MEMOS BARE ITT TRY FOR CHILE COUP

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030099-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 16, 2011
Sequence Number: 
99
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 21, 1972
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030099-4.pdf101.74 KB
Body: 
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030099-4 The Washington Merry-Go-Round that would block Allende military b B Memos Bare ITT Try For Chile Coup Bw lark Ander o s n Secret documents which es- caped shredding by Interna. tional Telephone and Tele. graph show that the company, at the highest levels, maneu. vered to stop the 1970 election of leftist Chilean President Salvador Allende. The papers reveal that ITT dealt regularly With the Cen. tral Intelligence Agency and, at one point, considered trig. gering a military coup to head off Allende's election. These documents portray ITT as a virtual corporate na- tionin itself with vast interna. tional holdings, access to Washington's highest officials, its own intelligence apparatus and even its own classification system. The papers bear a variety of security labels, including "Confidential," "System Confi- dential," and "Personal and Confidential." The originals, presumably, were shredded along with the "many sacks" of documents that ITT has now admitted destroying to keep them out of our hands. Nevertheless, we have ob. tained copies. They show that ITT officials were in close touch with Wil- liam V. Broe, who was then director of the Latin Ameri can division of the CIA's Cl were andestine Services. They ate economic Chaos in t Chile, hoping this would cause the Chilean army to pull a coup y applying eco- from coming to wup g power. nomic pressure is spelled out ITT-CIA Ties in a confidential telex, dated ITT Director John MeCone, himself a former CIA head, played a role in the bizarre plot. He received a confiden. tial report on Oct. 9, 1970, from 'William Merriam, vice president in charge of ITT's Washington office. "Today I had lunch with our contact at the McLean agency (CIA), and I summarize for you the results of our conver sation," wrote Merriam %^ t. suu very, very pessimistic about defeating Allende when the congressional vote takes place on Oct. 24. "Approaches continue to be made to select members of the Armed Forces in an attempt to have them lead some sort of uprising -- no success to date ... "Practically no progress has been made in trying to get American business to Cooper- ate in some way so as to bring on economic chaos. GM and THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, March 21,1977 uenL Harold S. Geneen from one of his vice Presidents, E. J. Gerrity. Here Is Gerrity's description of the plot: "1. Banks should not renew credit or should delay in doing so. "2. Companies should drag. their feet in sending money, making deliveries, in shipping spare parts, etc. "3- Savings and loan compa. i L es there areAn trouble. if pressure were applied they Ford, for example, say that they have too much inventory on hand in Chile to take any chances and that they keep hoping that everything will work out all right. "Also, the Bank of America had agreed to close its doors in Santiago but each day keeps postponing the inevita. ble. According to my source, must continue to keen the pressure on business." The plot to -bring about a , would have to shut their doors, thereby creating pre& sure. "4 We should withdraw all technical help and should hot Promise SAY technical an in the-future. Companies in a position to do so should close their doors. "5. A list of companies was provided, and it was suggested that we approach them as indi- cated. I was told that of all the companies involved, ours alone had been responsive and understood the problem. The visitor (the CIA's William eEroe)t added that money was not a problem. He indicated that certain steps were being taken but that he was looking for additional help aimed at Inducing eco- nomic collapse." Next day, Gerrity ant a memo to ITP's Washington of- fice telling of advice from an anti-Allende source in Chile to "keep cool, don't rock the boat, we are fix ? Tess.,, "This is in direr Oat 4 what Broe recoglp~~,t ? memo ^s" later to discuss , ms's (C ..;' President Harold &v:oft reaction to my tele* In detail. He agrees with we that Brae's suggestibpp are not workable. Howevelr, he sug- gests that we,be !cry discreet . in handling Broe," We will publish further de- tails about this bizarre " CIA- ITT conspiracy in a future col- umn. Footnote: A CIA spokesman would make no comment, re- fused even to owledge Br UY this oe'e Identity Whid to ver-other Inside Soources. Atttthis tnB, ITT hasn't responded to our ques. tions. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030099-4