Salvador Allende, President of Chile, reportedly committed suicide during the Chilean coup of 1973. Since that time, there has been great controversy between supporters and detractors of Allende on the circumstances of his death, since the military junta’s version of his suicide was discounted by his supporters. Questions continue to surround the events that led to his death.
The Chilean coup d’état of 1973 was a watershed event in the history of Chile and the Soviet-American Cold War. On 11 September 1973, the democratically elected President of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed Chilean military coup d’état.
A military junta took control of the government, composed of the heads of the Air Force, Navy, Carabineros (police force) and the Army led by General Augusto Pinochet. General Pinochet assumed power and ended Allende’s democratically elected Popular Unity government.
During the air raids and ground attacks that preceded the coup, Allende gave his last speech where he vowed to stay in the presidential palace. Direct witness accounts of his death agree that he committed suicide in the presidential palace. After the coup Pinochet established a military dictatorship that ruled Chile until 1990 and that was marked by severe human rights violations. A weak insurgence movement against the Pinochet government was maintained inside Chile by elements sympathetic to the former Allende government.
Title: Political Assassination: Betrayal in Chile: Who Shot Salvador Allende?
(original title: Betrayal in Santiago: Who Shot Salvador Allende?)
Directed by: Wilfried Huismann
Broadcasted by: CBC, News World (broadcast date unknown)
Running time: 52 min
File: AVI 480×320, 386 MB
Language: English (voice-over) | Spanish
Year: 2003
IMDB: link
Download here! > link
On September 11, 1973, just prior to the capture by the military of the Palacio de La Moneda (the presidential palace), while gunfire and explosions were clearly audible in the background, President Salvador Allende made what would become a famous farewell speech to Chileans on live radio (Radio Magallanes), speaking of his love for Chile and of his deep faith in its future. He stated that his commitment to Chile did not allow him to take an easy way out and be used as a propaganda tool by those he called “traitors” (accepting an offer of safe passage, like Carlos Altamirano), clearly implying he intended to fight to the end.
Shortly afterwards, Allende reportedly committed suicide. An official announcement declared that he had committed suicide with an assault rifle, and an autopsy labeled his death as suicide. The weapon purportedly used by Allende to commit suicide was an AK-47 assault rifle given to him as a gift by Fidel Castro and which bore a golden plate engraved To my good friend Salvador from Fidel, who by different means tries to achieve the same goals.
This (now) general acceptance is based on statements given by two doctors from the Moneda Palace infirmary who witnessed the suicide: Dr. Patricio Guijón, who made a statement at the time, and Dr. José Quiroga who only confirmed it many years later.
“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 free men to construct a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!”
- President Salvador Allende’s farewell speech,
September 11, 1973.
The military coup against President Salvador Allende began to take shape even before he came to office in 1970. The right-wing and the CIA organized several attempts, first to prevent his ascent to the presidency and then to destabilize the country during his government.
Following the elections on September 4, 1970 in which Salvador Allende won but not as a required absolute majority as established by the Constitution of Chile, the United States President Richard Nixon ordered the intelligence services of their country to prevent the Allende presidency.
Elections were characterized by the interference of the two warring powers in the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States had supported and financed the candidacy of right-wing former president Jorge Alessandri
Allende contested the 1970 election with Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez of the National Party and Radomiro Tomic of the Christian Democratic Party. Despite the tough competition, Allende won the election by winning 36.6% of the votes (around 1,070,334 votes). Alessandri was a very close second with 35.3%, and Tomic third with 28.1%. In total, 2,954,799 people voted. Allende won despite the United States spending around $430,000 on anti-Allende propaganda during the election period. However, according to the Chilean constitution, because none of the candidates won by an absolute majority, the National Congress had to decide between candidates. Alessandri announced on 9 September that if Congress decided on him, he would resign – which would then require another election. Congress then decided on Allende. Soon after hearing news of his win, Allende signed a Statute of Constitutional Guarantees, which stated that he would follow the constitution during his presidency. The United States feared “an irreversible Marxist regime in Chile” and exerted diplomatic, economic, and covert pressure upon Chile’s elected socialist government.
Allende’s presidency was a busy one. During his presidency, Allende nationalized US copper firms (in July 1971), nationalized banks and other large industries such as Purina, and sped up land distribution (by 1972, peasants lived in around 1700 rural properties). Total expenditures for social programs increased from $562.8 million to $828.5 million under Allende’s rule; this includes health, education, housing, child assistance, and social assistance. Between 1967-1969 and 1973, employment in mines increased by 45% — however, per capita production decreased by 28%. This wasn’t the only disappointment the Allende administration faced. By 1973, the amount of land in Chile under cultivation fell by 20%. Allende installed a price freeze and increased wages in the industry, which resulted in Chile spending 56% of its export earnings on food (the country was producing 2/3 of what Chileans consumed). Also, Chile’s trade deficit increased from $18 million to $255 million from 1971-1972. Exports fell by 25%, and imports increased by 40%, which caused an economic imbalance. Inflation became another problem during Allende’s reign, due to Allende’s wage increases and increase in spending. Inflation doubled in 1972, and the cost of living increased by nearly 50%. Not only did Allende have to deal with economic troubles, but there was rebellion from the people as well. In 1972, a group of truckers went on strike due to Allende’s plan to create a state transportation enterprise. In its prime, 23,000 trucks refused to drive. This strike ignited many strikes that occurred all over Chile.
At the end of 1971, Cuban President Fidel Castro visited Chile in a four-week state visit giving credence to the belief that the Chilean Way to Socialism placed Chile en route to Cuban Socialism, i.e. soviet Communism.
