriel Boric promising to impose stricter
[00:01:17] environmental rules connected to Lithium.
[00:01:21] He unveiled plans according to this article to bring the Lithium industry under state control.
[00:01:27] It apparently, that is Chile, is the world's second largest producer of this metal which
[00:01:33] is crucial to electric car batteries.
[00:01:36] Chile is also among a number of nations and the latest in a series of countries seeking
[00:01:43] greater control over key mineral resources.
[00:01:48] After Mexico nationalized its Lithium industry last year in Zimbabwe banned unprocessed Lithium
[00:01:55] exports.
[00:01:57] Indonesia is curbing exports of commodities including nickel which is used in batteries.
[00:02:04] So I think this is very instructive.
[00:02:06] These developing countries that are traditionally been penetrated by multinational investment
[00:02:13] are learning that this neoliberalism of allowing other countries to pilfer their own resources
[00:02:22] has to come to an end if they're going to have any chance of having a successful economy
[00:02:27] for their own people.
[00:02:29] President Boric, his proposal, it falls short of full nationalization.
[00:02:34] Instead, it envisions a majority state-owned partnerships with private companies for the
[00:02:40] exploration and production of Lithium deposits.
[00:02:44] The article goes on to indicate that Chile's Lithium deposits are located in salt flats
[00:02:49] and its existing production in the Atacama region comes from evaporating brine, a highly
[00:02:57] water-intensive process in a country that suffers droughts.
[00:03:02] So President Boric said future projects would only move ahead after consultations
[00:03:08] with local communities and should use new technologies that minimize water consumption.
[00:03:14] This is the environmental concern that they are prioritizing apparently now.
[00:03:19] A quote, these salt flats are not just Lithium, he said.
[00:03:23] They are people.
[00:03:24] They are communities.
[00:03:26] They are water in the desert.
[00:03:27] They are the home of cultures thousands of years old.
[00:03:31] Meanwhile, Chile is the world's biggest copper producer and has the world's largest
[00:03:36] proven reserves of Lithium.
[00:03:37] But apparently there is still work to be done in order to exploit those minerals and resources
[00:03:46] in an environmentally safe way.
[00:03:49] So that's a little bit about the current affairs in Chile as we speak.
[00:03:54] And for the balance of the show, we wanted to turn our attention to the coup of 1973-911
[00:04:04] that I believe is really important to understand because it really points to the arrogance of
[00:04:11] U.S. foreign policy in the sense of how we penetrate the civil society sectors and the
[00:04:18] economic sectors of all of these nations that we wish to control their political
[00:04:24] and economic destiny, meaning at the same time allowing U.S.
[00:04:30] investment to be unencumbered by environmental laws and high labor costs, etc.
[00:04:37] So think about what that means for a second.
[00:04:40] If we promote countries that respect democratic rights and protect workers' interests
[00:04:46] and provide them with safe working conditions and good wages that can support a family,
[00:04:52] that's less profiteering potential for investment capital.
[00:04:56] But if you can pay people pennies on the dollar for their labor like in Haiti and so many other places,
[00:05:02] then it makes sense from an economic perspective, a corporate economic perspective,
[00:05:08] to support the most repressive types of governments that pay their workers the least amount of money
[00:05:13] and don't provide them the basic needs that dignity demands.
[00:05:17] And therein lies why we were so vehemently opposed to Salvador Allende coming to power
[00:05:23] or any progressive candidate that would prioritize the majority populations,
[00:05:29] economic health and educational welfare above anything else.
[00:05:34] And so this is really a story of to what extent we clandestinely penetrate all of these sectors
[00:05:42] that we will detail shortly in order to make sure it is us that determine who comes to power
[00:05:48] and who doesn't in order to make sure that we control the investment climate
[00:05:54] for these big multinational corporations.
[00:05:57] And this is the root of all wealth inequality, the wealth that's generated and disproportionately where it goes.
[00:06:04] And as we said at the beginning of the show,
[00:06:07] the relationship between the CIA and multinational corporations and U.S. foreign policy,
[00:06:14] it reflects an interlocking and a overlapping nature of corporate and government involvement in these nations,
[00:06:23] in this case Chile, that allows U.S. corporations to dominate key sectors of national economies
[00:06:31] that they invest in.
[00:06:32] So I was just shocked by how the CIA had penetrated virtually every sector of Chilean life throughout the society.
[00:06:41] The book CIA file edited by Robert L. Borsage and John Marx, 1976,
[00:06:49] they have a very detailed chapter on Chile called destabilizing Chile, which would be instructive to read.
