Salvador Allende

The first democratically elected Marxist president in Latin America, overthrown and killed during the CIA-backed military coup of September 11, 1973, after years of covert U.S. destabilization under Project FUBELT.

Field	Details
Full Name	Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens
Born	June 26, 1908
Died	September 11, 1973
Age at Death	65
Location of Death	La Moneda Presidential Palace, Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death	Gunshot wound (AK-47 rifle)
Official Ruling	Suicide (confirmed by 2011 exhumation and autopsy)
Alleged Intelligence Connection	CIA (Project FUBELT, Track I and Track II destabilization, coup facilitation)
Category	Foreign Leader

Assessment: CONFIRMED

The CIA's role in destabilizing and overthrowing Salvador Allende's government is among the most thoroughly documented covert operations in U.S. intelligence history. Declassified documents, the Church Committee's 1975 report, and over 50,000 pages released through the Clinton administration's Chile Declassification Project confirm that President Nixon ordered the CIA to prevent Allende from taking power and, failing that, to "make the economy scream" until conditions allowed a military coup. The CIA spent over $8 million on destabilization, funded opposition media and strikes, and maintained direct contact with the Chilean military officers who carried out the September 11, 1973 coup. While the 2011 autopsy confirmed Allende died by his own hand during the final assault on La Moneda, the coup itself — and the 17-year dictatorship that followed — were the direct products of sustained CIA covert action ordered by Nixon and overseen by Henry Kissinger.

The 1970 Election and Project FUBELT

Salvador Allende won the Chilean presidential election on September 4, 1970, with 36.3% of the vote in a three-way race. Under Chilean law, since no candidate received a majority, the Congress would vote to confirm the winner on October 24, 1970.

Within days of the election, on September 15, 1970, President Nixon summoned CIA Director Richard Helms, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and Attorney General John Mitchell to the Oval Office. According to Helms's handwritten notes from that meeting, Nixon ordered the CIA to prevent Allende from taking office. Nixon authorized $10 million for the operation and instructed the CIA to "make the economy scream." Helms's notes recorded: "Not concerned risks involved. No involvement of embassy. $10,000,000 available, more if necessary. Full-time job — best men we have. Make the economy scream."

The resulting operation, codenamed Project FUBELT, had two tracks:

Track I was a political and diplomatic effort to prevent Allende's congressional confirmation. It involved the CIA, the State Department, the Defense Department, and the U.S. ambassador to Chile. The plan was to convince the Chilean Congress to vote for runner-up Jorge Alessandri instead of Allende, or to persuade outgoing President Eduardo Frei to act against Allende's confirmation. Track I failed — Frei refused to cooperate.

Track II was a secret CIA operation, known only to the CIA, Kissinger, and Kissinger's staff, to foment a military coup before Allende could be inaugurated. The CIA provided weapons — including submachine guns — to a group of right-wing Chilean military officers plotting to kidnap General Rene Schneider, the constitutionalist commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army who opposed military intervention in politics. On October 22, 1970, the plotters ambushed Schneider's car and shot him. He died three days later. Rather than triggering a coup, Schneider's assassination backfired — it unified Chilean sentiment in favor of constitutional order, and Allende was confirmed as president on October 24, 1970.

Three Years of Destabilization (1970-1973)

After Track II failed to prevent Allende's inauguration, the Nixon administration shifted to a long-term destabilization campaign. According to the Church Committee's 1975 report, U.S. covert involvement in Chile between 1963 and 1973 was "extensive and continuous."

The CIA allocated over $8 million to undermine Allende's presidency. Activities included:

• Funding opposition political parties and right-wing media outlets, most notably the newspaper El Mercurio
• Financing truckers' strikes and other work stoppages to cripple the economy
• Supporting opposition labor organizations and trade groups
• Maintaining contact with Chilean military officers and encouraging a coup
• Economic warfare: the U.S. cut bilateral aid, blocked international loans, and pressured private banks to withdraw credit from Chile, while simultaneously increasing military aid to the Chilean armed forces

Kissinger reportedly stated: "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves."

