The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said Friday it would keep secret certain documents concerning the 1973 military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile.
"We will be releasing some documents but also we will be holding some documents pending further review and evaluation," CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher told AFP.
"We have an obligation to protect sources and methods," she said.
The CIA and other federal agencies are expected to release another batch of Chile-related documents on September 14th, as part of an effort by the administration of President Bill Clinton to shed light on the US role in the coup that toppled the government of Socialist President Salvador Allende.
About 3,000 opponents to the Chilean military regime were killed, abducted or disappeared during Pinochet's 17-year rule, according to human rights organizations.
While numerous witnesses and scholars insist the CIA was behind the Pinochet coup, Guilsher indicated the agency would produce documents that would rebut these allegations.
"Some of the documents that are going to be released discuss our non-involvement in that 1973 coup," she said.
The CIA announcement Friday drew immediate criticism from those who believe the United States played a more sinister role in Pinochet's coming to power than it has admitted.
Peter Kornbluh, who directs research on Chile at the independent National Security Archive, accused the US intelligence agency of trying to conceal the truth.
"The CIA is attempting to cover up its own role in the political violence and human rights abuses that took place in Chile," he said.
"All of the documents that recall the US role in promoting, orchestrating and financing political violence in Chile during the Allende period and in the first years of the Pinochet regime have been withheld," said Kornbluh.
He added that according to his information, the CIA and other US government agencies have decided not to declassify between 1,000 and 1,600 documents dealing with specific US covert operations in Chile aimed at undermining the Allende government and paving the way for the Pinochet dictatorship.
Kornbluh said that although the US government on September 14 will release over 1,500 other documents relating to Chile, he does not anticipate that the CIA's share in that release will exceed a few dozen papers.
The CIA papers released will cover primarily the Pinochet regime's human rights abuses in the 1980s, he said.
"But what is going to be missing is a critical part of history, which is the US role in undermining democracy in Chile, promoting political violence and supporting Pinochet when he came to power," said Kornbluh - WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
