U.S. backed coup of Hugo Banzer in Bolivia in 1971

Havana, Abi
There are several sites dedicated to English Bolivia and related topics. One is Abiding in Bolivia, where he published an exclusive report on the collaboration of former U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger with Hugo Banzer's coup in 1971, according to a digital site Debate Cuba on Monday.

He added that in this report were translated some minutes of the meeting of July 8, 1971 the Committee of 40 (a group of the executive branch headed by Henry Kissinger and supervising covert operations), which included discussion of a proposal the CIA to give $ 140,000 to a group of opposition politicians and military leaders knew money would be used to overthrow President Juan Jose Torres.

Torres was overthrown in a coup d'etat on August 21, 1971, led by then Colonel Hugo Banzer. Went into exile, first to Peru, then Chile and finally Argentina. He was kidnapped and murdered in Buenos Aires on June 2, 1976, in the context of Operation Condor, an exchange of spies and information among the Latin American dictatorships of the time, headed by the autocrat of Chile, Augusto Pinochet.

The report states that although the committee decided to wait until you hear the Ambassador Ernest Siracusa (who opposed the measure), the coup plan was finally approved. The same day as the coup began in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, an employee of the NSC [National Security Council] informed Kissinger that the CIA had transferred money to two senior members of the opposition.

The proposal by the CIA had its roots in a June conversation between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, which decided that the concessions to the Bolivian left Torres had gone too far:

According to the minutes, this is the summary of the conversation:

Kissinger: We have a major problem in Bolivia, as well.

Nixon: So I understand. Connally was mentioned. What do you do?

Kissinger: I told [the Second Planning Director of the CIA, Thomas] Karamessines you start an operation immediately. Even the ambassador there, who has been a little loose, now says that we should start playing with the military there, or the thing goes down the sewer.

Nixon: Uh-huh.

Kissinger: You must deliver on Monday.

Nixon: Karamessines What do we need? A coup?

Kissinger: We will see what is possible in the context that is. Within two months we have moved. It escaped the Peace Corps, which is an asset of ours, but now want to kick the USIA and the military people. I do not know if we can even think of a blow but we have to see what it looks like the ground there.

The CIA almost certainly was right that, apart from any U.S. involvement,? An attempt to get Torres in the coming months, if not before, [was] inevitable.? But, while recognizing that support the coup was one? High-risk operation?, Decided that would be hung like that ewe lamb:

The U.S. government is the logical culprit in the minds of Bolivians. What's more, we fully expect the CIA will come under fire, and that seems inevitable accusations of CIA involvement. Since the CIA has been accused regularly (and falsely) of countless plots and activities in Bolivia, an accusation should not cause an excessive public reaction.

The report adds that on 26 August, three days after Banzer declared in power, Kissinger and Nixon spoke on the phone. Kissinger summarized for the president's recent meeting with the widows of soldiers killed in action in Viet Nam, and the president told Kissinger that "The problem with Reagan is very clear. It really is simplistic.? At the end of the conversation, Kissinger said that? In Bolivia has been a hit. Has led to a right-wing government?.

Nixon's response was:? And what about Chile?