Documenting U.S. Role in Democracy’s Fall and Dictator’s Rise in Chile
- 7 years ago
Documenting U.S. Role in Democracy’s Fall and Dictator’s Rise in Chile
"They have provided revelations and made headlines, they have been used as evidence in human rights prosecutions,
and now they are contributing to the verdict of history." On view are documents revealing secret exchanges about how to prevent Chile’s Congress from ratifying the Allende victory in 1970, plans for covert operations to destabilize his government and reports about a Chilean military officer informing the United States government of the coming coup and requesting assistance.
A dimly lit underground gallery guides visitors through a maze of documents — presidential briefings, intelligence reports, cables and memos —
that describe secret operations and intelligence gathering carried out in Chile by the United States from the Nixon years through the Reagan presidency.
Visitors at a new exhibition at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights here in Santiago who pick up the receiver hear two men complain bitterly about the liberal news media "bleating" over the military coup
that had toppled Salvador Allende, the Socialist president of Chile, five days earlier.
The chance to listen in on the call is part of "Secrets of State: The Declassified History of the Chilean Dictatorship," an exhibition
that offers visitors an immersive experience of Washington’s intervention in Chile and its 17-year relationship with the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
The National Security Archive donated a selection of 3,000 declassified documents to the museum several years
ago, while the State Department provided the Chilean government with copies of the entire collection.
"They have provided revelations and made headlines, they have been used as evidence in human rights prosecutions,
and now they are contributing to the verdict of history." On view are documents revealing secret exchanges about how to prevent Chile’s Congress from ratifying the Allende victory in 1970, plans for covert operations to destabilize his government and reports about a Chilean military officer informing the United States government of the coming coup and requesting assistance.
A dimly lit underground gallery guides visitors through a maze of documents — presidential briefings, intelligence reports, cables and memos —
that describe secret operations and intelligence gathering carried out in Chile by the United States from the Nixon years through the Reagan presidency.
Visitors at a new exhibition at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights here in Santiago who pick up the receiver hear two men complain bitterly about the liberal news media "bleating" over the military coup
that had toppled Salvador Allende, the Socialist president of Chile, five days earlier.
The chance to listen in on the call is part of "Secrets of State: The Declassified History of the Chilean Dictatorship," an exhibition
that offers visitors an immersive experience of Washington’s intervention in Chile and its 17-year relationship with the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
The National Security Archive donated a selection of 3,000 declassified documents to the museum several years
ago, while the State Department provided the Chilean government with copies of the entire collection.