Pinochet desclasificado: Los archivos secretos de Estados Unidos sobre Chile

by Peter Kornbluh

Días después del golpe militar en Chile, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Richard Nixon, y su asesor de Seguridad Nacional, Henry Kissinger, se felicitaron. “En tiempos de Eisenhower nos habrían tratado de héroes”, remarcó Kissinger.
La transcripción de esa conversación, que se mantuvo oculta por décadas es uno de los más de 25 mil documentos de Estados Unidos sobre Chile, desclasificados gracias al trabajo de más de 40 años del historiador estadounidense Peter Kornbluh. Apoyándose en archivos secretos de organismos como la CIA, el Departamento de Estado y el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, Kornbluh reconstruye en este libro cómo la Casa Blanca intentó impedir la asunción de Salvador Allende a la Presidencia, gracias al rol clave del empresario chileno Agustín Edwards Eastman. Y cómo el apoyo a la dictadura de Augusto Pinochet fue impulsado por Kissinger, cerebro de la intervención en Chile. Un respaldo que siguió incluso tras el atentado ordenado por Pinochet que asesinó a Orlando Letelier y a Ronni Moffitt en Washington, en 1976.
Los documentos revelan, además, cómo la Casa Blanca comenzó a alejarse del dictador en 1986, cuando el fotógrafo Rodrigo Rojas, a quien Kornbluh conoció de niño en Washington, fue quemado vivo por soldados chilenos. Y relata el quiebre de Estados Unidos con Pinochet en vísperas del plebiscito de 1988, cuando el general quiso activar un sangriento plan para desconocer su derrota.
A 50 años del golpe de 1973, esta edición actualizada con nuevos documentos constituye un registro histórico fundamental para entender la gran tragedia de la historia reciente de Chile.

“Difícil que exista otro estadounidense que haya hurgado con tanta perseverancia y rigor en reconstruir la intervención de Estados Unidos en Chile”.
Mónica González, Premio Nacional de Periodismo

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Latin American History, World History, American History, Historical

697 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive recounting of the crimes of Augusto Pinochet, military dictator of Chile from 1973 through 1990, and the United States' role in his regime. Kornbluh presents a damning mixture of declassified documents and analysis, demonstrating American meddling in Chilean elections dating back at least to 1961, when Kennedy decided to make the country a test case for his Alliance for Progress - which meant blocking Salvador Allende's progressive alliance and undermining Chilean democracy in the name of freedom. The utter callousness and naked criminality of American officials, from CIA chiefs Richard Helms and William Colby ("Make economy scream"), to various businessmen hoping to plunder post-coup Chile, to Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon's Cold War obsessions are striking; it's impossible to read this book and doubt that American intervention was instrumental in destroying Allende's government. Not that Pinochet is without blame or agency; as Kornbluh shows, despite massive American aid he became a loose cannon, unleashing death squads against dissenters at home and enemies abroad through Operation Condor, culminating in the murder of Orlando Letelier in Washington, DC. Accounts of torture, assassination and political chicanery make for painful reading, yet demonstrate a human cost beyond figures and abstract rhetoric. As a case study of amorality in American foreign policy the book's without peer, though it's valuable as well at showing how a reckless, evil client can exceed even the worst expectations.

[David Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife and I lived in Chile for three years arriving just a few months before the 40th anniversary of Augusto Pinochet’s September 11, 1973, military coup in Chile. I came to know many people who had family members that were tortured, murdered or disappeared. To this day many Chileans remain somewhat ambivalent about the military coup and in most cases when asked about Pinochet and the Golpe Militar (Coup) the response is that it is "complicado".

During the Clinton Administration, the secret files of the US Government began to be released. This book describes in detail the involvement of the US Government, the illegal acts, the terrorism and torture that the US Government knew about and tolerated at best or encouraged and orchestrated at worst. Peter Kornbluh spearheaded the effort to declassify some 24,000 secret CIA, White House, National Security Council, and Defense Department records on Chile. The book is almost day–to–day and fully documented record of this sordid chapter in Cold War American history.

Reading this history just makes me mad at my government! I try and view the Chilean experience as part of the Cold War mentality of the era but ultimately it is no excuse for the carnage that the US Government perpetrated throughout Latin America. I am particularly appalled at Kissinger and Nixon. I have talked to Chileans who described the hardships leading up to and during the Coup. Prior to the Coup the Chilean economy was in shambles and it was completely manufactured and it was Nixon who famously said: "Make the Chilean economy scream." Nixon, Kissinger, and others I can only hope will pay a high price for these and other atrocities before a higher tribunal.

