Communism, Chile, and CIA
Communication in History: The Key to Understanding
The Project
The 1973 Chilean Coup
In 1973 Chilean socialist president Salvador Allende was removed from office in a coup d'etat and a military junta took power with Augusto Pinochet as the acting leader. The US led campaigns against communism in the region and was involved in the Chilean coup both publicly and privately. Pinochet's regime was in power for two decades during which thousands were killed or disappeared at the hands of the government. We interviewed a four star US General working in intelligence for Southern Command and a Washington Post journalist who lead the charge to declassify the CIA documents about the US involvement in Chile.
The Theme
Communication in History
Our interpretation of the theme focused on the declassified CIA documents and the indirect US communication to Chile. The era of US anti-communism campaigns in South and Central America following World War II and the Cold War were lead and operated by the CIA and other secret US initiatives like the School of the Americas. Additionally the US lobbied the World Bank to deny loans to socialist Chile and the Chicago Boys, a group of economists from the University of Chicago, created an economic model used after the overthrow of Allende. The unchecked implications of this free market economy, for which 'Chicago Boy' Milton Friedman won the Nobel Peace Prize, is something Chile is still trying to recover from to this day.