On November 6, 1970 — three days after Allende's inauguration — Nixon convened an NSC meeting where, according to declassified notes from CIA Director Helms, the president stated: "If there is a way to bring Allende down, we should do it."

Circumstances of Death

On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military — led by General Augusto Pinochet and the heads of the navy, air force, and national police — launched a coordinated coup d'etat against President Allende. The day before, on September 10, a Chilean military officer had informed a CIA officer that a coup was imminent and asked for U.S. government assistance.

That morning, the air force bombed La Moneda, the presidential palace, with British-made Hawker Hunter jets. Ground troops surrounded the building and demanded Allende's surrender and resignation. Allende refused both.

The Last Radio Address

At approximately 9:10 a.m., as the military closed in, Allende delivered his final radio address to the Chilean people over Radio Magallanes — one of the last stations still broadcasting. The military had already destroyed the antennas of most radio stations. It remains one of the most powerful speeches in Latin American history:

"Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath."

"I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life."

"Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society."

"These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain. I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason."

"Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!"

Shortly after this address, Radio Magallanes was silenced when its antennas were destroyed.

Death in La Moneda

During the final assault on the palace, Allende was found dead in his office from gunshot wounds. He was holding an AK-47 assault rifle — a gift from Fidel Castro, engraved with a golden plate reading: "To my good friend Salvador, from Fidel, who by different means tries to achieve the same goals."

The Suicide vs. Murder Debate

For nearly four decades, the manner of Allende's death was bitterly contested. The military junta immediately declared it a suicide. Allende's family and supporters believed he was murdered by soldiers during the assault.

In May 2011, a Chilean court ordered the exhumation of Allende's remains. An international team of forensic experts conducted a comprehensive autopsy. The findings, released in July 2011, concluded that Allende died by suicide — two gunshot wounds consistent with a self-inflicted injury using the AK-47, which had been set to automatic fire. A Chilean judge affirmed the ruling in December 2011.

Before the official autopsy was completed, a top-secret military account of Allende's death was discovered in the home of a former military justice official. Two forensic experts who reviewed that document told Chile's Televisión Nacional that they were "inclined to conclude that Allende was assassinated." The official autopsy ultimately contradicted this preliminary assessment.

Allende's daughter, Senator Isabel Allende, accepted the findings, stating that her father had chosen to die rather than surrender — consistent with what he had told his family and publicly declared.

Background

Salvador Allende was a physician and lifelong socialist politician who co-founded Chile's Socialist Party in 1933. After decades in Chilean politics — serving as a senator, health minister, and Senate president — he won the 1970 presidential election as the candidate of the Popular Unity coalition, becoming the first Marxist to be elected president in a liberal democracy in Latin America.

As president, Allende nationalized Chile's copper mines (largely owned by American corporations Anaconda and Kennecott), pursued land reform, expanded healthcare and education, established diplomatic relations with Cuba, China, and North Korea, and increased workers' wages. These policies alarmed the Nixon administration, which viewed Allende as a Cold War domino that could spread socialism throughout Latin America.

What Followed: Pinochet and Operation Condor

The coup installed General Augusto Pinochet as dictator of Chile. His military junta ruled for 17 years (1973-1990) and was responsible for:

• At least 3,200 people killed or disappeared
• Over 40,000 people detained and tortured, according to official Chilean government commissions
• The creation of DINA, Chile's secret police, which carried out assassinations on foreign soil — including the car bombing of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. in 1976 and the assassination of Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires in 1974
• The murder of thousands of political prisoners in the weeks following the coup, including folk singer Victor Jara, whose hands were broken before he was machine-gunned in the Estadio Chile
• The detention and killing of foreign nationals, including American journalist Charles Horman

On November 25, 1975, Pinochet's DINA chief Manuel Contreras hosted intelligence leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay in Santiago, officially creating Operation Condor — a coordinated campaign of political assassination, kidnapping, and intelligence-sharing among South American dictatorships. According to declassified CIA documents, U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of Operation Condor and its assassination plans within a year of its creation.