[Sean Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this astonishingly well-written and comprehensive book, one may find, in part, THE answer. Why did the "CIA obstruct" the declassification of various intelligence documents prior to release by the NARA. I don't know probably because the USG forty committee was attempting to "foster a military coup" and otherwise aiming to prevent, by any means necessary, the election and potential positive achievements of the first democratically elected Marxist/socialist president in the western hemisphere, Salvador Allende.

This book not only provided interesting facts especially about the corrupt actions of Nixon, Kissinger, and many others, it also inspired commitment to freedom of information and investigative research; increased interest and sympathy for/in Marx and his writing and living as well as incorporeal figures who carry/carried the Marxist legacy, i.e. Neruda, Castro, Trotsky and quite a few others I cannot think of; and finally enhanced lyrics to a song I'm writing called 'the other side of propaganda:' "Economic strangulation brought about by ethical disintegration, linked to the people's exacerbation through covert defamation for the purpose of radical inflammation..."

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this enough. It's a detailed account of US history in Chilean, and really, an account of what is happening right now.

The US involvement in undermining democracy and taking lives all in the name of politics and economics is still happening. The US/Chilean history isn't unique. And the people that still deny US wrongdoing all around the world are victims of US propaganda - the same propaganda that was developed for Chilean exploits; fund right wing terrorist groups, fund corrupt media groups, cause economic shocks to a system and blame the leftists, say that leftists stole the election, murder leftists and say that leftists murdered their own to make it look like republicans did it.... This is what the US and Chile did in the 70s-90s. Does that ring a bell to what's happening in 2020s?? Stolen election? Media corruption? Economic shocks? Blame the other side?

Part of this history tells the story of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt - both of whom were killed in a terrorist attack on US soil by the Pinochet regime. Many people in the US gov did whatever they could to STOP investigations for this attack, while in the same breath saying "we need to go after international terrorists! vote for me and i'll take care of them!". They prevented investigations because they knew the US had involvement and knowledge of the attack, let alone major involvement in the Pinochet regime.

This is happening. right. fucking. now. Remember Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist that was murdered by the Saudi gov? Remember the evidence coming out about Saudi involvement in 9/11?? The US wants NOTHING to do with investigating Saudi regime atrocities, even if they have attacked us and killed journalists working with us, all because we most certainly have major involvement in their regime, just like with Chile 1970s.

If you're still denying that the US creates monsters and instability all around the world and in its own country, you need to read history.

[Renato Garín · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Pinochet Desclasificado: Los archivos secretos de Estados Unidos sobre Chile*, escrito por Peter Kornbluh, es un exhaustivo trabajo de investigación que revela la influencia de Estados Unidos en la política chilena antes, durante y después del golpe de Estado de 1973. Publicado originalmente en 2003 y actualizado con nuevos documentos, este libro ofrece una visión detallada de la intervención estadounidense para desestabilizar al gobierno de Salvador Allende y su apoyo a la dictadura de Augusto Pinochet. Kornbluh, experto en la historia de Chile y director del Proyecto de Documentación sobre Chile en el National Security Archive, ha logrado desclasificar miles de documentos oficiales del gobierno de los Estados Unidos que revelan la magnitud de esta intervención.

La obra expone cómo el gobierno de Richard Nixon, bajo la influencia de su asesor de seguridad nacional, Henry Kissinger, decidió que el gobierno socialista de Allende representaba una amenaza inaceptable para los intereses de Estados Unidos en América Latina. A través de planes secretos coordinados por la CIA, se intentó evitar que Allende asumiera la presidencia tras ganar las elecciones de 1970. Posteriormente, una vez en el poder, el gobierno de Estados Unidos desplegó diversas tácticas para desestabilizar su administración, promoviendo finalmente el golpe militar que derrocó a Allende en septiembre de 1973.

Uno de los aspectos más importantes que Kornbluh revela es la activa participación de la CIA en el financiamiento de sectores opositores, especialmente los medios de comunicación, para crear un clima de polarización y descontento que favoreciera la intervención militar. Destaca la colaboración entre la agencia de inteligencia y Agustín Edwards, dueño del influyente diario *El Mercurio*, quien jugó un papel clave en la articulación de la oposición a Allende y en la promoción del golpe militar. A través de documentos desclasificados, Kornbluh demuestra cómo *El Mercurio* recibió fondos secretos de la CIA para apoyar la campaña mediática en contra del gobierno de la Unidad Popular.