In 1972, the monetary policies increasing the amount of circulating currency, adopted by economics minister Pedro Vuskovic, devalued the escudo, provoking inflation to 140 percent in 1972 and engendering a black market economy. The Allende Government acted against the black market with organised distribution of basic products. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many socially confrontational strikes — led by the Chilean rich — openly supported by U.S. President Richard Nixon via the CIA.
Soon, small-scale businessmen, some professional unions, and student groups joined the strike. Its leaders — Vilarín, Jaime Guzmán, Rafael Cumsille, Guillermo Elton, Eduardo Arriagada — expected to depose the elected government. Other than damaging the national economy, the principal effect of the twenty-four-day strike was drawing Army head, Gen. Carlos Prats, into the government as Interior Minister, an appeasement to the right wing. Gen. Prats succeeded Gen. René Schneider after his assassination on 24 October 1970, by the groups of Gen. Roberto Viaux and Gen. Camilo Valenzuela whom the CIA financed and logistically supported. Moreover, Gen. Prats supported the legalist Schneider Doctrine and refused military involvement in a coup d’état against President Allende.
Despite the declining economy, President Allende’s Popular Unity coalition increased its vote to 43.2 percent in the March 1973 parliamentary elections, however, by then, the informal alliance between Popular Unity and the Christian Democrats ended. The Christian Democrats allied with the right-wing National Party, who were opposed to Allende’s Socialist government; the two right-wing parties forming the Confederación Democrática (CODE) (The Democratic Coalition). The internecine parliamentary conflict, between legislature and the executive branch paralyzed practical government. To destabilise the Allende Government, the CIA paid some U.S.$8 million to right-wing opposition groups to “create pressures, exploit weaknesses, magnify obstacles” and hasten President Allende’s deposition. The CIA report released in 2000 records some U.S. $6.8 million spent for the deposition.
Official version of the death
At approximately 1:50 PM local time, President Allende ordered the defenders of the La Moneda Palace to surrender. The defenders then formed a queue from the second floor, down the stairs and onto the Morande street door. The president went along this queue, from the ground floor up the stairs, shaking hands and thanking everyone personally for their support in that difficult moment. After he finished, he directed himself toward the Independence salon, located in the north-east side of the Palace’s second floor. At the same time, Dr. Patricio Guijón (a member of La Moneda’s infirmary staff) decided to return upstairs to recover his gas-mask as a souvenir. He heard a noise, and opened the door of the Independence salon in time to see the president shoot himself with his AK-47 assault rifle. From the other side of the salon and through an open door Dr. José Quiroga, Arsenio Poupin, a member of the cabinet, Enrique Huerta, a palace functionary, two detectives from the Presidential security detail, and some GAPs (Presidential Security) were able to see the moment of death, or arrive a few seconds afterwards, attracted by the noise.
Witnesses
All sources seem to agree that at least the following witnesses were present:
> Dr. Patricio Guijón – member of the Presidential Medical Staff – Survived
> Dr. José Quiroga – member of the Presidential Medical Staff – Survived
> Arsenio Poupin Oissel – Presidential Assesor and member of the cabinet – Executed a few days later
> Enrique Huerta Corvalán – Palace Intendant – Executed a few days later
> David Garrido – Detective (Presidential Security Detail) – Survived
> Ricardo Pincheira – Detective (Presidential Security Detail) – Survived
> Pablo Manuel Zepeda Camillieri – GAP (Presidential Security) – Survived
Of these witnesses, only Dr. Guijón spoke about the events immediately after they happened, and was roundly vilified for doing so. Some sources misattribute Guijón’s declarations to “Allende’s personal doctor”: Dr. Enrique Paris Roa, who was at La Moneda not on his professional role but as a member of Allende’s cabinet. He does not appear to have made any such statement as he was executed shortly afterwards.
Controversy
At the time and for many years after, his supporters nearly uniformly presumed that he was killed by the forces staging the coup, and many theories have been put forward to imply he was ruthlessly assassinated. This view was first expressed in a speech given in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución on 28 September 1973 (only two weeks after Allende’s death.) On that day Fidel Castro told a crowd of about 1 million Cubans that Allende had died in La Moneda wrapped in a Chilean flag, firing at the army with Fidel’s rifle. Another version stated that Allende was killed in combat on the steps outside the Presidential Palace.
The “murder-in-battle” theory that states that Allende was killed by Pinochet’s military forces while defending the palace was officially set forth in 1975 by Robinson Rojas in his book The murder of Allende and the end of the Chilean way to socialism.
For years after Allende’s death, Fidel Castro in public addresses continued to express the view that Allende had died while exchanging gunfire with Chilean troops. In 2002, however, he spoke of Allende’s death as a suicide, changing his earlier opinion.
In recent years, the view that Allende committed suicide has become more accepted, particularly as different testimonies are confirming the details of the suicide in news and documentary interviews. Also, members of Allende’s immediate family including his wife and his daughter, always outspoken, never disputed that it was a suicide.
However, some supporters still dispute the idea that it was suicide. In 2008 the Chilean doctor Luis Ravanal published an article in the magazine El Periodista stating that Allende’s wounds were “not compatible” with suicide. Asked to comment on Dr. Ravanal’s hypothesis, the Chilean congresswoman Isabel Allende, the President’s daughter, said that the suicide version is the correct one.
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THE SPEECH (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YUx5Zp0Z9A)
My friends,
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: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [paramilitary police].
Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.
They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
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. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
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.
Santiago (Chile), 11 September 1973