[00:06:57] And when it came to Chile, probably the most trustworthy resource when you're trying to study that history
[00:07:05] since you can Google Chile and get all of these different takes on what happened,
[00:07:11] the fact is there's only one truth.
[00:07:12] And the National Security Archive is a repository of all of these memos and state department reports
[00:07:22] that slowly come out and get declassified over time.
[00:07:26] And in one of them, the Chile 1964 CIA covert support in the Frey election detailed,
[00:07:33] Frey F.R.E.I. was a, I believe, a Christian Democratic presidential candidate
[00:07:39] that received all sorts of monies from the CIA.
[00:07:42] And the sourcing for that claim we will provide shortly,
[00:07:46] as well as the monetary amounts given to this Christian Democratic political party in Chile.
[00:07:52] And their main interest was what?
[00:07:54] Was to make sure that Allende never came to power.
[00:07:58] In the United States opposition to Allende, it didn't start just around 1970 when he was elected president.
[00:08:06] It started several years before he was elected president of Chile.
[00:08:10] Declassified documents show that from 1962 through 1964,
[00:08:16] the CIA spent $3 million in anti Allende propaganda
[00:08:21] to, quote, scare voters away from Allende's frappe coalition end quote.
[00:08:26] And then they spent a total of $2.6 million to finance the presidential campaign of Eduardo Frey.
[00:08:33] The source again for these numbers in 62 and 64 is Chile 1964 CIA covert support in Frey election detailed.
[00:08:45] This is the National Security Archive that was documents retrieved June 25, 2015.
[00:08:52] Another was the memorandum for the 303 committee final report March 1969 Chilean congressional election,
[00:09:01] which was a U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian document that was also retrieved by the NSA on June 26, 2015.
[00:09:13] Meanwhile, we in the United States have laws that disallow another nation from actively seeking to influence
[00:09:21] the internal politics, political processes such as media influence, infiltration of trade unions,
[00:09:29] funding or otherwise seeking to influence political parties and the politics of our nation.
[00:09:36] In fact, any action that disaffects or seeks to influence the sovereign choices and actions that make up the moving parts of our democracy
[00:09:45] are illegal to tamper with and can be prosecuted accordingly.
[00:09:49] Yet monies were approved and allotted to the following forces in Chile in the 1970 election and before that we're opposing the election of Salvador Allende.
[00:10:03] And then when that failed and following the democratically elected government of the Salvador Allende electoral victory,
[00:10:10] monies continue to pour in to these civil sectors.
[00:10:14] This is a story in which you will learn what went on behind the scenes not being reported by mainstream media.
[00:10:20] It includes efforts in direction headed by the National Security Council director at the time,
[00:10:27] Henry Kissinger, who was in charge of U.S. plans to prevent Allende's ascendancy to the president or failing that if he did become president,
[00:10:38] which he did then destabilizing his regime until a military coup could overthrow him.
[00:10:45] This governmental agency that Henry Kissinger was running and in charge of was called the Committee of Forty.
[00:10:53] It was a watchdog body to oversee covert operations.
[00:10:58] It was a semi clandestine body of which Henry Kissinger was the chairman between 1969 and 1976
[00:11:06] and maintain the ultimate supervision over U.S. covert actions overseas during this period.
[00:11:13] The CIA was originally set up by President Truman, but in Eisenhower's first term it was felt necessary to establish
[00:11:20] a monitoring or watchdog body to oversee covert operations.
[00:11:25] So again, according to the Ocean Press book Chile, the other September 11th that was published in 2003,
[00:11:34] it was Kissinger that was in charge of U.S. plans to prevent Allende's ascendancy to the presidency
[00:11:41] or failing that to stabilizing his regime until that military coup could overthrow him.
[00:11:45] In fact, in June 1970, John McCone, a former CIA director and at that time a consultant to the CIA
[00:11:55] and a director of international telephone and telegraph, IT&T.
[00:11:59] IT&T made a financial killing of phone service in Chile and the last thing they wanted to see
[00:12:06] was Allende come to power who would certainly challenge that cozy relationship.
[00:12:11] They subsequently held a number of conversations regarding Chile with CIA director at the time,
[00:12:18] Richard Helms.
[00:12:19] In fact, it was Helms notes that were declassified but in his notes his prophecy and his notes say
[00:12:28] that an economic squeeze on Chile will cause its economy to scream.
