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[[File:USSR stamp Salvador Allende 1973 6k.jpg|thumb|A [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] stamp honoring Salvador Allende]]

[[File:USSR stamp Salvador Allende 1973 6k.jpg|thumb|A [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] stamp honoring Salvador Allende]]

[[File:Salvador Allende & Fidel Castro.jpg|200px|thumbnail|Salvador Allende and [[Fidel Castro]] in 1971.]]

[[File:Salvador Allende & Fidel Castro.jpg|200px|thumbnail|Salvador Allende and [[Fidel Castro]] in 1971.]]

'''Salvador Allende''' (1908-1973) was a Chilean physician and politician. He ruled as the President of [[Chile]] from 1970 to 1973. A self-proclaimed "militant socialist" and [[demagogue]], his overthrow and death are very controversial.  

'''Salvador Allende''' (1908-1973) was a Chilean medic, physician and politician who worked as an agent for the [[KGB]] since 1952.<ref name=KGB/> He ruled as the President of [[Chile]] from 1970 to 1973. A self-proclaimed "militant socialist", "marxist-leninist" and [[demagogue]], his overthrow and death are very controversial.  

==History==

==History==

During his government, Allende instituted a plan called the "Chilean way to socialism" (''La vía chilena al socialism'') or "socialism within pluralism" in attempt to address the unequal distribution of wealth in the Chilean economy, but which led to widespread disruption and social polarisation.  Upon assuming power Allende expropriated private sector business, middle class and [[bourgeois]] property and began to implement an agrarian reforms and a program to nationalise vital industry.  Allende posted some of his supporters to oversee these expropriations and nationalisation, including David Silberman <ref>http://www.jta.org/1976/02/06/archive/family-of-former-chilean-jewish-official-seeking-his-where-abouts</ref> (disappeared) who was assigned to oversee the "nationalization" of Chile's largest copper industry: Chuquicamata. The media wrote extensively of Allende's failures.  Strikes and shutdowns caused massive inflation and unrest, and the conservative-controlled Chilean Congress sought to reject Allende's proposals whenever possible, causing considerable political gridlock.

During his government, Allende instituted a plan called the "Chilean way to socialism" (''La vía chilena al socialism'') or "socialism within pluralism" in attempt to address the unequal distribution of wealth in the Chilean economy, but which led to widespread disruption and social polarisation.  Upon assuming power Allende expropriated private sector business, middle class and [[bourgeois]] property and began to implement an agrarian reforms and a program to nationalise vital industry.  Allende posted some of his supporters to oversee these expropriations and nationalisation, including David Silberman <ref>http://www.jta.org/1976/02/06/archive/family-of-former-chilean-jewish-official-seeking-his-where-abouts</ref> (disappeared) who was assigned to oversee the "nationalization" of Chile's largest copper industry: Chuquicamata. The media wrote extensively of Allende's failures.  Strikes and shutdowns caused massive inflation and unrest, and the conservative-controlled Chilean Congress sought to reject Allende's proposals whenever possible, causing considerable political gridlock.

US intelligence reports implicated Allende in the assassination of several opponents,<ref>http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf</ref> while KGB files smuggled out of Russia by [[Vasily Mitrokhin]] indicate that Allende received funds and support from the Soviet Union. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheWorldWasGoingOurWayTheKGBAndTheBattleForTheTheThirdWorld/The+World+Was+Going+Our+Way_djvu.txt|title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the the Third World|coauthors=CHRISTOPHER ANUREW and VASILI MlTROKlilN|quote=By far the most important of the KGB’s confidential contacts in South America was Salvador Allende Gossens (codenamed LEADER by the KGB),— whose election as President of Chile in 1970 was hailed by a Moscow commentator as ‘second only to the victory of the Cuban Revolution in the magnitude of its significance as a revolutionary blow to the imperialist system in Latin America’ (...) Allende had first attracted KGB attention in the early 1950s when, as leader of the Chilean Socialist Party (Partido Socialista), he had formed an alliance with the then banned Communist Party. In 1952 he stood with its support at the presidential election but won only 6 per  

US intelligence reports implicated Allende in the assassination of several opponents,<ref>http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf</ref> while KGB files smuggled out of Russia by [[Vasily Mitrokhin]] indicate that Allende received funds and support from the Soviet Union. <ref name=KGB>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheWorldWasGoingOurWayTheKGBAndTheBattleForTheTheThirdWorld/The+World+Was+Going+Our+Way_djvu.txt|title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the the Third World|coauthors=CHRISTOPHER ANUREW and VASILI MlTROKlilN|quote=By far the most important of the KGB’s confidential contacts in South America was Salvador Allende Gossens (codenamed LEADER by the KGB),— whose election as President of Chile in 1970 was hailed by a Moscow commentator as ‘second only to the victory of the Cuban Revolution in the magnitude of its significance as a revolutionary blow to the imperialist system in Latin America’ (...) Allende had first attracted KGB attention in the early 1950s when, as leader of the Chilean Socialist Party (Partido Socialista), he had formed an alliance with the then banned Communist Party. In 1952 he stood with its support at the presidential election but won only 6 per  

cent of the vote. Though there was as yet no KGB residency in Chile, a Line PR (political intelligence) officer, Svyatoslav Fyodorovich Kuznetsov (codenamed LEONID), probably operating under cover as a Novosti correspondent, made the first direct contact with Allende in the following year .— At the presidential election of 1958, standing as the candidate of a left-wing alliance, the Frente de Accion Popular (FRAP), Allende was beaten into second place by only 35,000 votes. What Allende ’s KGB file describes as ‘systematic contact’ with him began after the establishment in 1961 of a Soviet trade mission in Chile, which provided cover for a KGB presence. Allende is reported to have ‘stated his willingness to co-operate on a confidential basis and provide any necessary assistance, since he considered himself a friend of the Soviet Union. He willingly shared political information . . Though he became a KGB ‘confidential contact’, however, he was never classed as an agent. The KGB claimed some of the credit for Allende’s part in the campaign which led to the establishment of Soviet-Chilean diplomatic relations in  

cent of the vote. Though there was as yet no KGB residency in Chile, a Line PR (political intelligence) officer, Svyatoslav Fyodorovich Kuznetsov (codenamed LEONID), probably operating under cover as a Novosti correspondent, made the first direct contact with Allende in the following year .— At the presidential election of 1958, standing as the candidate of a left-wing alliance, the Frente de Accion Popular (FRAP), Allende was beaten into second place by only 35,000 votes. What Allende ’s KGB file describes as ‘systematic contact’ with him began after the establishment in 1961 of a Soviet trade mission in Chile, which provided cover for a KGB presence. Allende is reported to have ‘stated his willingness to co-operate on a confidential basis and provide any necessary assistance, since he considered himself a friend of the Soviet Union. He willingly shared political information . . Though he became a KGB ‘confidential contact’, however, he was never classed as an agent. The KGB claimed some of the credit for Allende’s part in the campaign which led to the establishment of Soviet-Chilean diplomatic relations in  

1964. — The new Soviet embassy in Santiago contained the first KGB legal residency on Chilean soil.— }}</ref>

1964. — The new Soviet embassy in Santiago contained the first KGB legal residency on Chilean soil.— }}</ref>