Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende Gossens (July 26, 1908–September 11, 1973) was President of Chile from 1970 until 1973, when he died of a gunshot wound, under circumstances that remain a matter of dispute, during the violent Chilean coup of 1973.

Legacy and debate

More than thirty years after his death, Allende remains a controversial figure. Since his life ended before his presidential term was over, there has been much speculation as to what Chile would have been like had he been able to remain in power.

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Allende's story is often cited in discussions about whether a Communist government has ever been elected in a democratic election. While many would claim Allende legitimately won a democratic election, the significance of this is somewhat open to dispute because he only had a plurality, not a majority, in the popular vote. His supporters argue that he did not win an outright majority because Christian Democrat Radomiro Tomic, running on a leftist platform similar to Allende's, split the Left vote. Tomic and Allende together gathered 64% of the vote, a clear majority. Meanwhile, Allende's opponents maintain that Allende went much farther to the left than voters could have expected, and point out that the Christian Democratic Party later forged an alliance with the Right and was supportive of military intervention to remove Allende from office.

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Allende is seen as a hero to many on the political Left. Some view him as a martyr who died for the cause of socialism. His face has even been stylized and reproduced as a symbol of Marxism, similar to the famous images of Che Guevara. Some hold the United States, specifically Henry Kissinger and the CIA, responsible for his death, and view him as a victim of American imperialism.

Related Topics:
Political Left - Martyr - Che Guevara

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Others view Allende much less favorably. He is criticized for his government's mass nationalization of private industry, alleged friendliness with more militant groups such as the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, and the supply shortages and hyperinflation that occurred during the latter years of his presidency; all these had combined to cause a significant decline in his popularity and the committed opposition of the Christian Democratic Party at the time of the coup. He is also accused of having an autocratic style, attempting to circumvent the Congress and having a hostile attitude toward critical media. A common and more severe criticism is that because of his closeness with Fidel Castro and Eastern bloc countries, he was planning to convert Chile into a Cuban-style dictatorship. Such allegations are highly controversial, and the supposed "Plan Z" disclosed by the military junta (in which Allende's government was said to have planned to preempt the military by launching a bloody coup of their own and installing him as dictator) was found to be false propaganda.

Related Topics:
Movement of the Revolutionary Left - Autocratic - Eastern bloc

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Recent controversy has surrounded Allende's 1933 doctoral dissertation "Mental Hygiene and Delinquency", the subject of a recent book by Victor Farías of the Free University of Berlin. In his book, Farías claims that Allende held racist and anti-semitic views. However, these allegations were recently rebutted by the Allende Foundation, that published the dissertation on the Internet (http://www.elclarin.cl/hemeroteca.html). The foundation claims Allende was merely quoting Italian scientist Cesare Lombroso, whereas he himself was critical of these theories. Farías maintains the affirmations that appear in his book.

Related Topics:
1933 - Victor Farías - Free University of Berlin

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The nature of U.S. involvement in the coup that deposed Allende remains a heated debate topic in the context of U.S. conduct during the Cold War. While there were several coups in Latin America during this period, Allende's downfall remains one of the most controversial. See also: Chilean coup of 1973.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Chilean coup of 1973

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The KGB's archives report that Svyatoslav Kuznetsov, KGB case officer in Chile, was instructed by the centre to "exert a favourable influence on Chilean government policy". The Times extract from the Mitrokhin Archive volume II from historian Christopher Andrew and KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin says that "In the KGB's view, Allende's fundamental error was his unwillingness to use force against his opponents. Without establishing complete control over all the machinery of the State, his hold on power could not be secure." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1786802,00.html In other words, his respect for democracy and legal actions made him insecure in the eyes of Moscow. According to Allende's KGB file, he "was made to understand the necessity of reorganising Chile's army and intelligence services, and of setting up a relationship between Chile's and the USSR's intelligence services", and he was said to react positively (keeping in mind that KGB had a policy of handing up good news to the center). In June 1972, it seems that Kuznetsov's close relationship to Allende was disturbed by the arrival in Santiago of a new Soviet ambassador, Aleksandr Vasilyevich Basov, member of the Central Committee. In 1972, Moscow downgraded its assessment of the prospects of the Allende regime. The "truckers' strike", backed by CIA funding, virtually paralysed the economy for three weeks, which Moscow saw as evidence of the weakness of the Popular Unity government.

Related Topics:
Svyatoslav Kuznetsov - The Times - Mitrokhin Archive - Christopher Andrew - Vasili Mitrokhin - Aleksandr Vasilyevich Basov

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