| Allende was a president elected without a majority, trying to circumvent the legislature in order to nationalize the economy. In such a circumstance, a coup was inevitable, too many interests would seek to protect themselves. It is my belief, although it is speculative, that we could not have prevented the coup had we wanted to, and therefore that the decision was made to establish good relations with the likely successor. The spread of socialism per se had nothing to do with it, or we would have sponsored the overthrow of various Labour governments in Britain, or a coup in Sweden, or one in India. What was relevant was the perception, true or false, that a regime was going to help to advance Soviet interests markedly. As it happens, subsequent data has shown that the Soviets did not consider "objective conditions" in Chile to be ripe for nationalization, and therefore did not support Allende's move. But, to my mind, that only supports the view of the inevitability of a coup....... |
