Camilo Valenzuela was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an General and chief of the garrison in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. In 1970 he led a group that with intent to stop the newly

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

from being inaugurated as president, tried to kidnap

constitutionalist Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

Army Commander-in-Chief

René Schneider General René Schneider Chereau (; December 31, 1913 – October 25, 1970) was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army at the time of the 1970 Chilean presidential election, when he was assassinated during a botched kidnapping attempt. He ...

. General Camilo Valenzuela met with other heads of the armed forces of Chile, previously contacted by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

ONI An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...

, as Admiral

José Toribio Merino José Toribio Merino Castro (December 14, 1915 – August 30, 1996) was an admiral of the Chilean Navy who was one of the principal leaders of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, along with General Augusto Pinochet of the Army, General Gustavo Le ...

. Other officials contacted were the Admiral Hugo Tirado, General of Carabineros Vicente Huerta Celis, Colonel Igualt and a group of civilians. On October 19, 1970, the group, supplied with tear gas grenades delivered by the

, made an attempt to kidnap Schneider as he was leaving a

bachelor party A bachelor party (in the United States and sometimes in Canada), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia), is a party held/arranged by th ...

. But the attempt failed because Schneider left in a private car and not the expected official vehicle. A second attempt October 20 was also unsuccessful. The CIA assured Valenzuela that " USG support for anti-Allende action continues." But they also concluded: "since Valenzuela’s group is apparently having considerable difficulty executing even the first step of its coup plan, the prospect for a coup succeeding or even occurring before 24 October he day for the Congressional votenow appears remote."

Church Committee The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence ...

''Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders''
November 1975, page 245. At 2 a.m., October 22,

machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

were handed over from the CIA to Valenzuela's group. But before Valenzuela could make a new kidnap attempt, Schneider was shot later that day by a group led by

Roberto Viaux Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio (May 25, 1917 in Talca – September 5, 2005 in Santiago) was a Chilean Army General and the primary planner of two attempted coup d'états in Chile in 1969 and 1970. The first was against President Eduardo Frei ...

, and died three days later in hospital. (The weapons supplied to Valenzuela were not used in the killing.) Following the shooting, Valenzuela was appointed "Jefe del Plaza for Law and Order"/chief of Santiago province and Schneider was succeeded by General

Carlos Prats Carlos Prats González (; February 24, 1915 – September 30, 1974) was a Chilean Army officer and politician. He served as a minister in Salvador Allende's government while Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. Immediately after General August ...

. On October 24 the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

confirmed Allende as president. The attempts to prevent Salvador Allende from taking office had failed. Military courts in Chile found that Schneider's death was caused by two military groups, one led by Roberto Viaux and the other by Camilo Valenzuela. Viaux and Valenzuela were convicted of charges of conspiring to cause a coup, and Viaux also was convicted of kidnapping. The CIA aided both groups, the lawsuit said.

References

Hitchens, Christopher Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

"Why has he got away with it?"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', February 24, 2001. *Gustafson, Christian C.
Reexamining the Record: CIA Machinations in Chile in 1970

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valenzuela, Camilo Chilean Army generals Year of birth missing Possibly living people