El libro también documenta el rol que jugó Estados Unidos después del golpe, cuando la dictadura de Pinochet estableció un régimen de represión brutal contra sus opositores. Kornbluh presenta evidencia de cómo la administración de Nixon y luego la de Gerald Ford respaldaron a Pinochet, a pesar de conocer las violaciones masivas de derechos humanos que ocurrían bajo su régimen. La política de Washington estaba motivada por el interés de mantener a Chile como un aliado estratégico en la Guerra Fría, independientemente de las atrocidades que se cometían en el país.

Uno de los capítulos más impactantes de *Pinochet Desclasificado* es el que detalla la implicación de la dictadura chilena en actos de terrorismo internacional, como los asesinatos del general Carlos Prats en Buenos Aires y del exministro Orlando Letelier en Washington, D.C. Kornbluh ofrece pruebas contundentes de que estos crímenes fueron orquestados por la Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), la policía secreta chilena, con la aprobación tácita o explícita del régimen de Pinochet. El asesinato de Letelier, que ocurrió en pleno centro de la capital estadounidense, fue un punto de inflexión en la percepción internacional sobre el carácter represivo del régimen chileno.

A lo largo de la obra, Kornbluh subraya la importancia de la transparencia y la desclasificación de documentos para entender la historia contemporánea de Chile. Los archivos desclasificados no solo arrojan luz sobre la intervención extranjera en los asuntos internos del país, sino que también son fundamentales para la búsqueda de justicia para las víctimas de la dictadura. El acceso a estos documentos ha permitido a activistas y abogados de derechos humanos construir casos legales contra los responsables de crímenes cometidos durante el régimen de Pinochet.

*Pinochet Desclasificado* es una obra esencial para quienes buscan entender la complejidad del golpe de Estado en Chile y las consecuencias de la dictadura militar. El trabajo meticuloso de Peter Kornbluh no solo ofrece un relato detallado de la intervención estadounidense en Chile, sino que también destaca la importancia de la memoria histórica y la justicia en los procesos de reconciliación nacional.

[Paula Twyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toda la parte previa al Golpe de Estado me pareció increíble! Tiene mucha información importante para entender la historia y cómo funcionan los juegos de poder político a nivel internacional.

Después de eso solo me pareció interesante la parte de la Operación Cóndor y el último capítulo. Todos lo otro se me hizo aburrido.

Le cambiaría el nombre al libro ya que le da mucha relevancia a Pinochet cuando trata sobre mucho más que su figura.

[Archer Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Jake Ray for gifting me this book. I love learning about Salvador Allende, so this, as long as it was, was very enjoyable to read. Lots of sourcing and I love the inclusion of real documents

[Isak · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Pinochet File" is hands down one of the best historical investigations ever published. There are few, if any, books I have read that constitute such a powerful and relevant indictment of political atrocity.

It's not without flaws. Anyone who says the writing is gripping either hasn't read most of the book or is a history junky. The middle part drags especially, as historical reconstruction takes precedence over engagement. Most often, you'll be reading details of who wrote what document sent to whom to do what, and if, like me, all you're interested in is insight into the Pinochet regime's atrocities and US complacency, most of these details will feel like overkill.

But I don't think anybody could fault the book for that. Despite being well-written overall, the purpose is not to provide a thrilling narrative, but to reconstruct events that for decades have been occluded from view. More than just being a historical retelling, the book is the physical embodiment of historical indictment. It is the answer to what thousands of grieving victims have sought for years. These claims make sense once the book reaches its climax, the epilogue.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comprehensive, controversial and enlightening volume from Peter Kornbluh unveils one of history's greatest obstructions of democracy, perpetrated by an organization supposedly renowned for its democratic ideals--the United States government. The hundreds of declassified and redacted CIA, DoD, FBI, and other USG documents, and accompanying commentary, unveil the troubling covert and overt influence of the United States in installing and upholding one of the world's most notorious dictators and his regime of atrocity. What more appropriate time to consider the original 9/11 (coincidentally the date of the U.S.-supported Chilean military coup in 1973), than amidst the Snowden-leaked NSA spying revelations currently embroiling the U.S. government? See if your mistrust and skepticism recovers after this read! Also, thank your local archivist: without archivists at the National Archives/NARA, no such call to accountability would exist.

