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Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)
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Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)
Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, an armed leftist resistance movement against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship developed until 1990 when democracy was restored. This conflict was part of the South American theater in the Cold War, with the United States backing the Chilean military and the Soviet Union backing the guerrillas. The main armed resistance groups of the period were the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR), the armed wing of the Communist Party of Chile. These groups had a long-standing rivalry, including over Marxist orthodoxy and its implementation.
Key events during the armed resistance were the attempt to set up guerrilla camps around Neltume from 1970 to 1973 and from 1980 to 1981, the February 1986 sabotaging of the Limache train tracks, the Carrizal Bajo arms smuggling operation in August 1986 and the attempted killing of Pinochet in September that same year. After the return to democracy was initiated in 1990 the bulk of the armed groups demobilized. However, splinter groups that reportedly switched targets after the dictatorship fell, continued to carry out assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and armed robberies until 2010.
The insurgency was supported by Cuba, Libya, Nicaragua and North Korea (the Warsaw Pact states provided minor financial assistance), while the Chilean security forces were backed by the United States.
The first major action by the MIR took place in September 1967 during violent clashes between MIR-led students from the University of Concepción and riot police. Carabineros were seeking to arrest those responsible for destroying a police vehicle, but students reorganized and kidnapped carabinier Héctor Gutiérrez Orellana. Chilean president Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva sought to defuse the situation through intermediaries and obtained the release of the policeman in exchange for dropping charges against students earlier arrested in the confrontations.
During 1968, the MIR presence continued to be felt in various universities with armed actions increasing in 1969 through multiple acts of vandalism, intimidation and physical assaults on conservative/right wing students and faculty members. On 1 May 1969, fifteen MIR activists armed with knives took over the Bio Bio radio station in Concepción and transmitted a special broadcast calling for the locals to take up arms and overthrow the government of Frei. On 2 May 1969, MIR activists operating in Concepción attacked the branches of National City Bank, the building of the La Patria newspaper and the offices of the Weigner Stein business.
In June 1969, the MIR kidnapped journalist Hernán Osses Santa María, Director of the Noticias de la Tarde in nearby Talcahuano (15.6 kilometres), in an effort to silence the in depth reporting on the leftist violence in Concepción. Police Investigations and Carabineros soon surrounded the University of Concepción and forced the students to release the newspaper director unharmed. A specially appointed judge was soon named and a criminal suit was filed with the Courts of Appeals of Concepción against the MIR and 13 of its identified leaders for breaking the Law of Interior Security of the State. The "fugitives from justice-list" consisted of Luciano Cruz, Miguel Enríquez, Marcello Ferrada de Noli, José Goñi (later Chile's ambassador to the U.S.), Nelson Gutiérrez, Aníbal Matamala, Bautista van Schouwen, Arturo Villabela and other five.
Consequently, the MIR had no option but to go largely underground and into hiding. In the ensuing police and military operations against the MIR, a guerrilla training camp is discovered in San José de Maipo (Guayacán) and another at Corral (Chaihuín). Nevertheless, MIR guerrillas continue to operate, and in Santiago alone carry out 12 armed robberies of banks and businesses between August 1969 and September 1970 to finance their operations.
The Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) were absolved of criminal charges under an amnesty under the Popular Unity (Unidad Popular or UP) government of Allende and was allowed to operate again openly, encouraging and carrying out illegal expropriations of farms and businesses, and assaulting outspoken conservatives/rightist members of the public and security forces. According to police figures submitted to the Chilean senate, 1,458 farms were illegally occupied between November 1970 and December 1971. Starting in the southern provinces of Cautin and Malleco the MIR organized a series of armed takeovers or tomas working slowly northwards up into the provinces of Nuble and Linares and eventually Santiago.
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Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)
Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, an armed leftist resistance movement against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship developed until 1990 when democracy was restored. This conflict was part of the South American theater in the Cold War, with the United States backing the Chilean military and the Soviet Union backing the guerrillas. The main armed resistance groups of the period were the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR), the armed wing of the Communist Party of Chile. These groups had a long-standing rivalry, including over Marxist orthodoxy and its implementation.
Key events during the armed resistance were the attempt to set up guerrilla camps around Neltume from 1970 to 1973 and from 1980 to 1981, the February 1986 sabotaging of the Limache train tracks, the Carrizal Bajo arms smuggling operation in August 1986 and the attempted killing of Pinochet in September that same year. After the return to democracy was initiated in 1990 the bulk of the armed groups demobilized. However, splinter groups that reportedly switched targets after the dictatorship fell, continued to carry out assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and armed robberies until 2010.
The insurgency was supported by Cuba, Libya, Nicaragua and North Korea (the Warsaw Pact states provided minor financial assistance), while the Chilean security forces were backed by the United States.
The first major action by the MIR took place in September 1967 during violent clashes between MIR-led students from the University of Concepción and riot police. Carabineros were seeking to arrest those responsible for destroying a police vehicle, but students reorganized and kidnapped carabinier Héctor Gutiérrez Orellana. Chilean president Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva sought to defuse the situation through intermediaries and obtained the release of the policeman in exchange for dropping charges against students earlier arrested in the confrontations.
During 1968, the MIR presence continued to be felt in various universities with armed actions increasing in 1969 through multiple acts of vandalism, intimidation and physical assaults on conservative/right wing students and faculty members. On 1 May 1969, fifteen MIR activists armed with knives took over the Bio Bio radio station in Concepción and transmitted a special broadcast calling for the locals to take up arms and overthrow the government of Frei. On 2 May 1969, MIR activists operating in Concepción attacked the branches of National City Bank, the building of the La Patria newspaper and the offices of the Weigner Stein business.
In June 1969, the MIR kidnapped journalist Hernán Osses Santa María, Director of the Noticias de la Tarde in nearby Talcahuano (15.6 kilometres), in an effort to silence the in depth reporting on the leftist violence in Concepción. Police Investigations and Carabineros soon surrounded the University of Concepción and forced the students to release the newspaper director unharmed. A specially appointed judge was soon named and a criminal suit was filed with the Courts of Appeals of Concepción against the MIR and 13 of its identified leaders for breaking the Law of Interior Security of the State. The "fugitives from justice-list" consisted of Luciano Cruz, Miguel Enríquez, Marcello Ferrada de Noli, José Goñi (later Chile's ambassador to the U.S.), Nelson Gutiérrez, Aníbal Matamala, Bautista van Schouwen, Arturo Villabela and other five.
Consequently, the MIR had no option but to go largely underground and into hiding. In the ensuing police and military operations against the MIR, a guerrilla training camp is discovered in San José de Maipo (Guayacán) and another at Corral (Chaihuín). Nevertheless, MIR guerrillas continue to operate, and in Santiago alone carry out 12 armed robberies of banks and businesses between August 1969 and September 1970 to finance their operations.
The Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) were absolved of criminal charges under an amnesty under the Popular Unity (Unidad Popular or UP) government of Allende and was allowed to operate again openly, encouraging and carrying out illegal expropriations of farms and businesses, and assaulting outspoken conservatives/rightist members of the public and security forces. According to police figures submitted to the Chilean senate, 1,458 farms were illegally occupied between November 1970 and December 1971. Starting in the southern provinces of Cautin and Malleco the MIR organized a series of armed takeovers or tomas working slowly northwards up into the provinces of Nuble and Linares and eventually Santiago.
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