t TO: C h H I L FROM: E e : SUBJECT: “The Pinochet File” T O P P PAcrwuuoeibguvtlupehis a stilahonste rdPCto ihhctnieiool t cesych,h oe oomttcnm’hk esiitm snhoi gernu, afp ptadfaemaor otrttuem hsdeoe rf Sel fedytopi hrttseteie imocUebnr.te eShrot. f a1 rgn1“eon,Tcvi hoev1erre9 dnr7P ms3ioea,nfnr o tymcc. iho olemTfitph t leGaFi ericbnylioe etor”yka l SECRET ino nm1tou0hwl,e t ci2dop0iml0cpe6tl ,aei ttnioednrsic clhttuahmddeei nniftglis ll teebhg eeaot lnwRl eiyPeg ingsn sqo2 uc0Bih0are4nrt ke’a lsnse dcds a thnaoidwrsaay ly,d etodahvetaethtra ior$lne2i v6nDe geam cliheelimdlsb i ehoron w ch the iWcnho enintl rlii-tbb uewtgaeosdt tfirtesont twrheeeal leitanhst eeidrn n iasnte ichoraneratdl c Aocmvaeemrrpi,ac ia“gnTn h beta onP kih noaolccdch oePutin ntFosic.lh ee”t et aaaatcftthctteeoeed urm Cnwpaotot uar mnbdtacl ojiet ol eur fln ooldsnrsec raFmtcnouhudrretaed lieet grxhtn,teh r aRtabteooo lrrolatdketui’dirns oea tn,rros ye ,a ca nse idtphl otiltrigueyohsr n-tro—lrofeear fvtiHfeiseolnmnr g.rtr ysetA sh Ktienihg esancwstao i tnngitgeoiennnre u’raes-td fil Pinochet ability of the book to speak truth to power. e file “A crisp, compelling narrative, almost a political tahnrdi ldlaemrn i.n g. i.n d‘iTchtem ePnitn oocfh ehti mF ialned’ hriesa drse gaism et haes dweefinlilt iavse his enablers, protectors and apologists in Washington.” —Los Angeles Times A Declassified Dossier on “Weaves together thirty years of declassified documents with a gripping narrative of America’s involvement [in Atrocity and Accountability Chile]. . . . The evidence Kornbluh has gathered is overwhelming.” —The New Yorker P e Peter Kornbluh “msTiehstess i vooanulatur eyt ooz fec aa‘ltT ahaleno dgP imtnehotech hoeedvtii cdFaeilnl cede’e volofit eiUso. nS. . w .ig tu.hi liwtnh— ittcohh e d Kiozrznybilnugh, ter K A nAtionAl security devastating effect.” —The Washington Post o Archive booK r n b l u h updated for the fortieth anniversary of the coup in chile history / latin american studies $26.95 u.s. www.thenewpress.com cover photograph courtesy of ap images THE NEW PRESS THE NEW PRESS gabriela vega Peter Kornbluh directs the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archive. His books include The Bay of Pigs Declas- sifi ed, The Iran-C ontra Scandal (with Malcolm Byrne), and The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (with Laurence Chang). He lives in Washington, D.C. Also by Peter Kornbluh books Talking to Castro: The Hidden History of U.S.- Cuban Diplomacy (with William LeoGrande, forthcoming in 2014) Pinochet: El Archivo Secreto Los EEUU y El Derrocamiento De Allende Bay of Pigs Declassifi ed: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba The Iran-C ontra Scandal: The Declassifi ed History (with Malcolm Byrne) The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (with Lawrence Chang) Low Intensity Warfare: Counterinsurgency, Proinsurgency, and Antiterrorism in the Eighties (with Michael Klare) Nicaragua: The Price of Intervention document collections Chile and the United States: U.S. Policy Toward Democracy, Dictatorship, and Human Rights, 1970–1 990 The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited: An International Collection of Documents, from the Bay of Pigs to the Brink of Nuclear War The Iran-C ontra Affair: The Making of a Scandal, 1983–1 988 (with Malcolm Byrne) Nicaragua: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1978– 1990 The Pinochet File A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability ◆ P E T E R K O R N B L U H © 2003, 2004, 2013 by the National Security Archive All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission from the publisher. Requests for permission to reproduce selections from this book should be mailed to: Permissions Department, The New Press, 38 Greene Street, New York, NY 10013 First published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2003 This paperback edition published by The New Press, 2013 Distributed by Perseus Distribution ISBN 978-1 - 59558- 912- 5 (pbk.) library of congress cataloging- in- publication data Kornbluh, Peter. The Pinochet fi le: a declassifi ed dossier on atrocity and accountability / Peter Kornbluh. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-5 6584- 586- 2 (hc.) 1. Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto. 2. Chile—History—1970– 973—Sources. 3. Chile—History—1973–1 988—Sources. 4. Chile— History—1988—Sources. 