[Inner Latitude · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Brilliant Retelling, a Naive Interpretation, and a Broken Heart

The recent Chilean election results took me by surprise. In their wake, I picked up The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability by Peter Kornbluh and stumbled right in the introduction, thinking: “My God, what a load of pompous nonsense coming from a citizen of a country whose president would later warmly embrace a war criminal in Anchorage, Alaska.”
I half expected to see a reenactment of the legendary Brezhnev-Honecker kiss then, but it never came to that, which is a pity. It would have been perfectly on brand.

To be fair, Kornbluh’s book is a seminal work on that period of Chilean history. It is cited by virtually every later author in books, academic articles, and even on Wikipedia. And rightly so.
He did an astonishing amount of archival research, presenting those documents in a way that is not only readable but, at times, genuinely gripping.

Have you ever tried to retell an official document in your own words without turning it into a complete snoozefest? Try it, and his achievement suddenly seems far more impressive.

The book is also full of small details that - to the reader’s delight - surprise you even if you think you know this history. Take, for example, the story of sarin nerve gas being smuggled on a flight to the US in a Chanel №5 bottle.
If this had appeared in a novel, it would probably have been dismissed as implausible. Then again, reality has a habit of outdoing fiction in its sheer absurdity.
Or take the money the Horman family was charged for transporting Charles Horman’s body back to the US. In its short version, the telegram reads something like: “Send $900. My condolences. Kissinger.”
Evil - fine, you expect that. But cheap? That’s a whole different ballgame.

Details like these bring the text to life and fit remarkably well into the narrative. And once again, they highlight just how good the author really is at retelling and shaping his material.

The problem starts when the author moves away from the documents and begins commenting on American politics. Reading those parts feels like watching action movies from the 1990s — the level of cheesiness is almost surreal.

At that point, my review veered into territory that was far too personal for Goodreads and turned into a full essay. If you would like to read more about action movies, Santa Claus, Gone with the Wind, and what apparently broke Peter Kornbluh’s heart, you can find it on Medium.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

“CIA pursued a basic three-step plan: (1) identify, contact, and collect intelligence on coup-minded officers; (2) inform them that the U.S. was committed to “full support in coup” short of sending the marines; and (3) foster the creation of “a coup climate by propaganda, disinformation and terrorist activities” to provide a stimulus and pretext for the military to move.”

I had always heard about how the US has meddled in the affairs of Central and South America, and more or less shrugged it off as some sort of conspiratorial exaggeration. But, nope it’s not exaggerated at all, in fact what you’ve heard is likely underselling the facts. The US really did(/does? I would expect so) manipulate the economy and well-being of millions of South Americans. Our elected officials and our shady agencies really do turn a blind eye to human rights violations at best and tactically support them at worst.

Pinochet is responsible for the death of some 3,000 Chileans and the torture of some 30,000. And yet, I’ve had conversations with Chileans while living down here who, when I tell them I went to a museum to memorialize the victims, they tell me to remember that there’s “two sides to every story”. Yeah, sure. That “other side” of the story sucks ass.

[cote · Rating 4 out of 5]

En primera instancia no pude continuarlo, ya que el extenso preámbulo me aburrió enormemente, entorpece la lectura, el discurso activista-politico en un libro que se defiende por si solo, le quita solemnidad y hasta cierto punto rigurosidad, afortunadamente, esto solo está presente en los anexos y no en el desarrollo principal. De igual manera se nota la extensa labor de Peter kornbluh, parece un libro "justo", en el sentido de entender el previo, durante y post de la dictadura como un proceso complejo con distintas aristas. Sin duda un libro necesario para entender y conocer este proceso, sobre todo para nuevas generaciones, las cuales no deberían seguir lidiando con batallas ideológicas previas si no, entender el fenómeno, su magnitud y consecuencias. También como opera la política, algo que sin querer tal ves, el libro toca y no con poca profundidad, es decir, está ahí para quien lo pueda ver. Es una obra que permite generar un entendimiento entre dos partes aparentemente irreconciliable al tener un núcleo material objetivo, lo que usualmente invita a la reflexión, más que al enfrentamiento, siendo un trabajo para la historia y para Chile, que demuestra nuevamente que el conocimiento si es una herramienta para la libertad, no así la ideología.

