September 11, 1973

September 11, 1973 was a day of terror and bloodshed in Chile. After months of rising tension, army troops stormed the presidential palace, leaving President Salvador Allende dead and thousands prisoners throughout this previously democratic nation.

In a dramatic radio address made as the troops attacked, he left a message of defiance that stands to this day as a symbol of resistance to fascism in Chile. This of course has been exploited for propaganda purposes by the Chilean left.

The coincidence of dates is also exploited increasingly by others who challenge the idea that September 11, 2001 was in any way a unique or undeserved event - and seek to change the meaning of September 11 particularly in the American and Canadian public's mind. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for instance, devoted its entire day of coast-to-coast radio programming on September 11, 2003, to the thirtieth anniversary of the Chilean coup.

Professors, journalists and citizen activists around the world continue to expose the full role of the US government in financing and promoting this bloody coup, which ushered in the 17-year military dictatorship headed by General Augusto Pinochet.

Thousands of top secret documents which were declassified over the past five years have now been synthesized in a new book, The Pinochet File, by investigative reporter Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archives, a Washington-based investigative centre. "The US created a climate of a coup in Chile, a situation of chaos and agitation," said Kornbluh. "The CIA and state department were worried that the [Chilean] military ... were not ready for a coup." ,

The National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No.8: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm

16,000 declassified documents: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/chile.htm


 * Guardian Unlimited, Special Report

SourceWatch Resources

 * Imperial terror in South America
 * Operation Condor

External Resources

 * 9/11 plus 30, Newton Garver
 * Latin America's Archives of Terror, Laura Carlsen, October 20, 2003