Translation from English by Sergio R. Anacona
Strategic Culture Foundation
http://www.strategic-culture.org
“/ The evidence of Australia’s involvement in Chile describes its willful complicity in overthrowing the democratically elected government and being replaced by a brutal dictatorship that tortured, murdered, and made thousands of Chileans disappear./”
On the same date that Chileans commemorated the 48th anniversary of the US-backed military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende, the National Security Archives (NSA) published… ..
https://nsarchive.gwu/briefing-book/chile/2021-09-10/australian-spies-aided-and-abetted-cia-chile
documentation profusely censored but that shows Australia’s involvement in the coup d’état as a result of the express request of ……
the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA of the United States.
A request made by former Australian military intelligence officer Dr. Clinton Fernández to the Australian National Archives to release documentation belonging to the Australian Military Intelligence Service (ASIS) about his role in Chile during the years 1971 and 1974 was first rejected. Although to a limited extent, there was public knowledge about Australia’s involvement in Chile.
Fernández stated that….
in its appeal it states that “In my request, the publicly available evidence shows that the ASIS has carried out operations and that these operations were carried out at a time when the United States was determined to undermine the government of Salvador Allende.”
Contrary to what the United States did, which declassified documentation related to its actions in the coup and its aftermath, Australia has been reluctant to disclose documentation alleging that… ..
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/14/asis-s14.html
could endanger “Australia’s security, defense or international relations.”
However, the documentation that has been published so far indicates that previously known fragments confirm Australia’s involvement in Chile. In 1973 the Prime Minister of Australia, a member of the Labor Party, Gough Whitlam, ordered ASIS to cancel its operations in Santiago de Chile according to some documents, because Whitlam was concerned about how Australia could justify its presence in Chile if the role of ASIS in the country was denounced. However, Whitlam was also concerned about the US reaction to his decision. In one of the declassified memoranda it is stated that… ..
Whitlam was “extremely concerned that the CIA would not interpret this decision as an unfriendly gesture towards the United States in general or towards the CIA in particular.”
The ASIS known under the code M09 in declassified documentation had operated a station in Santiago between 1970 and 1973 at the request of the CIA. Although details are still scant, what has been revealed points to rather mundane details than actual operations Australia has conducted on behalf of the CIA. The documentation confirms that Whitlam himself had recognized….
https://narchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2021-09-10/australian-spies-aided-and-abetted-cia-chile
the year 1977 “when my government started, Australian intelligence personnel were still working as proxies and representatives of the CIA.”
It also revealed that ASIS used the secure diplomatic bag of the British embassy to send secret documentation, such a measure signals Australia’s concern about hiding its clandestine operations in Chile.
In 2000, the Clinton administration declassified thousands of documents but none that detailed Australia’s collaboration with the United States in Chile. According to the writer and journalist Nicky Hager, the discussions between the two countries… ..
https://www.sbs.com.au/theother911/#chapter-2
they would have taken place for the purpose of ensuring that information regarding Australia’s participation in Chile was kept secret.
Australia had opened its doors to both Chilean refugees and pro-dictatorship individuals, including members of Augusto Pinochet’s secret services. While exile continues to be discussed primarily in terms of Chileans in Australia, the presence of agents of the dictatorship attests to the global surveillance network that Pinochet operated with the purpose of crushing any dissident political groupings.
The secrecy with which Australia treats its participation in Chile has been questioned and denounced….
by Fernández: “National Security should be a goal and not a mitigating factor. It should mean security for the Australian population. It should not mean a cover-up for politicians and their democratic responsibility.”
This documentation is a stain on his vaunted approach to politics and foreign affairs. The evidence on Australia’s participation in Chile demonstrates its willful complicity in the overthrow of the democratically elected government to be replaced by a brutal dictatorship that tortured, murdered and made thousands of Chileans disappear. Refugee host country, which contributed to destabilizing Chile, has many things to explain both in terms of political violence and in terms of responsibilities towards refugees whose security field turned out to be a political accomplice with both the CIA and Pinochet.
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