Cuba. In view of this situation, the Armed Forces were compelled to intervene in order to avoid a serious civil war.

In September, the Armed Forces asked Allende to resign. He was offered the necessary facilities to leave the country with whomever he would like to accompany him. During that morning [September 11, 1973], Allende broadcast by radio repeated calls to his army or paramilitary force to come to his defense. These people were holed-up or fortified in various industrial facilities which had been illegally nationalized by the government. These factories formed sort of an industrial circle which was the outer boundary of the capital. Each of these industries had become a military strongpoint of Allende's "Popular Army."

At 11 o'clock on the 11th day of September, the Armed Forces addressed an ultimatum to President Allende to resign. Allende refused and immediately thereafter, the air force, using British attack planes, threw or

Mr. WHITE. Fired?

Mr. OTERO [continuing]. Fired two bombs on the Moneda Palace. They employed retarded explosion rockets which exploded a few moments after they were fired, in order not to destroy the palace. However, Allende had accumulated such a considerable amount of explosives in the palace, that these were detonated by the rockets. This was the only building partially destroyed in the course of the events of that day.

All of the personnel, military or otherwise, left in the presidential palace, the Moneda Palace, surrendered. Only President Allende's secretary and his personal doctor remained in the palace.

At approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the fires which developed in the building climbed up to the very offices of the President. He then took hold of a small machinegun that had been presented to him as a gift by Fidel Castro. He sat down on the sofa. He placed the machinegun on the floor and put its cannon under his chin.

Mr. WHITE. The barrel?

Mr. OTERO. The barrel. He fired, practically destroying his head. The remains of the cerebral mass and blood and so forth were projected as far as several feet away, on the walls of the building.

This fact and the autopsies which were performed by people belonging to the Allende administration show the absolute fact that Allende committed suicide.

In the meantime, none of his supposed supporters came out into the street to offer any defense at all. There was no resistance. There was no streetfighting of any kind. This explains the very small number of casualties that occurred that day because most of the shooting took place in the air over the buildings and there was no streetfighting. Mr. WHITE. Mr. Otero, what part, if any, did foreign influence have on this action of September 11?

Mr. OTERO. In the military process or coup, there was no participation of any foreign influence whatsoever. It was purely an independent effort. On the other hand, what we call the countercoup, that is, the coup 1 that Allende's administration had prepared [i.e., slated for the following week] as the constitutional regime of Chile was directed and organized with the participation of foreign elements and Allende had even invited a group of journalists, Communist or liberal journalists,

1 See Plan Z in the "White Book", exhibit No. 4, pp. 2657-2680.

whatever you want to call them, to be present. This explains, from a journalistic point of view, what had actually happened.

In other words, in a hotel directly opposite the presidential palace, at that moment, there were some 30 foreign journalists of Communist inclinations. They had been told that shortly a civil war, similar to the one in Spain [1936–39], would be unleashed in Chile. So, that morning when the journalists witnessed the approach of a tank on the palace and the bombings of the air force, they believed the civil war was starting. Consequently, they began, immediately, to send reports to their papers and other news media guessing at the number of casualties that would have occurred in case a civil war had really taken place. This explains why many foreign reviews, some in the United States, and some in Europe, published reports of thousands and thousands of casualties, tens of thousands, which they, the journalists, had never witnessed because not a single newsman left the hotel. These journalists acted at that time and continue to act today with entire freedom. They can write anything they want to and send any photographs they choose. However, they have been unable to send home any photographic materials showing the bombardment of buildings and factories of which they had spoken in their reports.

This occasioned damage not only to Chile, but to democratic countries in general. Such damage is irreparable. Chile is the only country in the world that arose against a communist government and brought it down unaided and with a minimum of casualties. If Korea or Vietnam had been able to accomplish what was done in Chile, many tens of thousands of American boys would not have died in those countries.

Because Chile alone waged this battle against communism and won it, it is now being accused of being a bloodthirsty people, slaughterers. I would be very pleased should the committee desire me to offer any additional information, documents, papers, and so forth and they may ask any questions they wish.'

Mr. ASHBROOK. Does counsel have any further questions at this point?

