When The US Backed Coup in Chile Overthrew Salvador Allende on September 11 1973 and Installed General Pinochet

Tito Tricot a Chilean academic  wrote in The Guardian in 2002, “Our dreams were shattered one cloudy morning when the military overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.”

Remembering September 11 1973Were the lives of those killed at the World Trade Centre more valuable than the innocents murdered in Chile's US-backed coup, asks Tito Tricot

On that fateful day, Sept 11 1973, a US CIA-backed coup overthrew Chile's popular democratic socialist president Salvador Allende and  install General Augusto Pinochet's who presided over a brutal dictatorship, that murdered thousands, tortured tens of thousands and imprisoned in excess of 130,000 Chileans.

Unhappy with the election victory of Salvador Allende in 1970, the CIA immediately commenced operations  to destabilize his democratically elected government,  because it was socialist and communists in US controlled Latin America were persona non grata.The US, 

President Richard Nixon would never accept a socialist government in Chile.

 The CIA operations involved media propaganda, economic destabilization and formented labor strikes and protests. It was reported many in Chile's security services were reluctant to overthraw a democratically elected government. The US worked tirelessly to find targets and provided the coup plotters within the military gear including missiles that they used to pulverise the presidential La Moneda Palace.

During Pinochet's 15 year rule, Chile served as a base for CIA's terror program known as Operation Condor, which killed an estimated 60,000 suspected leftist sympathizers. The operation was 

designed to eradicate any communism in Latin America, supported by US-backed right wing dictators in the region. Same way Colombia supports US operations against Venezuela or Brazil against Bolivia in the overthrow of Evo Morales. Operation Condor was also in Angola. The CIA assasinated Anton Lubowski, "The White Swapo". 

It is no surprise there is Operation Condor 2.0 exposed by Gray Zone News to overthrow Nicaragua's socialist government, from the same play book. The Venezuelan socialist government has also been under siege. Honduras, Ecuador and Bolivia have all been recently destabilised by right wing US backed coups. 

The Pinochet was ruthless. He deployed death squads which engaged in systematic torture and executions of leftists or political enemies of his regime. The torture methods were described as inhumane and brutal. 

A Chilean singer & guitar player, Victor Jara was tortured with barbed wire and killed by the US. They had him taken to a football stadium, the soldiers broke each one of his fingers. They then mockingly asked him to play guitar for them which in defiance refused and instead he stood and sang "Venceremos" a Chilean socialist song that enraged them.

Its about time the real history of the US Empire is taught in schools.