Church Committee Findings

In 1975, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, chaired by Senator Frank Church, investigated CIA covert operations including those in Chile. The Church Committee's report confirmed:

• The CIA had been involved in covert action in Chile continuously from 1963 to 1973
• Nixon directly ordered the CIA to prevent Allende from taking power
• The CIA provided weapons to the plotters who assassinated General Schneider
• Over $8 million was spent on covert destabilization
• The CIA maintained contact with coup plotters within the Chilean military

The Church Committee concluded that while the CIA did not directly participate in the September 11, 1973 coup, it had created the conditions that made the coup possible and had maintained close relationships with the officers who carried it out.

Why This Death Raises Questions

• The CIA spent three years and over $8 million openly working to overthrow a democratically elected government
• Nixon personally ordered the destabilization of Chile and the removal of Allende
• Henry Kissinger oversaw the operation and reportedly dismissed the Chilean people's right to choose their own government
• The CIA provided weapons to the plotters who murdered General Rene Schneider in 1970 to enable a coup
• The coup resulted in the deaths of thousands and a 17-year military dictatorship under Pinochet
• Whether Allende committed suicide or was murdered was disputed for nearly 40 years before the 2011 autopsy resolved the question
• The CIA created the conditions that led to his death — the moral responsibility extends beyond the manner of death
• The coup spawned Operation Condor, which carried out assassinations across South America and even on U.S. soil
• Over 50,000 pages of declassified documents confirm the scale of U.S. intervention

Key Quotes

"Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you... My words do not have bitterness but disappointment." — Salvador Allende, final radio address, September 11, 1973

"Much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society." — Salvador Allende, final radio address, September 11, 1973

"These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain." — Salvador Allende, final radio address, September 11, 1973

"Make the economy scream." — President Richard Nixon to CIA Director Richard Helms, September 15, 1970, according to Helms's handwritten notes

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves." — Reportedly attributed to Henry Kissinger, 1970

"The United States must not adopt the tactics of the enemy. Means are as important as ends." — Senator Frank Church, Church Committee, 1975

"If there is a way to bring Allende down, we should do it." — President Richard Nixon, NSC meeting, November 6, 1970, according to declassified CIA Director notes

See Also

• Rene Schneider — Chilean general assassinated by CIA-backed plotters in October 1970 to remove the constitutional obstacle to a military coup
• Orlando Letelier — Chilean diplomat and Allende cabinet member, killed by a DINA car bomb in Washington, D.C., September 1976
• Carlos Prats — Chilean general and Allende's defense minister, assassinated by DINA car bomb in Buenos Aires, September 1974
• Victor Jara — Chilean folk singer and activist, tortured and murdered by the military in the days following the coup
• Charles Horman — American journalist detained and killed by the Chilean military after the coup, subject of the film Missing
• Juan Jose Torres — Bolivian president assassinated in 1976 as part of Operation Condor
• CIA (Group Profile) — intelligence service that directed the destabilization of Chile

Other Shocking Stories

• Rene Schneider: CIA gave guns to plotters who assassinated Chile's top general for refusing to overthrow democracy.
• Victor Jara: Soldiers broke the folk singer's hands, mocked him to play guitar, then machine-gunned him.
• Orlando Letelier: Pinochet's secret police detonated a car bomb on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C., killing a diplomat.
• Charles Horman: American journalist vanished after Chile's coup. U.S. embassy allegedly knew and did nothing.

Sources

• NPR: The U.S. set the stage for a coup in Chile
• Britannica: 1973 Chilean coup d'etat
• National Security Archive: The Coup in Chile
• Wikipedia: Salvador Allende
• Wikipedia: Death of Salvador Allende
• Wikipedia: Project FUBELT
• History.com: Chilean president Salvador Allende dies in coup
• National Security Archive: Church Committee Report at 50
• National Security Archive: Kissinger and Chile Declassified Record
• National Security Archive: Chile and Operation Condor
• Salvador Allende: Last Speech (full text)
• Jacobin: Allende's Last Speech
• CIA Report to Congress on Activities in Chile

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