174. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1
SUBJECT
- Allende Aid to Latin American Revolutionaries
A reliable CIA source reports that during the week of 18–24 October 1970, Salvador Allende held a clandestine meeting with leaders of the Chilean National Liberation Army (a radical group created to support the Bolivian revolutionary movement) and with representatives of the Brazilian National Liberating Action. Allende told them that Chile will become a center of assistance and training for Latin American revolutionary organizations seeking to “liberate” their countries through armed struggle once his administration is firmly in power.
Allende told the group of revolutionaries that the future government of Chile will provide their organizations with guerrilla training installations, political and insurgency training, financial support and refuge for their personnel. He noted that the Chilean Government will have to provide that support in a clandestine manner to avoid becoming isolated and blockaded like Cuba.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 774, Country Files, Latin America, Chile, Vol. II. Secret. Sent for information. President Nixon wrote at the end of the memorandum: “I want this leaked to a columnist. Give me a report.” Haig wrote in the margin, “Done. AH.” For the likely outlet for the leak, see Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, “Menacing Takeover in Chile,” Washington Post, November 13, 1970, p. A27.↩