5. Human rights— Chile—History—20th century— Sources. 6. State-s ponsored terrorism— Chile— History—20th century— Sources. 7. Subversive activities— Chile—History—20th century— Sources. 8. United States. Central Intelligence Agency—S ources. 9. Chile—R elations— United States— Sources. 10. United States—R elations—Chile—Sources. I. Title. F3101.P56K67 2003 983.06'5—dc21 2003050956 The New Press publishes books that promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues vital to our democracy and to a more equitable world. These books are made possible by the enthusiasm of our readers; the support of a committed group of donors, large and small; the collaboration of our many partners in the ind e pend ent media and the not-f or- profi t sector; booksellers, who often hand- sell New Press books; librarians; and above all by our authors. www .thenewpress .com Composition by Westchester Book Composition Printed in the United States of America 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Contents introduction ix chapter 1: Project FUBELT: “Formula for Chaos” ............1 chapter 2: Destabilizing Democracy: The United States and the Allende Government ................. 79 chapter 3: Pinochet in Power: Building a Regime of eRpression .......................................... 161 chapter 4: Consolidating Dictatorship: The United States and the Pinochet Regime ...................... 209 chapter 5: American Casualties ..................................... 275 chapter 6: Operation Condor: State- Sponsored International Terrorism ........................ 331 chapter 7: Denouement of the Dictator: From Terrorism to Transition ............... 403 epilogue: Atrocity and Accountability: The Long Epilogue of the Pinochet Case .............. 465 afterword: Kissinger’s Response ..................................... 529 ac know ledg ments ............................................. 541 notes .................................................................... 547 index .................................................................... 585 IN MY MEMORY To my father, Hy Kornbluh, this book is dedicated. He taught me, through parental patience as well as his social and political commitment, the simple meaning of human decency in a world of many ills and evils that could not be ignored—as he made sure I understood. To him I owe the construct of conscience and the sense of common community that has enabled this work from the first page to the last. Introduction: History and Accountability It is not a part of American history that we are proud of. —Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a question on the morality of the U.S. role in Chile, February 20, 2003 J ust before midnight on October 16, 1998, two Scotland Yard offi cials slipped through the halls of an elite private clinic in London and secured the room in which former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, was recovering from back surgery. With En glish effi ciency, they disarmed his private bodyguards, disconnected the phones, posted eight policemen outside the door, and then proceeded to serve Pinochet with a warrant from IN- TERPOL. Within minutes, British authorities accomplished what the Chilean courts had refused to do since the end of his military regime in 1990— they placed Pinochet under arrest for crimes against humanity. General Pinochet, whose name became synonymous with gross violations of human rights during his seventeen-y ear dictatorship, spent 504 days under house arrest in London. Only aggressive diplomatic intervention by Chile’s civilian government, pressured by the Pinochetistas in the Chilean military, and an adroit propaganda campaign waged by his lawyers, kept him from being extradited to Spain to stand trial for offenses ranging from torture to terror- ism. After sixteen months in detention, the British government released the eighty- four- year- old general on what it termed “humanitarian grounds.” When he returned to his homeland, however, he was stripped of his immu- nity from prosecution, indicted, and interrogated. At one point Pinochet even faced the ignominious prospect of being fi ngerprinted and posing for a mug shot. Initially, the Chilean courts ruled that due to age- related dementia Pino- chet could not be put on trial for the abuses committed under his military reign; at the time of his death, however, Pinochet faced multiple indictments.