René Schneider
Encyclopedia
General René Schneider Chereau (December 31, 1913 - October 25, 1970) was the commander-in-chief
of the Chilean Army
at the time of the 1970 Chilean presidential election, when he was assassinated during a botched kidnapping attempt. His murder virtually assured Salvador Allende
's eventual overthrow and death in a coup three years later. He also coined the doctrine of military-political mutual exclusivity that became known as the Schneider Doctrine
.
, as a descendant of ethnic German
immigrants, and joined the army in 1929. After a brilliant career, he was named Commander-in-Chief on October 27, 1969, by President
Eduardo Frei Montalva
, as a result the so called "Tacna agreement".
In 1970, the prospect of Salvador Allende
winning the Chilean presidency was highly controversial, particularly within the Chilean military, because of his Marxist ideology. Schneider had expressed firm opposition to the idea of preventing Allende's inauguration by means of a coup d'état
; as a constitutionalist, he wished to preserve the military's apolitical history.
(CIA) supplied a group of Chilean officers led by General Camilo Valenzuela
with "sterile" weapons for the operation which was to be blamed on Allende supporters and prompt a military takeover.
On the evening of October 19, 1970, a second group of coup-plotters loyal to General Roberto Viaux
, equipped with tear gas grenades attempted to grab Schneider as he left an official dinner. The attempt failed because he left in a private car and not the expected official vehicle. The failure produced an extremely significant cable from CIA headquarters in Washington to the local station, asking for urgent action because "Headquarters must respond during morning 20 October to queries from high levels." Payments of $50,000 each to Viaux and his chief associate were then authorised on the condition that they made another attempt.
The attempt to kidnap him was because Schneider was the army Commander-in-Chief and considered a constitutionalist, which in practical terms meant that he would not support a coup. This incident and his death provoked national outrage, and caused the citizens and the military to rally behind the just-elected Allende, who was ratified by the Chilean Congress on October 24. It also helped to ensure an orderly transfer of power to Allende.
Military courts in Chile found that Schneider's death was caused by two military groups, one led by Viaux and the other by General Camilo Valenzuela
. Viaux and Valenzuela were eventually convicted of charges of conspiring to cause a coup, and Viaux also was convicted of kidnapping. The lawsuit asserted that the CIA had aided both groups, but the charges were never satisfactorily proved, with the exception of the tens of thousands of dollars and also machine guns given to them by the CIA.
On October 26, 1970, President Eduardo Frei Montalva
named General Carlos Prats
as Commander-in-Chief to replace Schneider. Ironically this happened at the same time that $35,000 were given by the CIA to the kidnappers as "humanitarian" assistance.
, with the express purpose of running a "two track" policy for Chile: one the ostensible diplomatic one and the other - unknown to the State Department or the US ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry - a strategy of destabilisation, kidnap and assassination, designed to provoke a military coup."
"On October 15, 1970, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
was told of an extremist right-wing officer named Viaux, who had ties to Patria y Libertad Fatherland and Liberty
, a quasi-fascist group intent on defying the election results) and who was willing to accept the secret US commission to remove Schneider...Kissinger's Track Two group authorised the supply of machine guns as well as tear gas grenades to Viaux's associates.
The CIA in Santiago kept contact with two groups inside the military, and provided guns and money for kidnapping Schneider, but the fact that he was killed during the operation effectively put an end to any further direct attempts. It is unclear whether the U.S. State Department sanctioned CIA assistance to Viaux, as declassified documents show that Kissinger and U.S. President Richard Nixon
had expressed intentions to withhold support over concerns that the coup would fail a week before it actually took place.
"In the October 15 memo, Kissinger and Thomas Karamessines
developed last-minute second thoughts about Viaux, who as late as October 13 had been given $20,000 in cash from the CIA station and promised a life insurance policy of $250,000. This offer was authorised directly from the White House
. However, with only days to go before Allende was inaugurated, and with Nixon repeating that it was "absolutely essential that the election of Allende to the Presidency be thwarted", the pressure on the plotters became intense. As a direct consequence, especially after the warm words of encouragement he had been given, Viaux felt himself under some obligation to deliver also, and to disprove those who had doubted him.
victory, had explored the idea of supporting Viaux in a coup attempt, they also show that the agency decided on tracking down other members of the Chilean military, deciding that a Viaux coup would fail. On October 15, 1970 Kissinger had told President Nixon that he had "turned off" plans to support Viaux, explaining that "Nothing could be worse than an abortive coup."
