12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos LATINO Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos His support of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile is his “Achilles’ heel ” a scholar says while in the U S the Vietnam War was one of the sparks of the Chicano movement Chilean President Augusto Pinochet greets Secretary of State Harry Kissinger on his arrival at the president's office on June 8 1976 Bettmann Bettmann Archive Nov 30 2023 10 02 AM EST https www nbcnews com news latino henry-kissinger-policies-chile-vietnam-deep-impact-latin-america-us-l-rcna127356 1 6 12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos By Raul A Reyes Henry Kissinger’s influence in Latin America is a controversial aspect of the former secretary of state and presidential adviser’s legacy following his death at 100 In his powerful roles in two administrations Kissinger impacted the lives of millions of Latin Americans and U S Latinos And under President Richard Nixon his fruitless efforts to win the Vietnam War helped indirectly fuel the rise of the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s Stephen G Rabe professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Dallas is the author of “Kissinger and Latin America Intervention Human Rights and Diplomacy ” published in 2020 He described Kissinger’s legacy in the Americas as “very very mixed but more positive than most people give him credit for ” Rabe noted that Kissinger helped resolve economic and trade disputes with Mexico Ecuador Peru and Venezuela Kissinger helped formulate the basic outlines of the Panama Canal Treaty an agreement signed during the Carter administration to return the canal to Panamanian control Henry Kissinger former secretary of state dies at 100 But Kissinger is best known for his support of the right-wing dictatorships that spread across Latin America in the 1970s For this reason Rabe said that many Latin Americans perceive https www nbcnews com news latino henry-kissinger-policies-chile-vietnam-deep-impact-latin-america-us-l-rcna127356 2 6 12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos Kissinger “as a war criminal their fury at him is still so strong ” “By and large it would be fair to say that most Latin Americans consider Kissinger the most destructive force in the history of inter-American relations ” Rabe said Kissinger oversaw foreign policy at a time when the U S supported dictatorships in countries like Argentina greenlighting their harsh crackdown on dissidents He helped destabilize governments throughout the region including Bolivia Uruguay and — most notably — Chile ‘Chile will be known as his Achilles’ heel’ The reality in Latin America during this time was starkly at odds with Kissinger’s refined image as a global statesman As Graciela Mochkofsky wrote in The Atlantic in 2016 about South America during the 1970s “Tens of thousands of people were tortured and killed in clandestine camps their bodies dumped from planes into rivers their children given away under false identities ” Peter Kornbluh director of the Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects at the National Security Archive told NBC News that “Henry Kissinger’s legacy in Latin America is a dark one and that’s because he didn’t give a damn about human rights He had no problem dealing with and supporting some of the most cutthroat dictatorships in the history of the region And Chile will be known as his Achilles’ heel forever ” According to Kornbluh Kissinger was the chief architect of efforts to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile “He Kissinger became the chief enabler of Gen Augusto Pinochet when he took power in 1973 The documentation that has been declassified on this is unequivocal ” Under Pinochet’s regime in Chile thousands of people were tortured and over 3 000 people died or disappeared due to political violence An estimated 200 000 Chileans fled into exile in Europe and the U S Such emigration became part of a broader pattern throughout Central and South America whereby U S intervention in Latin America led to waves of immigration to cities like Los Angeles Miami and Washington D C “In Latin America Kissinger will be remembered and recognized for undermining democracy and human rights ” Kornbluh said Yet the denunciations over what critics called Kissinger’s disregard for human rights led to such rights subsequently becoming an institutionalized criteria of U S foreign policy according to Kornbluh https www nbcnews com news latino henry-kissinger-policies-chile-vietnam-deep-impact-latin-america-us-l-rcna127356 3 6 12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos “The laws that are in place now bringing aid to countries that support human rights came out of the repulsion in Congress of Kissinger’s embrace of Pinochet ” he said Vietnam’s casualties and the Chicano movement When he served as national security adviser under Nixon Kissinger’s policies in Southeast Asia had a profound effect on U S Latinos In 1970 Latinos were about 5% of the U S population numbering 9 6 million But as the war in Vietnam escalated Latinos were increasingly making up a disproportionate number of casualties  Some Latinos proudly served their country in Vietnam only to become disillusioned with the war itself “It was a super-patriotic time at first ” recalled Carlos Muñoz Jr professor emeritus at the University of California Berkeley “I served in Army intelligence and it was a radical experience for me I saw what the administration was doing and I came to feel that it the war never should have occurred So many of my friends and colleagues died needless deaths ” Recommended U S NEWS Sean 'Diddy' Combs accused in third lawsuit this month of sexually assaulting a woman AMERICA'S DIVERSE VOTE In battleground Arizona a Latino radio station takes on the fight against political disinformation After he served Muñoz and some of his fellow “veteranos” became anti-war activists “Once I was discharged I started protesting in the street In a very real sense the anti-war movement was the beginning of the Chicano movement Hundreds of people would take to the streets as the movement grew but not everyone realizes that Chicano veterans were there at the beginning ” Such activism included the National Chicano Moratorium a march in East Los Angeles in 1970 protesting the high number of Mexican American casualties in Vietnam https www nbcnews com news latino henry-kissinger-policies-chile-vietnam-deep-impact-latin-america-us-l-rcna127356 4 6 12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos “To be fair no matter who was serving in his Kissinger’s position it was a losing proposition ” Muñoz reflected “The war was simply killing too many of our Chicano boys It was just an imperialistic war ” In this sense Kissinger’s policies in Southeast Asia can be viewed as indirectly boosting the burgeoning struggle for Mexican American civil rights at home Despite Kissinger’s fierce anti-communist stance declassified documents published in the book “Back Channel to Cuba” by Kornbluh and William LeoGrande recounted how Kissinger secretly pursued normalized relations with Cuba in the mid-1970s But Kissinger abandoned such efforts in 1976 in the wake of Cuba’s military support for the newly independent nation of Angola in Africa If Cuba’s military presence in Africa expanded Kissinger told President Gerald Ford the U S might have to “smash Castro ” He favored “clobbering” the country with military force and drew up contingency plans in 1976 for a possible U S attack on the island These plans were never implemented as Democrat Jimmy Carter was elected president later that year In 1983 under President Ronald Reagan Kissinger headed up a commission charged with studying the problems in Central America and proposing solutions to them His commission recommended that the U S mount a large economic aid program to the area Kissinger was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 and received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 Late in life he became something of a foreign policy oracle with lawmakers such as Marco Rubio seeking his counsel For more from NBC Latino sign up for our weekly newsletter and also visit and bookmark our section front Raul A Reyes Raul A Reyes a lawyer is a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors He has written for The New York Times the Los Angeles Times The Christian Science Monitor Texas Monthly and the Huffington Post ABOUT CA NOTICE https www nbcnews com news latino henry-kissinger-policies-chile-vietnam-deep-impact-latin-america-us-l-rcna127356 5 6 12 1 23 3 23 PM Henry Kissinger’s policies on Chile Vietnam had deep impact on Latin America U S Latinos CONTACT TERMS OF 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