Editing Salvador Allende (section)

==Presidency==
Allende’s presidency aimed to transform Chile through democratic socialism but faced intense domestic and international opposition.

	•	Key Policies:
	◦	Nationalization: Allende nationalized the copper industry, Chile’s economic backbone, without compensation to U.S. firms, prompting lawsuits and U.S. retaliation. He also nationalized banks, telecommunications, and other industries.
	◦	Land Reform: His government accelerated agrarian reform, redistributing land to peasants, which alienated wealthy landowners.
	◦	Social Programs: Allende expanded healthcare, education, and housing, increasing wages and providing free milk to schoolchildren. These measures boosted his popularity among the working class but strained the economy.
	◦	Foreign Policy: Allende strengthened ties with Cuba, the Soviet Union, and non-aligned nations, hosting Fidel Castro in 1971. This alarmed the U.S., which viewed Chile as a potential Soviet foothold in Latin America.

	•	Opposition and U.S. Interference:
	◦	Domestic Resistance: Chile’s conservative elites, including the military, media, and business sectors, opposed Allende’s reforms. Strikes by truckers and copper workers, often funded by the CIA, disrupted the economy. Inflation soared (150% by 1973), and shortages fueled unrest.
	◦	CIA Operations: Declassified U.S. documents confirm the CIA’s role in destabilizing Allende’s government. Under Nixon and Henry Kissinger, the CIA spent $8 million on propaganda, funding opposition parties, and supporting media like El Mercurio. Track I and Track II operations aimed to block Allende’s election and, later, orchestrate a coup. The CIA also supported the 1970 assassination of General René Schneider, a constitutionalist military leader, to provoke a preemptive coup.