Chilean Army
The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
of the Chilean Army
Chilean Army
The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
at the time of the 1970 Chilean presidential election, when he was assassinated during a botched kidnapping attempt. His murder virtually assured Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
's eventual overthrow and death in a coup three years later. He also coined the doctrine of military-political mutual exclusivity that became known as the Schneider Doctrine
Schneider Doctrine
Schneider Doctrine was a political doctrine originally espoused by Chilean General René Schneider, which allowed the election of Salvador Allende as President of Chile, and was the main ideological obstacle to a military coup d'état against him.-Background:...
.
Background
He was born in Concepción, ChileConcepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
, as a descendant of ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
immigrants, and joined the army in 1929. After a brilliant career, he was named Commander-in-Chief on October 27, 1969, by President
President of Chile
The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...
Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Frei Montalva was a Chilean political leader of world stature. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the Senate, and president of Chile from 1964 to 1970...
, as a result the so called "Tacna agreement".
In 1970, the prospect of Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
winning the Chilean presidency was highly controversial, particularly within the Chilean military, because of his Marxist ideology. Schneider had expressed firm opposition to the idea of preventing Allende's inauguration by means of a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
; as a constitutionalist, he wished to preserve the military's apolitical history.
Assassination
After the 1970 Chilean presidential election, a plot to kidnap Schneider was developed. "Neutralizing" Schneider became a key prerequisite for a military coup; he opposed any intervention by the armed forces to block Allende's constitutional election. The U.S. Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) supplied a group of Chilean officers led by General Camilo Valenzuela
Camilo Valenzuela
Camilo Valenzuela was a Chilean General and chief of the garrison in Santiago de Chile. In 1970 he led a group that with intent to stop the newly elected Salvador Allende from being inaugurated as president, tried to kidnap constitutionalist Army Commander-in-Chief René Schneider...
with "sterile" weapons for the operation which was to be blamed on Allende supporters and prompt a military takeover.
First and second attempts
On October 16, 1970, based on an anonymous tip on Schneider's whereabouts, the first group attempted to kidnap him from his home. The tip turned out to be false as he had been on vacation since two days earlier and didn't return till the next day.On the evening of October 19, 1970, a second group of coup-plotters loyal to General Roberto Viaux
Roberto Viaux
Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio was a Chilean Army General and the primary planner in two failed coup d'état attempts in Chile in 1969 and 1970...
, equipped with tear gas grenades attempted to grab Schneider as he left an official dinner. The attempt failed because he left in a private car and not the expected official vehicle. The failure produced an extremely significant cable from CIA headquarters in Washington to the local station, asking for urgent action because "Headquarters must respond during morning 20 October to queries from high levels." Payments of $50,000 each to Viaux and his chief associate were then authorised on the condition that they made another attempt.
Final attempt
On October 22, 1970, the coup-plotters again attempted to kidnap Schneider. His official car was ambushed at a street intersection in the capital city of Santiago. Schneider drew a gun to defend himself, and was shot point-blank several times. He was rushed to a military hospital, but the wounds proved fatal and he died three days later, on October 25.The attempt to kidnap him was because Schneider was the army Commander-in-Chief and considered a constitutionalist, which in practical terms meant that he would not support a coup. This incident and his death provoked national outrage, and caused the citizens and the military to rally behind the just-elected Allende, who was ratified by the Chilean Congress on October 24. It also helped to ensure an orderly transfer of power to Allende.
Military courts in Chile found that Schneider's death was caused by two military groups, one led by Viaux and the other by General Camilo Valenzuela
Camilo Valenzuela
Camilo Valenzuela was a Chilean General and chief of the garrison in Santiago de Chile. In 1970 he led a group that with intent to stop the newly elected Salvador Allende from being inaugurated as president, tried to kidnap constitutionalist Army Commander-in-Chief René Schneider...
