Speaker blames U.S.
for Chilean turmoil
By HEATHER McCLENAGHAN
Of the Emerald
American corporations and the
United States government
learned how to deal with re
volutionary governments in Latin
America for the first time with their
successful overthrow of Chile’s
democratically-elected socialist
government in 1973.
Edward Boorstein, author,
economist and former adviser to
Chilean Pres. Salvador Allende,
said American economic sabot
age and domestic subversion
throughout Allende’s three years
in office eventually toppled the
Popular Unity government.
This tactic allowed the United
States to keep its public image
unbloodied by eliminating the
need for direct military involve
ment, Boorstein said.
Boorstein will be speaking at
the University through Friday. He
will discuss “The Struggle for
Chile — A First Hand Analysis” at
8 p.m. Thursday and ‘The Cuban
Revolution — Where It’s Come
*. i" "''i "i •mitrnmmmKKKQ
From and Where It's Going” at 8
p.m. Friday. Both lectures are
scheduled for the EMU Forum
room.
While working for the Allende
government, Boorstein saw his
friends and co-workers "cleverly
undermined by the United States
government’s invisibility.”
"Essentially what the U.S. die
was very simple,” Boorstein said.
"The CIA built up an organization
that could be used to overthrow
Allende's government. They
penetrated all strata of Chilean
society — trade associations,
political parties — and it wasn't
just the CIA. American military at
taches, state department workers,
they all set about trying to produce
economic and military chaos in
Chile. Their stated goals were to
bring about the proper moral and
psychic environment for a coup.’”
Boorstein said well
orchestrated plans were drawn up
in advance of Allende's inaugura
tion for the eventual violent over
throw that resulted in executions,
tortures and mass arrests of
Edward Boorstein
WRING OUT THE OLD
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countless Chileans. Boorstein
cited Senate investigation com
mittee evidence, information from
the infamous ITT papers, gov
ernment documents and his own
experience in Chile as proof of
U S. involvement.
Boorstein said Richard Nixon
ordered CIA chief Richard Helms
to make sure Allende would not
see his inauguration. When a CIA
scheme failed and Allende came
to power, the United States put its
intelligence network into opera
tion.
Boorstein said a run on banks
was organized by CIA personnel
who told Chileans to withdraw
their funds from accounts “before
that Marxist gets in."
Meanwhile, American business
interests who supplied Chile with
needed goods were advised to
"drag their feet' by William Broe,
head of the CIA s clandestine ser
vices division.
These pressures combined
with a CIA financed truckers’
strike in October 1972 would have
paralyzed the Chilean economy if
workers had not stood firm, Boors
tein said.
But the damage done to the
I
country’s economy was irreversi
ble. Inflation rose to more than
300 per cent and a shortage of
essential products set in. A large
black market prospered making
fresh meat and vegetables avail
able only to the wealthiest
Chileans.
Despite the foreign blackmail,
Boorstein said, March congres
sional elections gave Allende's
Popular Unity Party 44 per cent of
the vote — eight per cent more
than Allende received when he
was elected three years before.
After the elections the American
interests knew a coup was their
only hope for control, Boorstein
said. From that point on, he said
Photos by Perry Gaskill
there was no peace in Chile.
In a book to be published in
June, “Allende’s Chile: An Inside
View,” Boorstein traces his first
hand recollections of the final
months, days and hours of
Allende’s government.
‘ Revolutions teach,” Boorstein
said. “They telescope events that
otherwise would take decades to
work out. During a revolution, the
different classes pull pistols out of
their holsters — you find out very
quickly where people stand. The
Chilean revolution was unique in
that it was the first
democratically-elected socialist
government to come to power.”
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