"Make the economy scream"

[Catherina]

...

Revelations that President Richard Nixon had ordered the CIA to "make the economy scream" in Chile to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him," prompted a major scandal in the mid-1970s, and a major investigation by the U.S. Senate. Since the coup, however, few U.S. documents relating to Chile have been actually declassified- -until recently. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, and other avenues of declassification, the National Security Archive has been able to compile a collection of declassified records that shed light on events in Chile between 1970 and 1976.

These documents include:

- Cables written by U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry after Allende's election, detailing conversations with President Eduardo Frei on how to block the president-elect from being inaugurated. The cables contain detailed descriptions and opinions on the various political forces in Chile, including the Chilean military, the Christian Democrat Party, and the U.S. business community.
- CIA memoranda and reports on "Project FUBELT"--the codename for covert operations to promote a military coup and undermine Allende's government. The documents, including minutes of meetings between Henry Kissinger and CIA officials, CIA cables to its Santiago station, and summaries of covert action in 1970, provide a clear paper trail to the decisions and operations against Allende's government
- National Security Council strategy papers which record efforts to "destabilize" Chile economically, and isolate Allende's government diplomatically, between 1970 and 1973.
- State Department and NSC memoranda and cables after the coup, providing evidence of human rights atrocities under the new military regime led by General Pinochet.
- FBI documents on Operation Condor--the state-sponsored terrorism of the Chilean secret police, DINA. The documents, including summaries of prison letters written by DINA agent Michael Townley, provide evidence on the carbombing assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington D.C., and the murder of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires, among other operations.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm

CIA, Notes on Meeting with the President on Chile, September 15, 1970

These handwritten notes, taken by CIA director Richard Helms, record the orders of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, to foster a coup in Chile. Helms' notes reflect Nixon's orders:

1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!;
worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy;
$10,000,00 available, more if necessary;
full-time job--best men we have;
game plan; make the economy scream;
48 hours for plan of action.

This presidential directive initiates major covert operations to block Allende's ascension to office, and promote a coup in Chile.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm

From there they went on to hate conflicts, destabilization of productive life in the country, food hoarding , speculation, rising crime, assassinations.

And we all know what happened next.

[Dawson Leery]

1. Capriles is an economic terrorist.

[Catherina]

2. I fully agree n/t

[Dawson Leery]

4. READ THIS!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/us-brazil-venezuela-maduro-idUSBRE94900520130510

[Catherina]

7. That was beautiful. Viva Brasil! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

8. Great news! Outstanding. Thanks. n/t

[bemildred]

3. It is a very old game. nt

[Bacchus4.0]

5. Chavez suspends trade with Colombia

We have no other choice but, out of dignity, to totally break our relations with our brother nation of Colombia," Chavez said as he hosted Argentine soccer idol Diego Maradona.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he had ordered the closing of Venezuela's embassy in Bogota and gave the Colombian mission 72 hours to leave. He said Caracas was considering other measures, such as suspending flights.

Chavez, who portrays himself as an anti-U.S. and anti-capitalist standard bearer in Latin America, faces an opposition challenge in September 26 legislative elections and has ramped up his rhetoric against perceived foes. Critics say he is trying to distract attention from economic and other woes.



http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/23/us-colombia-venezuela-idUSTRE66L4JZ20100723

[Bacchus4.0]

6. Venezuela-Colombia trade grew 40% in 2012

http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/venezuela-colombia-trade-grew-40-2012

..- In 2012, trade between Venezuela and Colombia stood at $3.2 billion, a 40.4% increase when compared with a year earlier ($2.3 billion), according to Colombia's National Statistics Department (DANE) and National Direction of Taxes and Customs (DIAN).

Of that number, 81.8% ($2.6 billion) corresponds to Colombia exports to Venezuela, an increase of 51.19% over the 2011 figure of $1.7 million.

The remaining 18.2% ($598 million) refer to the sales made from Caracas to Bogota, giving rise to 5.7% of increase compared the previous year.

-----------------
According to the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber for Economic Integration (Cavecol) figures, Colombia provides the nation a variety of products, in particular: candies, cookies, diapers, meat and textiles.

--------------------------

Looks like a lot more diapers from Colombia will be needed.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Reference to how Nixon & Co. made "the economy scream:"

[center] THE CIA IN CHILE [/center]
~snip~

CIA agents organised a strike of private truck owners aimed at disrupting the flow of food and other important commodities. The Agency's propaganda merchants had a field day with newspaper headlines proclaiming "Economic chaos! Chile on brink of doom!" and exacerbating the food shortages by encouraging panic buying. CIA-supported newspapers alleged communist plots to disband or destroy the armed services, and told of Soviet and North Korean plans to establish bases in Chile. Textile mills were set ablaze, industrial plants bombed and mining machinery sabotaged. In May 1972 the Chilean embassy in Washington was burgled by some of the same men who the following month staged the Watergate break-in.

William Broe, chief of the Western Division of the CIA's Clandestine Services, met several times with officials of ITT (the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation) and other U.S. corporations with substantial financial interests in Chile. Broe proposed to them a four-part plan of economic disruption to weaken the Chilean government to the point where the Chilean military would move to take over the government. A 1970 ITT memorandum stated: "A more realistic hope among those who want to block Allende is that a swiftly-deteriorating economy will touch off a wave of violence leading to a military coup." Three years after Allende's election, this was indeed what happened. Allende's government was ousted in a bloody coup d'etat by the CIA-backed forces in the army and replaced by a military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet. Under the new junta, thousands of Allende's supporters and leftish suspects were rounded up in the national football stadium at Santiago and tortured; bodies piled up in the streets and floated in the river, and the country was beset by disappearances, executions and vicious political repression.

More:
http://www.american-buddha.com/cia.chile.htm

[center]~ ~ ~

The CIA's Campaign
Against Salvador Allende

excerpted from the book

The Lawless State

The crimes of the U.S. Inteligence Agencies

by Morton Halperin, Jerry Berman, Robert Borosage, Christine Marwick[/center]
~snip~

Some of the ClA's money flowed into paramilitary and terrorist groups such as the notorious Patria y Libertad an extremist private vigilante group. Other funds went through conduits, into support of strikes that plagued the Allende regime One hundred and eight leaders of the white-collar trade associations-some of which received direct CIA subsidies-received free training in the United States from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), an AFL-CIO affiliate which, according to ex-agency operative Philip Agee, was set up under the control of the CIA. While the 40 Committee turned down specific CIA proposals for direct support to two truckers' strikes that had a devastating effect in 1972 and 1973 on Chile's economy, the CIA passed money on to private-sector groups, which in turn, with the agency's knowledge, funded the truckers.