LatinNews Daily - 04 September 2023

Chile: On 25 August the US State Department declassified and released portions of daily presidential briefs concerning Chile that were given to former US president Richard Nixon (1969-1974) on 8 and 11 September 1973 – the latter being the day of the coup d’état against former Chilean president Salvador Allende (1970-1973). This decision was prompted by a request from Chile’s government led by President Gabriel Boric, as the 50^th anniversary of the coup approaches. The declassified documents include information that the US government possessed about the events leading up to the coup that gave way to the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), indicating it was aware of plans to trigger military action against the Allende government. According to the State Department, the release of these documents, along with previously declassified materials, demonstrates its “commitment to the US-Chile partnership” and aligns with “our joint efforts to promote democracy and human rights in our own countries and around the world”. Chile’s ambassador to the US, Juan Gabriel Valdés, stated on social media that, by sharing the documents, the US administration of President Joe Biden had not only made the friendship between the two nations “more transparent” but also demonstrated a “clear departure from the Cold War policies that caused us so much harm in the past”. Similarly, Chile’s deputy foreign minister, Gloria de la Fuente, thanked the Biden administration for accepting the request, stating that: “Fifty years after the coup d’état, the declassification of this documentation promotes the search for truth and reinforces the commitment of our countries to our democratic values.”

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