Conditions and Events That Brought Salvador Allende to Power in 1970 Essay

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Salvador Allende ran for the Chilean presidency four times, in 1952, 1958, 1964, and 1970. In every election the U.S. government and U.S. businesses, which had significant elections in Chili, worked to defeat Allende. They did this by passing funds to assist his political opponents and by encouraging and training the Chilean military. Despite the U.S.’s efforts, Allende finished in first out of four candidates in the election of 1970.
Allende’s plurality in the election resulted in his confirmation as president by the National Congress of Chile. Chili elects its president and congress in alternative years. When Allende came to office the congress was controlled by his oppositions, the Christian Democratic Party. The Conservative Right congress (the Christian Democratic Party), felt they had no choice but to vote for Allende after the truth came out about the assassination of General Schneider.
In order to prevent Allende’s succession to presidency, the CIA began to pass weapons & funds to a small paramilitary organization of right winged forces. A plan was made for the group to either kidnap or assassin the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army, General Schneider. The blame was supposed to be put on the Left Party and it was supposed to show that the Left Party could not be trusted. It was also supposed to demonstrate early on that Allende’s election would lead to chaos. The hope was that it would persuade the Christian Democrats to vote against Allende. But the plan
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