By Leroy Seat
Recent days have been full of newspaper articles and radio and TV programs about the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Much less was written about another 9/11 that occurred 28 years earlier, in 1973.
As horrific as 9/11/2001 was — and with respect for the victims’ families — we also need to remember that we in this country are not the only ones who have been victims of terror.
Salvadore Allende was elected president of the South American country of Chile in 1970. It was an attention-grabbing occurrence, for he was the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in the Americas.
Allende’s election was of grave concern to U.S. political leaders — and to the many U. S. companies with heavy investments in Chile.
Both the U.S. government and U.S. companies spent millions of dollars trying to keep Allende from being elected. Failing to prevent his election, they began to work for his overthrow. President Nixon reportedly told CIA Director Richard Helms to do whatever was necessary “to get rid of” Allende.
Although it was denied for years, it became clear — especially after certain documents were declassified in 1998 — that the CIA and U.S. companies were involved behind the scenes in the overthrow of the Allende government on Sept. 11, 1973, and that they directly supported the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who led the coup d’etat.
President Allende
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Gen. Piinochet
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President Allende apparently committed suicide on that 9/11, choosing that means of death rather than imprisonment, torture and likely execution that would have occurred when his government was overthrown by military violence.
There were around 3,000 deaths caused by the terrorists on 9/11/01. The events in Chile on 9/11/73 began a period of terror for many Chileans that resulted in an even greater number of deaths there.
Not only were thousands of Chileans killed by the ruthless military junta and government led by Pinochet, at least three North Americans “disappeared” as well. Missing, the 1982 movie starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, tells the story of one of them. American journalist Charles Horman was executed eight days after the coup, but his death was not acknowledged until weeks later.
As we continue to remember the death and destruction caused by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, let us not forget the many Chilean, as well as some American, families who still grieve their loss because of the events of another 9/11.