The full suite of 10 documents HERE.
PREAMBLE
Seymour Hersh's September 8, 1974 article led to the formation of a special U.S. Senate committee, chaired by Senator Frank Church, that conducted the first major investigation of CIA covert actions in Chile and other clandestine operations, including assassination plots against leaders, in foreign countries.
The Hersh story was based on a summary of secret testimony by CIA director William Colby, who provided an overview of covert operations against Allende in Chile during an executive session of the House Armed Services Committee on April 22, 1974. Colby informed the Committee that between 1962 and 1973 the ultra-secret “40 Committee” had authorized the CIA to spend $11 million in Chile, including $8 million to “destabilize” the Allende government and “precipitate its downfall.”
On September 11, 1973, Salvador Allende’s democratic government in Chile was ousted by United States-backed forces in one of the Cold War’s defining moments. Allende himself was killed during the coup while his presidential palace, La Moneda, was extensively bombed.
“For the sake of historical accountability, it is imperative that the CIA declassify Colby’s testimony on Chile, as well as other relevant documentation,” stated Peter Kornbluh, who directs the University of Washington’s National Security Archive’s Chile Documentation Project. “A half century of secrecy surrounding these records,” Kornbluh noted, “must come to an end.”
Related Readings
in csloh.substack
Creation of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA)