Two more US Department of State documents relating to Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état in Chile have been declassified, revealing how President Richard Nixon was briefed on the impending military takeover.
The president’s daily brief from 11 September 1973, the morning of the US-backed military coup, informed Nixon that Chilean military officers were “determined to restore political and economic order”, but “may still lack an effectively coordinated plan that would capitalize on the widespread civilian opposition”.
Another daily briefing for Nixon, dated 8 September 1973, claimed that there was “no evidence of a coordinated tri-service coup plan” in Chile and should the “hotheads in the Navy” instigate a coup, they “could find themselves isolated”.
Ultimately, on the morning of 11 September the armed forces would unite to overthrow the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende and usher in Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship.
During his bloody rule, 40,175 people were recorded as victims of executions, torture or political imprisonment, or were “disappeared”.
Chile returned to democracy in 1990 and began a fraught transition period which continues to divide the country. Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998, but never served any jail time for his alleged crimes before he died under house arrest in 2006.
A US state department press release said on Friday that the declassification of the president’s daily briefings “demonstrates our enduring commitment to the US-Chile partnership and is consistent with our joint efforts to promote democracy and human rights in our own countries and around the world”.
As neither daily briefing poses any obvious threat to US national security, it is unclear why they were kept classified almost entirely for nearly 50 years.
Chile’s undersecretary for foreign relations, Gloria de la Fuente, thanked the Biden administration on Friday night for “its willingness in responding to the request to declassify documents relating to our country”.
“The declassification of documents promotes the search for truth and reinforces our countries’ commitment to democratic values,” she said.
There has been a steady trickle of documents released as Chile prepares to mark half a century since Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état on 11 September 1973.
On 1 August, the government of Chile’s leftist president Gabriel Boric, 37, lodged a request with the Biden administration for documents relating to the military coup in the country to be released.
Chile’s ambassador in the US, Juan Gabriel Valdés, who made the official petition, said: “We still don’t know what [President Nixon] saw on his desk on the morning of 11 September 1973.”
Earlier this month, documents which had previously been heavily redacted were released detailing meetings that Nixon held with Agustín Edwards, the owner of Chile’s conservative El Mercurio media group, in 1970, in which the media magnate shared his observations on key military figures and potential allies in helping overthrow Allende.
As the 50th anniversary of the coup approaches, the legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship continues to divide politicians and some among the population.
On Tuesday, rightwing politicians in Chile’s congress read out a 22 August 1973 statement warning Allende to respect the constitution – which was often used by Pinochet as a justification for his coup d’état.
President Boric responded by calling on Chile to “protect democracy”.
