Henry Kissinger was a consequential American diplomat who served as U.S. National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, helping shape American foreign policy for much of the 1970s. In the broader context of the Cold War, Kissinger led American diplomacy with pragmatism and opportunism. Some believe he was one of the most effective American diplomats of the 20th century. However, others would argue that Kissinger’s legacy is overwhelmingly negative. Critics, for example, would point toward Kissinger’s Latin American policy and the crimes he committed or enabled in the region.
1. Kissinger and the 1973 Chilean Coup
In 1970, Chilean socialist politician Salvador Allende was democratically elected as President. Allende was a self-defined democratic socialist and Marxist who sought to establish “the Chilean Way of Socialism.” Allende wanted a peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. He did not wish for an armed struggle like the one in Cuba under Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Allende was adamant about achieving his model through democratic and pluralist means, seeking to collaborate with the country’s Christian Democrats. Allende spoke of socialism “with the flavor of empanada and red wine, a peaceful Chilean revolution.”
Three years later, however, President Allende was overthrown by the Chilean military, led by General Augusto Pinochet. A military junta was established, and Pinochet quickly consolidated power as the previous civilian government was suspended. The long period of the Chilean Presidential republic had come to an end, as Chile joined many of its South American neighbors with its own military dictatorship. The United States promptly recognized the Pinochet regime, as did most Western nations. Yet American involvement in Chile’s 1973 coup went far beyond just recognizing the new government.
In fact, the Nixon administration, heavily influenced by Kissinger, had previously attempted to provoke a coup to prevent Allende from assuming office. The attempt failed, but Nixon and Kissinger persisted. General René Schneider, then Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, who was believed to be loyal to Allende, was kidnapped by the CIA, whose botched and outsourced effort led to Schneider’s death. The 1975 Church report and later investigations into CIA involvement found no direct or explicit evidence for CIA participation in the coup itself. Nevertheless, Kissinger’s policy for Chile sent an implicit yet clear message: the US was against left-wing governments and was not opposed to the removal of Chile’s “dangerous communist” president.
2. The Dirty War in Argentina Greenlit by Kissinger
Henry Kissinger’s support for some of the cruelest Latin American regimes never wavered. In Chile, Kissinger helped topple democratically elected President Salvador Allende. In Bolivia, Paraguay, and other Latin American nations, Kissinger helped dictators and military juntas repress dissidents through Operation Condor. But in Argentina, Kissinger’s support for the criminal regime was somewhat more subtle. Publicly, United States policy was to condemn and express concern over the human rights abuses committed by the conspirators. The US State Department would not show outright support for the coup and its conspirators in the way it did for the Brazilian 1964 deposition of Joao Goulart. In private, however, things were vastly different.
“If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly”—those were the words of advice Kissinger infamously gave to the Argentinian military junta. Kissinger met with the Argentinian foreign minister on two separate occasions, both held privately in 1976. In addition to his words of advice, Kissinger affirmed his support for the regime’s impending “Dirty War,” praising the Argentinian government’s efforts in fighting and subverting terrorism. Kissinger’s encouragement for “getting things done” was seen as a green light for the atrocities committed by Videla’s dictatorship.
Two years later, after he left office, Kissinger was Videla’s guest of honor at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. While Kissinger visited Argentina no longer as an official representative of the United States, his presence was seen as a seal of approval, an unspoken form of support for the brutal regime that had, since Kissinger’s infamous advice, killed thousands of innocent people.
3. Henry Kissinger and Central America
Henry Kissinger left the US Government after having served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. When democrat Jimmy Carter won the presidency in 1976, Kissinger left office, though he remained an important figure in D.C. politics. He was a critic of Carter’s foreign policy, yet he was secretly involved in the indictment of Chilean intelligence officials after the assassination of Pinochet opponent Orlando Letelier. Still, Kissinger lacked an official appointment—which he gained under Carter’s successor, Republican star Ronald Reagan.