[00:12:34] That was the policy and that's the policy today that we use in other nations
[00:12:41] to try to change their politics.
[00:12:42] If we don't like their politics through sanctions and through other means,
[00:12:48] we will seek to make their economy scream.
[00:12:50] According to the chronology Chile 1970 to 1973 by James Cockroft and Jane Canning in the book
[00:13:01] already mentioned Chile, the other September 11, the Ocean Press 2003 book.
[00:13:07] Listen to these expenditures.
[00:13:09] June 27, 1970 the Committee of 40 approves money for additional anti Allende propaganda
[00:13:17] operations to the tune of $300,000.
[00:13:21] On September 8 and September 14, 1970 the Committee of 40 approves $250,000 for the
[00:13:30] ambassador at the time.
[00:13:32] The Committee of 40 approves $25,000 for support of Christian Democratic candidates.
[00:13:41] Here we are paying for and influencing the political party within Chile that opposes Allende.
[00:13:48] January 28, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves 1.4 million votes for the
[00:13:55] purchase of radio stations and newspapers and to support municipal candidates and other political
[00:14:03] activities of anti Allende parties.
[00:14:06] March 22, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves another 300,000 for the purchase of radio
[00:14:15] stations and newspapers and to support municipal candidates and other political
[00:14:21] parties.
[00:14:23] The Committee of 40 approves another 300,000 for additional support for Christian Democratic
[00:14:29] party.
[00:14:31] May 10, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves $77,000 for the purchase of a press for the
[00:14:39] Christian Democratic Party newspaper.
[00:14:41] The press apparently is not obtained and the funds are used to support the paper.
[00:14:46] July 19, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves $100,000 for emergency aid to the Christian Democratic
[00:14:53] party to meet short-term debts.
[00:14:56] May 26, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves $150,000 additional aid to the Christian Democratic
[00:15:05] party to meet debts.
[00:15:07] July 6, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves support for the opposition candidates in a
[00:15:15] Chilean by-election to the tune of $150,000.
[00:15:20] March 22, 1971 the Committee of 40 approves additional support for the Christian Democratic
[00:15:27] party of $300,000.
[00:15:30] But political parties was not the only arena that we were penetrating and manipulating
[00:15:37] within the Chilean civil and political landscape.
[00:15:41] The CIA had penetrated virtually every sector of Chilean life throughout the society.
[00:15:47] In cooperation with and often undercover supplied by the AFL-CIO, the CIA had infiltrated the
[00:15:54] labor movement.
[00:15:56] This according to the CIA file book we referred to earlier, look what happens here.
[00:16:02] The most powerful U.S. labor union, the AFL-CIO ostensibly created to support and advocate
[00:16:10] for workers' rights instead reveals its real loyalty to big business interests rather than
[00:16:18] an over workers' interests.
[00:16:20] Again, to be clear, the U.S. most prestigious labor union international organization, the
[00:16:28] AFL-CIO is complicit here in infiltrating and stunting workers' rights to fight the
[00:16:36] decades of gross exploitation that has allowed huge profits to be drained from the Chilean
[00:16:42] country into big corporate accounts while they, the Chilean majority population, are
[00:16:49] left with an insurmountable national debt.
[00:16:52] This is criminal and as you dig deeper it reveals an evolution of criminality in
[00:16:57] which labor unions have been bought off to exploit workers in other countries and if they
[00:17:03] are bought off there what makes you think that they're not bought off here in our own
[00:17:08] country but that's a story for another day.
[00:17:10] But in the summer of 1972, again this is from the CIA file, the organizers of the
[00:17:18] Confederation of Truck Owners strike also received CIA money in order to allow them
[00:17:24] to pay strike benefits during a 26-day nationwide truck strike.
[00:17:28] Our CIA was paying this Confederation of Truck Owners union through the AFL-CIO
[00:17:36] monies to maintain a paralyzing strike against the Allende government in 1972.
[00:17:44] All part of this larger strategy to make the economy scream.
[00:17:49] Other funds went into support of the strikes and demonstrations that plagued the Allende
[00:17:54] regime. 188 leaders of the White Collar Trade Association received training in the
[00:18:02] United States from the AIFLD, the American Institute of Free Labor Development.
[00:18:10] This is an agency that according to former CIA agent Philip Agee was set up by the
[00:18:17] AFL-CIO under the control of the CIA. Again this is sourced from the CIA file.
[00:18:25] Quote, agency operators had bought their way into the local press.
