Podcast Summary:

Podcast: The Chris Hedges Report
Episode: How America Left Their Own to Die in the '73 Chilean Coup (w/ John Dinges)
Date: November 6, 2025
Host: Chris Hedges
Guest: John Dinges, journalist and author of Chile in Their Hearts

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the harrowing story of the 1973 Chilean coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende, with a focus on the fate of two idealistic young Americans, Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, who were executed by the Chilean military. Chris Hedges interviews John Dinges, a veteran journalist and author, who was present in Chile during these events and has extensively researched U.S. involvement, foreign policy, and the personal histories of Horman and Teruggi. The conversation explores the climate of hope in pre-coup Chile, details of U.S. covert interference, the aftermath of the dictatorship, and contemporary parallels with the U.S. political climate.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Political Climate of Chile in the Early 1970s

• Fertile Ground for Hope (00:10 - 06:40)

  • Influx of international leftists and Americans inspired by the Allende experiment and the failures of U.S. progressive movements.
  • Chile’s century-old democracy offered a stark contrast to neighboring police states, fostering vibrant political and cultural life.
  • Allende’s democratic socialism was seen as a potential model for other nations, combining social reform with democratic principles.

  "We thought that what we had failed to accomplish... in the United States in the 1960s could be successful in Latin America."
  —John Dinges (03:30)

2. Allende’s Reforms and U.S. Hostility

• Nature of the Reforms (06:42 - 13:58)

  • Allende’s government focused on agrarian reform and developing a manufacturing base within a mixed economy.
  • Social revolution included cultural changes, greater access to literature, and the flourishing of music and the arts.
  • The U.S. government immediately sought to undermine him due to fears of a successful democratic socialist example.

• U.S. Intervention (13:59 - 19:12)

  • Propaganda war: U.S. financed opposition media.
  • Economic warfare: Blocked loans, cut off imports, orchestrated strikes, and direct sabotage of infrastructure.
  • Copper nationalization became a flashpoint, as the U.S. sought to protect its corporate interests (e.g., Anaconda mines).

  "His fear is not that a new Cuba is going to take over...his fear is that it will be a democratic, legitimate revolution and that this will become a model."
  —John Dinges (14:23)

3. The Fates of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi

• Who Were Horman and Teruggi? (20:34 - 27:20)

  • Both were deeply political, with strong leftist convictions, contradicting portrayals of them as naïve in Missing (1982).
  • Horman tried to buy weapons for the defense of the Allende government (22:21), reflecting widespread concerns about an imminent coup.

  "Charlie, according to his best friend, was a deeply political young man...committed to the defense of the Allende government..."
  —John Dinges (21:54)

• On the Eve of the Coup (23:28 - 31:37)

  • Little actual armed resistance occurred. Many anticipated weapons for self-defense, but these never materialized.
  • Resistance would have been futile and bloodier; Allende ultimately decided (27:33) against distributing arms, knowing the army was unified.

  "He did not call for resistance. He did not call for people to take up arms...because he knew it was not going to be possible."
  —John Dinges (27:56)

4. September 11, 1973: The Coup

• Events of the Day (31:37 - 39:16)

  • Both Dinges and Teruggi sought to observe or participate in factory resistance; found none, as the army quickly seized control.
  • Factory workers and international leftists were rounded up; more than 7,000 were detained in the National Stadium, which became a torture and execution site.

  "Frank thought he was protected by his U.S. passport... they were wrong."
  —John Dinges (35:48)

5. The Killings and the U.S. Embassy’s Role

• Murders and Cover-Ups (39:16 - 43:13)

  • Both Horman and Teruggi were arrested, tortured, executed, and their bodies dumped in Santiago. Identification was deliberately obstructed, especially for Horman.
  • The Chilean government hid Horman’s body and delayed identification; Teruggi was identified relatively quickly.

