SALVADOR ALLENDE AND THE CIA
By Jack Devine (ex-member of the CIA)
1 The CIA’s covert efforts to reduce support forPresident Salvador Allende played an important role inthe extreme political confusion that characterized histime in power. But the fierce opposition Allende facedwas primarily a response to his own flawed economicpolicies, which hurt not only the wealthy but the middleand working classes as well. Perhaps fearing that hisnarrow margin of victory gave him little time to pursuehis vision of a socialist Chile, Allende rushed into aprogram of land reform, nationalization of industry,and government spending to stimulate the economy.Initially, it seemed to work. In the government’s firstyear, real GDP grew by nearly eight percent,production increased by more than 12 percent, andconsumption levels grew at a rate of 13 percent. Butby early 1971, Allende’s economic populism began tobackfire. Landlords became reluctant to maintainproperties that might be seized at any moment.Business owners began leaving the country, takingtheir capital and entrepreneurial knowledge with them.And the public in general suffered shortages of basicgoods.
2 Allende faced political problems, too. Themoderate Christian Democrats were alarmed by hisnationalization of industry and opposed his agenda inparliament. Meanwhile, leftists in Allende’s rulingcoalition thought he should move even faster. Theirimpatience encouraged the Revolutionary LeftMovement, which sponsored confiscations of privatelyheld land in the countryside, often by violent means,creating a climate of fear and worsening foodshortages.
3 Among my group of secret helpers at the time wasan elderly middle-class woman, a grandmotherly type.She suggested putting together a demonstration inwhich women would carry pots and pans along withbanners protesting the scarcity of food and basichousehold items. It sounded like a good idea, at leastworth a small CIA investment. I gave her severalhundred dollars but had low expectations. So I wasstunned a few weeks later when I was walking near apark not far from the U.S. embassy and heard thethunder of thousands of women parading down thestreet, pounding on pots and pans. There, among thosedirecting the marchers toward the presidential palace,was my helper. Later that night, as the demonstratorsgathered outside the palace, leftist students arrived onthe scene and physically attacked the women. Imagesof Chilean housewives getting harassed by leftist youths flashed around the world, creating a publicity nightmare for the Allende government and a rallying point for the opposition.
4 The demonstration came to be known as “the March of the Empty Pots and Pans,” and soon, similar protests were organized by other women’s groups,sometimes aimed at the military, which the women challenged to act against Allende.
Adapted from Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014.
According to the information in the article, in protests similar to the first “March of the Empty Pots and Pans,” a) leftist students, knowing they had the government’s support, inevitably showed up to attack the women taking part in the demonstrations.
b) Chile’s armed forces were sometimes brought out to make sure that no violence would take place.
c) men and women in equal numbers joined together to demonstrate against Salvador Allende’s government.
d) the demonstrators would sometimes accuse the military of actively promoting Salvador Allende’s socialist agenda.
e) the women participating demonstrated that they were dissatisfied not only with the government, but also, to a certain extent, with the armed forces.
