Differential Effects of American Destabilization Policy in Chile in the

Differential Effects of American Destabilization Policy in Chile in the 1970s and Cuba in the 1990sJust three years after taking office in 1970, Chiles military removed the leftist President Salvador Allende from power. In Cuba, nearly forty years after his ascension to power in 1959, Fidel Castro continues to control a communist regime. In Chile in the early 1970s and in Cuba in the early 1990s, the United States exasperated severe economic crises. In addition, the United States attempted to foster political foeman to create coup climates to overthrow both leaders. The similarities in these histories end there. Chiles open, democratic political system allowed the U.S. to polarize the nation, paving the way for Pinochets U.S. backed military regime. In Cuba, however, thirty years of tight communist control negated the effectiveness of Americas effort to sow political dissent. This story explores the impact of explicit American policy to overthrow both leaders, and proposes t hat divergent political, economic, and military structures contributed to vastly different outcomes. The Nixon administration sought to uphold a settle down but correct diplomatic stance toward Chile. The fact that Allende was democratically elected forced the Nixon administration to be less explicitly aggressive about their power in Chile, causing them to turn to economics as a primary method for destabilizing the nation. The U.S. sought to isolate, weaken and destabilize Chile until the country was ungovernable in order to create a coup climate. Essentially, the U.S. began a long term strategy to destabilize the Chilean government economically, politically, and militarily, looking to exploit all practicable weaknesses. Chile wa... ...ly. vol114 no3 (Fall 1999) 387-408. Kornbluh, Peter. The Pinochet File A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. New York The New Press, 2003. LeoGrande, William and Julie Thomas. Cubas Quest for Economic Independence. Jo urnal of Latin American Studies. vol 34 342-363. Oppenheim, Lois Hecht. authorities in Chile Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Search for Development. 2nd ed. Boulder, Colo. Westview Press, 1999.Otero, Gerardo and Janice OBryan. Cuba in Transition? The Civil Spheres Challenge to the Castro Regime. Latin American Politics and Society. vol44 i4 29-57. Prez-Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution Origins, Course, and Legacy, 2nd ed. New York Oxford University Press, 1999. Valenzuela, Arturo. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes Chile. Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.