• U.S. Government’s Failure to Protect (43:13 - 54:48)

  • The U.S. embassy refused asylum to Americans—even as other embassies sheltered hundreds.
  • They propagated the false narrative that Horman was killed by leftists, not the military, and failed to press Pinochet on human rights.

  "The signal from the embassy to the military...was: we don't have anything to do with protecting anybody, not our citizens, not anyone else’s citizens."
  —John Dinges (45:10)

  • An infamous false account (from Rafael Gonzalez, a Chilean intelligence officer) that the CIA directly ordered Horman’s execution was later recanted in 2001.
  • Dinges emphasizes U.S. complicity and willful blindness, but argues there’s no evidence the U.S. directly ordered the executions.

  “I have in effect exonerated the US Embassy for killing two Americans but...my investigation is damning for what the US did at this period.”
  —John Dinges (53:57)

6. Living through the Pinochet Years and Parallels to Today

• Life under Dictatorship (54:48 - 62:07)

  • Dinges draws explicit parallels between the slow erosion of Chilean democracy and current trends in the United States: militarization, undermining of institutions, media repression.
  • Warns of the danger of constructing detention infrastructure under pretextual reasons, recalling how such systems were later used to target political dissidents.
  • Both Hedges and Dinges recount moments under dictatorship (e.g., secret police abductions) that chillingly resemble some recent U.S. events.

  "People don't understand what's happening. People have never experienced this in the United States. They don't have a context with which to understand how our democracy is being systematically taken over."
  —John Dinges (55:18)

  "When I saw those first pictures of ICE, I immediately was transported back to that moment in Santiago."
  —Chris Hedges (60:21)

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On hope and activism:
  "We thought that what we had failed to accomplish... in the United States in the 1960s could be successful in Latin America."
  —John Dinges (03:30)

• On U.S. strategy:
  "His fear is not that a new Cuba is going to take over...his fear is that it will be a democratic, legitimate revolution and that this will become a model."
  —John Dinges (14:23)

• On arming the resistance:
  "All of this talk about defense weapons, very few weapons actually showed up in those factories..."
  —John Dinges (25:50)

• On the U.S. embassy’s failure:
  "The signal from the embassy to the military...was: we don't have anything to do with protecting anybody, not our citizens, not anyone else’s citizens."
  —John Dinges (45:10)

• On the slow collapse of democracy:
  "People don't understand what's happening. People have never experienced this in the United States. They don't have a context with which to understand how our democracy is being systematically taken over."
  —John Dinges (55:18)

• On parallels to the present:
  "When I saw those first pictures of ICE, I immediately was transported back to that moment in Santiago."
  —Chris Hedges (60:21)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Chile’s political climate & arrival of internationals: 00:10–05:38
• Allende's reforms & U.S. response: 06:19–13:58
• U.S. sabotage operations & copper nationalization: 13:59–19:12
• Profiles of Horman & Teruggi: 20:34–23:09
• Armed resistance and its failure: 23:28–27:33
• September 11, 1973—events of the day: 31:37–39:16
• Details of the executions & cover-up: 39:16–43:13
• Role of the U.S. embassy & myth-busting the “Missing” narrative: 43:13–54:48
• Life under Pinochet & warnings for the U.S.: 54:48–62:07

Engaging Takeaways

• The leftist American and European activists in Chile were neither naive nor apolitical; they actively anticipated and sought to resist the coming coup.
• The U.S. government, while not directly ordering the execution of its citizens, created the conditions for mass repression and signaled indifference to the safety of its own people.
• Propaganda, economic pressure, and covert sabotage by the U.S. were critical to the coup’s success and the dictatorship’s consolidation.
• Dinges draws haunting parallels between the descent into dictatorship in Chile and current trends in the U.S., urging vigilance and civic resistance.

Recommended for listeners interested in:

• U.S.-Latin America relations
• History of covert operations and regime change
• Human rights under authoritarianism
• Political parallels between past and present crises