Coup history
Augusto Pinochet was a ruthless dictator who, with the CIA’s help, overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile in 1973. But what did the CIA really think of Pinochet? Newly released biographic reports use words like “warm,” “mild-mannered,” and “businesslike.”
I recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the CIA’s biographic reports on Pinochet from 1972 to 1976. Pinochet’s regime oversaw the torture, rape, murder, and disappearance of thousands of Chileans during his rule from 1973 until 1990. But his anti-communist attitudes were enough to make him a strong American ally for almost two decades.
Pinochet’s dictatorship institutionalized acts of domestic terrorism through murder and rape in at least 17 torture centers across the country. Yet the CIA’s reports from 1976 claim that while he’s “not a charismatic man, he is nevertheless genuinely popular in Chile.” It also notes Pinochet’s hatred for Senator Ted Kennedy, who wanted to stop the flow of American money to Chile.
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