[Tucker Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived in Chile for two years as a missionary for the LDS church. On multiple occasions, I would hear Chileans whispering around me, “CIA, look they are CIA”. I thought this was a joke at first, until my companion informed me that it wasn’t a joke to them. That many Chileans were wary of Americans because the CIA had helped over throw their democratic process and keep Augusto Pinochet in power. I heard first hand accounts of individuals telling me about how their neighbors had disappeared. I did a research project on Boris Weisfeiler, and I took a class on Chilean history, which I found less than helpful when it came to the topic of the US involvement in Chile. This book really tied together all of this different pieces of information which I’ve picked up during my time in school and in Santiago. This book illustrates that we need more transparency from the intelligence organizations. Hopefully, these agencies learn from their erroneous decisions and makes better decision about other countries in the future.

[D T · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fully comprehensive timeline of the CIA’s involvement in overthrowing Allende as the democratically elected leader of Chile. American history focuses on Vietnam when discussing the US’s attempts in stopping the spread of communism, but the damage they did to Chile’s economy, politics, and its people should not be forgotten.

This is an eye opening book that every American should read to understand how our government causes suffering in so many parts of the world and is at the root cause of many unnecessary conflicts and destabilizing democracies.

The book equally focuses on the years leading to the military coup, as it does on the Pinochet years post the coup. If your are interested in only Pinochet’s time as dictator, the first half of the book will probably not interest you.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I knew that the US worked to bring down Chilean president Allende in the early 1970s (he'd committed the unpardonable crime of getting elected while socialist) and supported the Pinochet dictatorship that followed, the details still make horrifying reading. Despite Pinochet's brutal repression of dissenters, leftists and rivals among his own people, his anticommunism washed away all sins as far as the US government was concerned; even when the regime murdered US citizens in Chile or took out a Chilean anti-regime activist in DC, the government still wanted him to be our buddy. Depressing and sobering.

[Derek Kreider · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is extremely comprehensive. That’s great in terms of high quality information and a clear picture, but it also means there are some times where it feels tedious. Overall the author does a great job of selecting the right amount of information to give. This is a very important read for US history, but also for the world.

From reading this I know I need to now read up on Kissinger as well as the Church Committee.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very well-written, detailed account of the atrocities committed in Chile and how the U.S. influenced and actively changed the course of history in this country--all in the name of supposed anti-communism. Our role in ousting a democratically-elected president will forever be a stain among many others of our supposed desire to spread freedom and democracy in the world.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting read, though maybe not the most engrossing at all points. I would have liked more of the historical context outside the declassified stuff provided because at times it did feel like reading a DBQ, but I still feel like I learned a lot. And one day I will go to the site in DC.

[Gali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know much about the subject before starting the book and it was very well presented - a huge number of details but all laid out in such an order that nothing gets lost due to unnecessary complicated storytelling.

[Chuck Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A window to the consequences of a US foreign policy that installed a Nationalist Dictator in Chile and the pain and suffering caused to thousands of Chilean citizens. A cover up of Kissinger’s failures. Parallels to US politics currently inaction over the past few years is truly scary.

[Jack Haseltine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would like to make it clear that i did not read this cover to cover. i must return it to the library now. i do think its an amazing collection of documents with great commentary/ summary and its EXTREMELY eye opening in terms of what intelligence agencies are able to accomplish.

[Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

intenso, de multiples complejidades, documentado y profundamente serio y profesional. Creo que todo chileno debiese leerlo, independiente de su pensamiento politico. una leccion de realidad, que permite conocer de mejor manera nuestro pasado, entender el.presente y poder cuidar.nuestro futuro

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for every American, unfortunately. A history of US support and involvement in the Chilean coup of 1973, with receipts.

[Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring

[Ryan Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite book of all time--definitely at least my favorite nonfiction/history book.

[Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sin duda un aporte veraz y objetivo para una época terrible de nuestro país.

[Nic Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in my early 20s and it really changed my perspective about politics and how the world works.

[Marcela Olivares Rojas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buen libro. Todo respaldado, y nada al azar. Es parte de la historia no contada..recomendado 100 por ciento.

[Choche Gaete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Kornbluh padre, falta que más gente lea este libro independiente de su tendencia política

[Pablo Cabezas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro de gran interés para quienes buscan entender los procesos polícito militares de américa y la fuerte influencia de USA en ellos