Why Kissinger Helped Pinochet :: Foreign Policy Chile Governmental Essays

Why Kissinger Helped Pinochet The United States â€Å"hands have not always been clean† (Landau 1999, page 16). It seems that as time passes more and more of past United States foreign policy actions are discovered to have been a cause of corruption rather than security. Recently numbers of declassified documents show the fraud of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. It is apparent that Kissinger directly assisted General Augusto Pinochet into power in Chile and despite his knowledge of Pinochet’s human rights violations he deliberately ensured his stay in power (Landau 1999; page 16). Currently the legal action being taken against Henry Kissinger must be taken seriously to show current United States officials, the cruelty of our nations past and how we are guilty of initiating and helping a brutal dictatorship for sixteen years. One must wonder; what was Kissinger’s motive? Being pushed by â€Å"his boss† President Nixon to prevent communism in Chile at all costs is apparent, as is his friendly relationship with Pinochet that he developed. â€Å"I want to see our relations and friendship improve,† Kissinger states in a memoir to Pinochet during his trip to Chile that was intended to speak about human rights concerns (Kornbluh 1999; page 5). But what was truly the underlining motivation that caused Kissinger to risk his job and reputation to keep Pinochet in power? Could it simply be a lack of sympathy? Or was Kissinger just overly fanatical about stopping the spread of Communism? In lieu of the unclassified documents it is apparent that Kissinger had formed a liking to Augusto Pinochet. Recent memorandums show that Kissinger told Pinochet that he was a casualty of â€Å"Communist propaganda† and reinforced Pinochet, while hundreds of Chilean citizens were being jailed without cause, that the United States would not punish him for human rights violations. In September 1976 Kissinger sent out a warning to some South American nations about the rumor of an â€Å"Operation Condor† but intentionally excluded warning Chile in fear of how Pinochet would react (Duke 2005, page D01). Reveled in the transcripts are â€Å"Kissinger’s expression of ‘friendship,’ ‘sympathetic’ understanding and wishes for success to Pinochet at the height of his repression†¦Ã¢â‚¬  After receiving an overwhelming amount of pressure from congress to deal with Chile’s human rights issues Kissinger â€Å"gave a speech at an OAS c onference in Santiago.† However,