(USNewsMag.com) – Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Chile’s 1973 coup, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for documents related to the coup to be declassified by the United States.
Ocasio-Cortez has introduced legislation to declassify documents related to Chile’s coup. President Gabriel Boric’s spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, stated that the Chilean government has made a similar request.
While on a trip to the Chilean capital of Santiago with a delegation of lawmakers, Ocasio-Cortez stated the documents could shed light on the United States’ involvement in the Sept. 11, 1973, coup against former President Salvador Allende.
Vallejo stated that the request seeks to declassify documents from the Nixon administration, which include testimony from the director of the CIA. According to Vallejo, the documents will show that the United States was “involved in the planning of the civil and military coup.”
After a visit to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Texas Rep. Greg Casar stated that recognizing the “truth” that “the United States was involved” with both the coup and the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet was important. The museum honors the victims of the dictatorship of Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. Under the Pinochet regime, more than 3,000 people were killed and more than 25,000 were tortured by the government. Years after his death and years after the end of his rule, Pinochet still has supporters.
Before stopping in Chile, the delegation traveled to Brazil and will next stop in Colombia. According to Ocasio-Cortez, the goal of the trip was to begin to change “the relationship between the United States and Chile” as well as the whole region of Latin America.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research, which is a think tank based in Washington, sponsored the delegation’s trip to South America. The delegation, which included Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez, and Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, also met with Santiago Mayor Irac Hassler.
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