Mr. WHITE. Going back to a few months before the overthrow of the Allende government, what was the economic condition of the country with regard to consumer goods, food, oil, clothing?

Mr. OTERO. The economic situation, from the view of the people in general, was disastrous. In order to feed themselves the people had to park in front of the shop at 5 o'clock in the morning in order to buy one chicken a week, or 2 pounds of bread.

Mr. WHITE. Every other day?

Mr. OTERO. Every other day.

Sometimes, occasionally, a couple of pounds of sugar a week and one or two boxes of soap a week, washing soap. There is no wine in the country famous for its production of wine because the bottles were sent to Cuba. There was no fishing because the fish were caught and processed by Soviet fishing vessels and taken to the Soviet Union. We had no cigarettes because we imported tobacco. We manufactured cigarettes which were sent to Cuba and Cuba would send its tobacco to Spain. We did not have canned foods, which are very popular in

1 Mr. Otero subsequently submitted the official version, released by the Chilean Military Council or Junta, of the "White Book of the Change of Government in Chile" which described the events leading up to the September 11 countercoup. Selected passages from the "White Book" constitute exhibit No. 4. For another treatment of these events, see App. B, a statement made by the Chilean Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vice-Admiral Ismael Huerta before the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, Oct. 9, 1973.

Chile, because they were also sent to Cuba and the Soviet Union. In other words, the people of Chile were subjected to hunger for the benefit of other communist countries.

As a further commentary on the economic situation, I would like to refer to inflation, which, up to September 1973, the ninth month of 1973, had reached 300 percent. The Marxists have said that the economic collapse of Chile was due to the lack of foreign assistance and foreign help.

Now, when Allende took possession, the dollar reserves of Chile were $2 billion. When Allende fell, the foreign debt had reached the sum of $3.5 billion. In other words, in 3 years of Marxist rule, the foreign debt of the country rose to a figure equivalent to the foreign debt during all the independent life of the country [163 years].

Mr. WHITE. Why did you not import goods to Chile during this period?

Mr. OTERO. Food was imported from the Soviet Union but this food was rationed to the people because Allende was accumulating, during the latter months, food for his private, paramilitary army, in view of [his preparation for] the civil war. Proof of this is that since the coup, the country has been feeding itself on this hidden stock of food that Allende had put aside for his purposes.

Mr. WHITE. Will you tell the committee what happened to copper production during this period?

Mr. OTERO. The production of copper dropped markedly due to three factors: The first is that the two big copper mines were nationalized and a considerable part of the working day was devoted to the indoctrination of the workers. Furthermore, because the Marxist government reduced the remuneration of its technicians to $1,000 a month, the best experts or technicians proceeded to leave Chile and went to work in other countries, among them the Soviet Union. Third, because the Marxist regime of Allende had refused to purchase the necessary machinery in the United States-it insisted on getting it from Czechoslovakia and Russia-there was an increasing deficiency of the machinery necessary for the exploitation of the mines. Despite the fact that Allende was fortunate enough to have enjoyed one of the highest levels of copper prices in recent times, he was limited to a very small income because of the deficient production.

Mr. WHITE. What was the role of the church and the schools during the Allende period?

Mr. OTERO. The role of the church and the schools was rather confused and perhaps I am not the person to explain this, but I will try.

Are you asking the role of the church in general or the schools?

Mr. WHITE. What role did the Cardinal take and what procedures. were taken in the schools to indoctrinate children?

Mr. OTERO. The preparatory schools were run and taught by certain foreign clergymen of socialist inclination. They were used by Allende. in order to make believe that the church was supporting his government. Simultaneously, the purpose of the Cardinal, Cardinal Silva Enriquez, was his desire to avoid a civil war. This made him believe, rather naively, that he could avoid communism in Chile by assisting in public acts organized by the Marxist government of Chile, or by holding talks with President Allende. This permitted him to say later, "President Allende is lending me his ear."

31-253 O 74 pt. 5 - 2

It is true that Allende did listen to the Cardinal, but he did nothing that the Cardinal suggested. I am referring in this respect to a published article in the magazine "Twin Circle," October 24, 1971, written by a Jesuit priest, Father Dan Lyons, who released his conversations with Allende.