Reagan took office in 1981, with the Cold War seemingly gaining renewed energy and Central America in particular in chaos. US aid to Central America had dropped significantly under Carter, and left-wing revolutionary guerillas had taken power in Nicaragua. In Guatemala, US-backed military governments had waged a genocidal war against the guerillas and the Maya people. El Salvador was also in the midst of its own conflict with a brutal civil war between the US-backed government and the leftist guerillas. As a result of all this chaos, Reagan appointed Henry Kissinger as chair of the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America. Reagan faced a reelection campaign and growing opposition to his policies. In appointing Kissinger, Reagan hoped some of Kissinger’s experience and reputation would aid in renewing his government’s credibility.
Kissinger agreed with Reagan that renewed attention to Central America was crucial, and, knowing fully well of the mounting human rights abuses in US-backed Central American regimes, Kissinger still argued in favor of securing the funding required for continuing support. Kissinger portrayed the Central American conflicts not as local uprisings but as a challenge to democracy and liberty, both regionally and globally, insisting they were foreign conspiracies. State violence was considered a justified response to opposition violence. Kissinger’s efforts were successful, and new funding was not only secured but increased.
4. Kissinger’s Admiration for Mexico’s “Perfect Regime”
Kissinger had a particular fondness for Mexico. He spent his honeymoon with his second wife in the picturesque port city of Acapulco. In Acapulco, Kissinger also spent his time with some of the most influential and wealthiest people at the time. Oil barons, bankers, and executive directors were all on Kissinger’s top list. Kissinger’s fondness for Mexico was not just for the Pacific Coast; instead, Kissinger admired the controversial Mexican political system. For decades, Mexico had lived under a “perfect dictatorship,” a regime in which one party alone ruled, but each term, a new president was “elected.”
In truth, elections were not democratic; on one occasion, a candidate even ran unopposed. Each new president enjoyed the full extent of the power of the executive, a king for six years. In 1974, Kissinger met with Mexican President Luis Echeverría. Echeverría had shown ambitions to command a greater presence on the world stage, having met with Nixon two years earlier. During their talk, Kissinger shared his admiration for Mexican politics, asking Echeverría to tell him how they select the next president in Mexico. Echeverría confessed it was no secret: the party selected a candidate, and that candidate would become the new president.
Kissinger also shared his support for the sitting president, as he did with his predecessor, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. Díaz Ordaz was responsible for the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in which the army opened fire on protesters, killing hundreds. Echeverría would follow suit with the 1971 “Halconazo,” in which covert government agents killed dozens of demonstrators. Both events happened in the context of Mexico’s “Dirty War,” a US-backed internal conflict dedicated to the repression of left-wing and guerilla groups.
5. Henry Kissinger and the Infamous Operation Condor
Operation Condor, or “el Plan Condor” as it is generally known in Spanish, was a criminal conspiracy orchestrated by the authoritarian regimes of the Southern Cone in Latin America, aided and supported by the United States. The campaign sought to repress left-wing movements and sympathizers in the Southern Cone and was founded by the dictatorships of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, intelligence operations were coordinated in a well-oiled formalized system “devoted to subversion.” All aforementioned countries signed the foundational agreement, but collaboration with other Latin American regimes also occurred.
Operation Condor was a structured and effective model to subvert, repress, and eliminate political opposition to the regimes. Divided into phases, Operation Condor first established a centralized database of all the main supposed enemies. Then, Condor identified and attacked the enemies regionally. Finally, persons outside the regimes were tracked down and eliminated, these “enemies” often located hiding in Europe and other parts of the Americas. The United States government was aware of Operation Condor, and many agencies involved in foreign policy and intelligence had early knowledge of the extent of the repression and cruelty. Still, the US government only became truly worried about Operation Condor when phase three was initiated, and operations became unmanageable or difficult to cover up.
Henry Kissinger was not only fully aware of Operation Condor, but deeply involved. He sympathized with the tyrannical regimes yet was unable to offer his full-fledged support due to concerns about the reaction of the public regarding the human rights abuses committed by the oppressive regimes. Kissinger met with Pinochet and Videla, as well as with other Latin American diplomats and agents in charge of coordinating Operation Condor. Kissinger offered his assistance in most cases, confessing he was “on their side,” and promising he would not undermine their efforts.
