This month marks the 40th anniversary of the coup in Chile which elevated General Augusto Pinochet to power.In 1973, Pinochet and his forces overthrew Chile’s democratically elected president, socialist Salvador Allende. Thousands went missing or were killed, and tens of thousands were tortured during Pinochet’s 25-year reign.
Peter Kornbluh has worked to declassify U.S. government documents which shed light on America’s relationship with Pinochet. Kornbluh directs the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archive. He is also author of the recently re-issued book ‘The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability.’
Kornbluh starts by laying out the political scene across Latin American before Allende’s 1970 election.