Mr. ASHBROOK. We will recess until 2 o'clock.

[Whereupon, at 1:10 p.m., Thursday, November 15, 1973, the hearing was recessed, to reconvene at 2 p.m. the same day.]

AFTERNOON SESSION

[The committee reconvened at 2:10 p.m., Hon. John M. Ashbrook presiding.]

TESTIMONY OF RAPHAEL OTERO, ACCOMPANIED BY DR. JUAN ANDRES LLITERAS, INTERPRETER-Resumed

Mr. ASHBROOK. I announced at 1 p.m., before we recessed, that we would reconvene at 2 p.m. As oftentimes happens in the legislative process, we ran into a rather extensive debate on the floor. We just had a vote.

Because of the importance of the testimony of the witness-and this is a bad time to receive it inasmuch as Congress is going on a recess if it is agreeable to the witness, I would like to recess his testimony until the 5th of December. I think we could do far more justice to your testimony at that time.

I apologize, but with our executive session which was lengthy, and the debate this afternoon-in fact this was about the recess-it might not have been the time to call you as a witness. But we look forward to December 5, for an extensive opportunity to ask questions and to hear further, your very illuminating testimony. Would that be all right with you, Mr. Otero?

Mr. OTERO. I want to give my thanks for the opportunity you gave me to explain some parts of the tragedy of my country under the communists and I am in a position to answer any questions you might wish to ask. I want to help in the understanding of the real problem of the communist organizations, the legal and illegal organizations, and the methods they use to destroy a democracy. Although Chile was not a very big democracy, it was really divided by the insidious ways used by the Marxists to work in the democratic countries.

Mr. ASHBROOK. Mr. Otero, I also neglected to note when I suggested we reconvene at 2 p.m. that there was scheduled a demonstration on certain aspects of bombs, letter bombs, book bombs, and so forth.

So it is, for a number of reasons, the only course the committee can take. I am glad you will be available at a later time, and subject to clearance of the Chair, we will call you for December 5.

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 2:25 p.m., Thursday, November 15, 1973, the hearing was adjourned, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.] [Editorial note: Due to several considerations, Mr. Otero was unable to return to the committee to complete his testimony. However, he submitted a statement written in Spanish which was translated for the committee by the Library of Congress concerning drug traffic to the United States. The translation is reproduced in App. C, pp. 2734-2750.]

The Committee on Internal Security met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 311, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., Hon. Claude Pepper presiding.

Committee members present: Representatives Pepper, of Florida, Roger H. Zion, of Indiana, and Tennyson Guyer, of Ohio.

Staff members present: Robert M. Horner, staff director; William H. Stapleton, assistant staff director; Robert A. Crandall, counsel; Audrey Rollins, associate to counsel; James Gallagher, minority counsel; and Herbert Romerstein, minority chief investigator.

Mr. PEPPER. The committee will come to order, please.

This hearing has been called pursuant to a resolution of the Committee on Internal Security, dated February 20, 1973, authorizing continued investigation and hearings on the subject of the theory and practice of communism. We all must recognize that important political happenings that take place in our Western Hemisphere may vitally affect the national and international policies of this country. Political events that disrupt the long established democratic traditions of our friends and neighbors in Latin America are of special importance to us, as was evident by the communist takeover of Cuba. That takeover was consummated and solidified with such stealth and rapidity that our leaders were unable to take any effective means to prevent the establishment of a communist government 90 miles from the shores of the United States. Situations such as this, particularly relating to the Western Hemisphere, must be avoided, if at all possible. I have often wondered, if we could have prevented the communist takeover of Cuba and China, look at the different situations that we would have as far as our own country is concerned. Therefore, it is incumbent upon this country to determine how such events can occur and particularly the means and methods that bring about such an

event.

Today's hearing is specifically directed to examining the actual practices and methods that brought about the collapse of the MarxistLeninist regime of Salvador Allende in Chile. The Allende government came to power through the process of free elections in a country of long democratic traditions. However, within only 3 years, Allende and his