. Viaux and Valenzuela were eventually convicted of charges of conspiring to cause a coup, and Viaux also was convicted of kidnapping. The lawsuit asserted that the CIA had aided both groups, but the charges were never satisfactorily proved, with the exception of the tens of thousands of dollars and also machine guns given to them by the CIA.
On October 26, 1970, President Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Frei Montalva
Eduardo Frei Montalva was a Chilean political leader of world stature. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the Senate, and president of Chile from 1964 to 1970...
named General Carlos Prats
Carlos Prats
General Carlos Prats González was a Chilean Army officer, a political figure, minister and Vice President of Chile during President Salvador Allende's government, and General Augusto Pinochet's predecessor as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army...
as Commander-in-Chief to replace Schneider. Ironically this happened at the same time that $35,000 were given by the CIA to the kidnappers as "humanitarian" assistance.
American involvement
A [CIA] "group was set up in Langley, VirginiaLangley, Virginia
Langley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.The community was essentially absorbed into McLean many years ago, although there is still a Langley High School...
, with the express purpose of running a "two track" policy for Chile: one the ostensible diplomatic one and the other - unknown to the State Department or the US ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry - a strategy of destabilisation, kidnap and assassination, designed to provoke a military coup."
"On October 15, 1970, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
was told of an extremist right-wing officer named Viaux, who had ties to Patria y Libertad Fatherland and Liberty
Fatherland and Liberty
The Fatherland and Liberty Nationalist Front was a nationalist and authoritarian political and paramilitary group...
, a quasi-fascist group intent on defying the election results) and who was willing to accept the secret US commission to remove Schneider...Kissinger's Track Two group authorised the supply of machine guns as well as tear gas grenades to Viaux's associates.
The CIA in Santiago kept contact with two groups inside the military, and provided guns and money for kidnapping Schneider, but the fact that he was killed during the operation effectively put an end to any further direct attempts. It is unclear whether the U.S. State Department sanctioned CIA assistance to Viaux, as declassified documents show that Kissinger and U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
had expressed intentions to withhold support over concerns that the coup would fail a week before it actually took place.
"In the October 15 memo, Kissinger and Thomas Karamessines
Thomas Karamessines
Thomas H. Karamessines was the Deputy Director for Plans of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency from July 31, 1967 until February 27, 1973. Karamessines was actively involved in the Agency's Project FUBELT to undermine the government of Chilean president Salvador Allende....
developed last-minute second thoughts about Viaux, who as late as October 13 had been given $20,000 in cash from the CIA station and promised a life insurance policy of $250,000. This offer was authorised directly from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. However, with only days to go before Allende was inaugurated, and with Nixon repeating that it was "absolutely essential that the election of Allende to the Presidency be thwarted", the pressure on the plotters became intense. As a direct consequence, especially after the warm words of encouragement he had been given, Viaux felt himself under some obligation to deliver also, and to disprove those who had doubted him.
Legal suits
On September 10, 2001 Schneider's family filed a suit against Kissinger, accusing him of collaborating with Viaux in arranging for Schneider's murder. While declassified documents show the CIA, displeased with the communistCommunist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
victory, had explored the idea of supporting Viaux in a coup attempt, they also show that the agency decided on tracking down other members of the Chilean military, deciding that a Viaux coup would fail. On October 15, 1970 Kissinger had told President Nixon that he had "turned off" plans to support Viaux, explaining that "Nothing could be worse than an abortive coup."
Footnotes and references
- Hitchens, Christopher. The Trial of Henry Kissinger. 2001. Verso.
External links
- Official biography
- Charles Judson Harwood Jr., The murder of René Schneider
- First Coup Attempt
- Freedom of Information Page
- Christian C. Gustafson, Reexamining the Record: CIA Machinations in Chile in 1970
- Online News Hour http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/images/latin_america/chile/documents3.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/chile/documents/&h=144&w=267&sz=8&hl=en&start=679&um=1&tbnid=0quPUwUAJT5-xM:&tbnh=61&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRen%25C3%25A9%2BSchneider%26start%3D660%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2007-16,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DNDocuments on Chile]
