In a stunning development that aired on CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ earlier this month it was revealed that there may be a solid legal case of murder against former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The son of assassinated Chilean General Rene Schneider, Rene Schneider, Jr., has revealed a paper trail directly linking Henry Kissinger to his father’s assassination.
In a plot hatched by former President Richard Nixon, Kissinger, the CIA and the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, the alleged plan was to kidnap General Schneider and somehow prevent legally elected Salvador Allende from assuming the presidency.
However, when the kidnapping occurred, it quickly evolved into a murder. The next day numerous congratulatory cables were exchanged between Kissinger and the U.S. Embassy, according to recently declassified government documents.
Nixon’s and Kissinger’s animosity toward Schneider was based on Schneider’s allegiance to the Chilean constitution, which states that the military is always to be below the elected government. It would be unconstitutional and illegal for the Chilean military to overthrow the government.
Gen. Schneider loved and respected the Chilean democracy, the oldest democracy in Latin America. The Chileans, by electing a Socialist president, broke Washington’s and particularly Kissinger’s and Nixon’s cardinal rule, never interfere with U.S. corporate/business interests. When democracy presents a threat to U.S. capitalist and business interests, democracy has to be eliminated, as shown so explicitly in Chile’s situation.
Kissinger cites his memoirs, his published autobiographies, when questioned on this case and numerous others. Kissinger’s problem of credibility now stems from the fact that the newly declassified government records on Chile and Kissinger’s involvement in her internal affairs proves his memoirs are saturated with lies.
The possibility of Kissinger standing trial in America may open up a Pandora’s box of his own making. From his involvements in the carpet bombing of Cambodia to his culpability in mass murder in East Timor to the torture and murder of thousands in Chile, Kissinger has repeatedly proven himself to be a true enemy of democracy and human rights around the world.
Rene Schneider, Jr., may be the one to finally bring Henry Kissinger to a court of law where he can face some of the victims of his policies and actions, thus bringing about a clearer picture of his role in history.
Is Kissinger simply a noble elder statesman, as he would have us see him, or is he an aging international terrorist, as many on the Left see him? Whatever is decided, he remains completely unapologetic.
Kissinger remains a wealthy and influential man. Since being secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, he has become chief consultant in his own firm. Kissinger and Associates are said to receive $1 million per session.
He also sits on the board of directors of the controversial firm, Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, a New Orleans-based mining giant. He receives $250,000 a year from Freeport and makes frequent trips to Indonesia, where Freeport has some of its most important mines and where they have received numerous complaints of human rights and environmental abuses.
Brian McAfee is a reader in Michigan.
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