Demand Progress

According to two documents that were just declassified by the U.S. government, President Richard Nixon had intimate knowledge of the impending military coup in Chile in 1973. 50 years later, to protect the future of democracy and human rights, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading a call for the release of more information currently kept as classified secrets by the U.S. government.¹

The American people, and the world, deserve to know the full extent of U.S. involvement in the violent overthrow of Chile's democratically elected President Salavdor Allende in 1973 and the facilitation of the Pinochet dictatorship that left over 40,000 people tortured, disappeared, or executed.²

Rep. AOC and other lawmakers are leading the charge to declassify more documents — the public must know the full extent of the Nixon administration’s involvement in the coup and the resulting Pinochet dictatorship.³

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to declassify all documents and communications related to the U.S. involvement in the military coup in Chile 50 years ago. The public demands full transparency.

"It’s time for the U.S. to acknowledge its history of contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America,” AOC said. “We must take full, public responsibility for our historical role — and demonstrate with our present actions that we will not support human rights abuses."⁴

We can only protect democracy in America with a full accounting of our government’s past abuses of democracy, freedom, and human rights. The Nixon administration’s role in upending democracy in Chile 50 years ago is a major part of this story.

Add your name: We need full transparency on the United States’ role in the 1973 coup and human rights abuses in Chile.

Sources:

1. The Guardian, “US state department declassifies more documents about Pinochet’s 1973 coup,” August 26, 2023.
2. Ibid.
3. Truthout, “US Should Declassify Docs on Its Role in Chile’s 1973 Coup, Ocasio-Cortez Says,” August 18, 2023.
4. Ibid.