DID THE CHILEAN PRESS NEED CIA HELP?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020080-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 80
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09TOO207RO01000020080-5
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Did the Chilean Press Need CIA Help?
By EVERETT G. MARTIN which means automatic government con- which was bound by law to obey the refer-,
In his press conference this week Presi- trol. Denied anything but insignificant endum, tried to take control, the leftists re-
dent Ford was asked about recent diaclo- price increases at a time when costs were jected them by force.
sures that the Central Intelligence Agency tripling, Papelera was soon losing thou- The police wouldn't act, and President
was authorized to spend some $9 million to sands of dollars a day. Only when chaos Allende ordered university officials to con-
"destabilize" the government of Chile's threatened as crowds took to the streets tinue the Marxists on the payroll. Then the
Marxist President Salvador Allende. The supporting the company did the govern- school tried to set up a second station, but
President admitted that the CIA gave sup- ment back off in a moment of political the police raided it and smashed the equip.
port, presumably in the form of money, to compromise. inc.
ritopposition news media and political parties. Newspapers' in smaller towns came The Catholic University ran into similar
Specifically, the President said: "In a under more direct attack than the big dai. rwhen it tried to set up a second
period of time, three or four years ago, lies of Santiago. An editor's life was repression pres channel to serve the southern city of Con-
there was an effort being made by the Al- threatened in Rancagua by mobs of leftists, cepcion with a format that attempted to be
lende government to destroy opposition and workers seized control of papers in non-partisan.
news media, both the writing press as well other cities. In Tales, after workers seized At first the government claimed that
as the electronic press, And to destroy op- the, paper, the supreme court ruled it was the station's sigttal would interfere with
position political parties. illegal; but the government refused to obey radio reception at the Concepcion ajrport, i
"And the effort that was made in this the court order to end the occupation. "It's
not socially possible to obey the court," a which was patently not the case. The uni- I
case was to help and assist the preserva- y versify defiantly went ahead with its
tion of opposition newspapers and elec. Socialist Party member reasoned at tho plans; so the government set up jamming
tropic media and to preserve opposition tithe.
But newspapers actually reach rela- equipment to interrupt its programs. In
political parties." the ensuing, controversy, the pried who
He concluded: "I think this is in the best tively few people in Chile. -Much more im- 1,1111 the university's television n netrties k was
Interest of the people of Chile and certainly portant as a mass media is the radio, and even held in jail for a television
.
in our best interest." closures of radio stations by the Allende
government got to be a common occur- It was genuinely a question how long
This interference in the internal a.ftai rence. some elements of Chile's opposition media
of another President is a staggering admission station was closed be. could hold out as the pressure against it
for the President to make, and his is conclu- Once a Santiago mounted near the end of the Allenrla ad-
sion is, at the very best, questionable. cause it reported that two miners were ministration. It might be easy to rational-
There isn't any doubt, however, that the shot to death during a copper strike. The ire why the CIA thought it should step in
report was slightly wrong. Only one miner whin support money. It is uld something- that
opposition news media had been
resid edesto died; the outer was critically wounded.
the wall by the Marxists. The Pr si t ' s t uecl tr(d the stano doubt we shall eventually learn we are
tat For this, thgovernmen -
s Tnent gives part of the exn a.n.?tion of dnin^ i? p._hnr Cnti!,trjrp, }?ttt rtn~?+ tti~,t ;,,~.
lion naci enuangercu national security. The tifv such intervention in Chile's internal a1-
how it managed to survive a all. si preme court again ordered the station
Except for a very few cases, Chile's reopened, but the government minister in- fairs?
news media have always been wildly parts- volved refused. The court then ordered his And was it even necessary?
salt in political matters. News stories gen- arrest, and the Marxists countered with a The opposition forces demonstrated
orally were polemics ma thoroughly unre- threat to start impeachment proceedings time and again through various l y-elec-
liable as sources of balanced, accurate in- against the entire court for upholding hour- bons and the 1973 congressional elections
formation. To read the government and up- geois laws against the will of the people. that they were the majority. It seems a.
position press on' any given day was IiRe Government television and radio hind of arrogance for Washington planners
riot -
reading about events in two different cuull- tion on the other hand, once caused riot- to think that the Chilean majority would
tries. The result was that most readers in let its protesting voice disappear entirely
bought the paper that said what they g in the streets with a false report that from print and from the airwaves even if
righhvin forces were about to attack the
wanted to hear; there was none of the This abuse went unpunished. established publications and stations col-
cross-fertilization of ideas that might take army. lapsed by the dozens.
the heat out of an Issue. Television was another area where the One might also ask where is the CIA's
Where opposition newspapers and rnag' government s actions were overt. concern for an opposition press in Chile
azines were concerned, the Allende forces The University of Chile had a station in now that the military junta which deposed
did very little overtly to curtail their right Santiago that was staffed entirely with ex- the Allende government has effectively si-
to print what they wanted. But the evi. trerne leftists broadcasting pure Marxist lensed all opposition?
dence indicates a clear attempt to strangle propaganda. The student body voted over- Fortunately, no disclosures so far Indi-
them economically by cutting off their rev- tvl,elmingly in a referendum to expell the cate that the U.S. government was in-
enue. leftists and change to a neutral format; solved in the actual coup against the Al-
The Chilean government and state- but when the school's administration, lende government, but the records the
owned industries were the largest single be laid bare to make sure.
group of advertisers. It wasn't surprising In the Chilean case, President Allende's
in such a polarized situation that they own actions in subverting the democracy,
stopped advertising in opposition media. in smuggling arms from Cuba to set up a
As the Marxists through one means or an- clandestine army and in wrecking the coun-
other took government of the banks and private try's economy were more than adequate to
industry, government hold over adverbs- "destabilize" his government.
ing became overwhelming. The worsening But what if it had turned out differ-
economic situation and scarcities exacer- ently? What if he hadn't done those self-de-
bated the situation until publications ap- structive things and finally through pro-
peared with virtually no visible means of gressive programs had earned the alle-
support. glance of a majority of Chileans? Flow
Then there was the mpanst attempt to then could President Ford claim that the
take over the paper company, known 00749 CIA's actions were "in the best interests of
miliarly as the Papelera, that sttnlicd the people of Chile"?
65t of the newsprint. Falling in an effort
to buy the first's shares and to agitate the Mr. Martin, a member of the Journal's
51,C00 workers to seize `- "- 'I", w'-., Y.,r C? hvr m, grits re T - li,i A ,icr;cdlrt
ctnntcnt tried to forct Approved For Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020080-5 the teas.