[00:18:31] The country's largest paper, El Mercurio, was a regular recipient of CIA funds
[00:18:37] according to the CIA file. In addition to paying $25,000, this according to
[00:18:43] William Colby, a former CIA director to help an individual purchase a radio station,
[00:18:49] the CIA spent large sums on El Mercurio, the shrill conservative daily that openly
[00:18:56] advocated insurrection against the Allende government. El Mercurio was
[00:19:02] financed because according to Colby it was the only serious political force among
[00:19:08] newspapers and television stations there. Additional monies went to the Chilean
[00:19:15] military and police services through CIA operatives. In Chile, as in Brazil, these
[00:19:21] right-wing think tanks were established to distribute propaganda, organize
[00:19:27] paramilitary units, coordinate intelligence, and train demonstrators and saboteurs.
[00:19:33] In Chile, as in Brazil, massive amounts of money poured into the country to support
[00:19:39] strikes, demonstrations, and other anti-government activities. Again, the CIA file.
[00:19:46] And just to end this segment, again from the CIA file, quote,
[00:19:52] this permanent intervention in local politics in Chile had become a fact
[00:19:58] of life in Chile and was not insignificant.
[00:20:02] CIA operative Philip A.G., in his book, Inside the Company, described how a smaller
[00:20:09] CIA contingent in Ecuador operating on a budget of less than a million dollars
[00:20:15] annually was able to penetrate without great effort every major political party,
[00:20:21] the police, the military, the cabinet, the media, and the trade unions in that
[00:20:27] country, end quote. This was all supplemented by significant monetary expenditures
[00:20:33] to influence these various sectors within civil and military sectors of Chile.
[00:20:39] A program was created in order, in the words of the authors of the CIA file,
[00:20:45] to make it impossible for Allende to govern. This is really instructive
[00:20:50] because this is what goes on behind the backs of our knowledge in all of these countries
[00:20:57] that we seek to influence with our foreign policy interventions.
[00:21:02] This is the formula plan that has been replicated time and time again,
[00:21:07] both before and after the Allende government was so blatantly targeted.
[00:21:12] Imagine that a democratically elected government elected despite the subversive acts
[00:21:18] orchestrated and funded through the United States government to prohibit its electoral success.
[00:21:24] And despite all that U.S.-funded and orchestrated policy of trampling on democratic principles
[00:21:31] to subvert the democratic will of the Chileans, Allende and his platform
[00:21:37] still elected the power. You would hope the subversion would cease,
[00:21:41] yet the subversion and trampling of sovereignty continued.
[00:21:46] Since Uncle Sam did not get his desired outcome, he continued his criminal behavior
[00:21:51] until three years later it culminated in a coup that resulted in the death of Allende
[00:21:57] and thousands of deaths and disappearances followed that coup.
[00:22:03] And lastly, let me just make this comment about Make the Economy Scream.
[00:22:07] By 1970, according to the CIA file pages 79 and 80, you can check it out,
[00:22:15] loans by government controlled financial institutions, for example,
[00:22:21] the Agency for International Development, which of course is a state department entity,
[00:22:28] but also the Export-Import Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank,
[00:22:33] the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank had given Chile the highest per capita foreign debt in the world.
[00:22:42] Meanwhile, Anaconda Copper and IT&T contributed money to Allende's opponents
[00:22:49] and in the summer of 1970, IT&T offered the CIA $1 million to help prevent Allende's election.
[00:22:59] That offer was conveyed by John McCown, a member of the IT&T's board of directors,
[00:23:05] formerly the head of the CIA and still on the roll as a CIA consultant.
[00:23:11] This is how you make the economy scream.
[00:23:14] You control or have disproportionate influence in international lending
[00:23:21] and the conditions that can be denied or otherwise compromised.
[00:23:26] And at the end of the day, what wasn't used there so much in that period,
[00:23:30] but is used more now are sanctions, ways to make the economy scream.
[00:23:36] So this is why this history of all of these different ways
[00:23:40] in which the Chilean economy was controlled by U.S. interests,
[00:23:46] whether it was newspapers, whether it was other media, the penetration of labor,
[00:23:52] whether it was trying to influence and political party participation,
[00:23:57] whether it was paying trucker strikes.
[00:23:59] All of these things that if anyone did it in our country would be a crime
[00:24:03] that they would be absolutely prosecuted for.
[00:24:06] We do routinely and did routinely in Chile and Lord knows where else today.
[00:24:12] See you next week.