Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–11, Part 2, Documents on South America, 1973–1976

226. Telegram 5434 From the Embassy in Chile to the Department of State¹

Santiago, June 7, 1976, 1606Z.

5434. Subj: Possible International Implications of Violent Deaths of Political Figures Abroad. Ref: State 137156.

1. Clearly, other addressee embassies are better able than we to comment on willingness of their governments to cooperate with Chileans. We note in general the similarity in outlook of all countries queried, and similar situation in most. We assume (1) that armed forces and intelligence services of all these countries cooperate to some extent, (2) that all these governments are capable of covert killing, but that (3) national interests of each country determine extent to which cooperation would extend to such violence.

2. Specific comments follow:

(A) Embassy believes that deaths of Chilean political refugees could have been arranged by GOC through institutional ties to groups or governments in countries where deaths took place. Argentina is the specific case. Probably most Chileans killed there were engaged in extremist activity against GOA forces, but we [garble] that Chilean Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA), for example, sought cooperation with Argentine forces or groups such as AAA.

(B) Deaths of foreign political refugees/asylees in Chile: Since the period immediately after the September 1973 coup, we are not aware of any foreign refugees/asylees killed in Chile. If any were, they probably were engaged in extremist activity. Thousands of foreign political activists came to Chile during the Allende period, and some were killed during turbulence soon after the coup. We would not exclude cooperation in such deaths, but foreigners also may have been caught up in action against Chileans of similar political background. Since 1973 Chile has not been a likely place of refuge for people hostile to GOC.

(C) We have no evidence to support or deny allegations of such international arrangements. We believe these arrangements are possible, and that it is also possible Chilean agents have been involved in killings abroad, possibly in cooperation with foreign governments.

(D) We have no evidence of arrangements among governments to return political asylees against their will, but we do not find it inconceivable that governments might have cooperated in specific cases.

Popper

1. Summary: The Embassy reported that although it believed that that junta could have arranged the deaths of Chilean political refugees in foreign countries, it lacked evidence to confirm such allegations.

   Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760219–0217. Secret; Immediate. Repeated immediate to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Asunción, Brasília, and La Paz. In telegram 137156 to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Asunción, Santiago, Brasília, and La Paz, June 4, the Department noted its concern over “the recent sharp increase in the number of assassinations of foreign political figures in exile or political asylum in or from your countries” and asked if “the deaths of political refugees or asylees from your country abroad could have been arranged by your host government through institutional ties to groups, governmental or other, in the country where the deaths took place?” (Ibid., D760214–0807)