Five decades have passed since Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime killed Miguel Enriquez, the leader of the country’s Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Yet even today, his death remains a stain on Washington’s long history of meddling in Latin America as much as it represents a serious blow to the Chilean left.
Under the command of Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, the National Intelligence Directorate’s (DINA) Halcon Brigade killed Enriquez on Oct. 5, 1974, just one year into the US-backed dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Enriquez had been hiding at the safe house where he was living in hiding when the ambush occurred. In its report, the Rettig Commission did not classify Enriquez’s murder as a violation of human rights. Rather, the commission described him as “a victim of political violence.” After all, the report explains, Enriquez was “resisting arrest” at the hands of an organization that would almost certainly “subject [him] to torture and death.”
Meant to Kill
Worse still, however, testimonies later indicated that the ambush intended to kill Enriquez rather than detain him. In his historical biography of Enriquez, Mario Amoros draws from interviews and historical sources to show how Enriquez remained a focal point for DINA’s purge of Chile’s left.
In his book, Amoros points to Marcia Alejandra Merino, a former MIR militant who became a DINA agent after enduring torture and interrogation. “One of Krassnoff’s obsessions was the whereabouts of Miguel Enriquez,” Merino stated.
Agueda Guerrida, who lived next door to Enriquez and is also quoted in Amoros’s book, testified that DINA agents who demanded access to her house and balcony unequivocally stated, “We came to kill a Mirista,” or member of MIR. The testimony appeared in the Chilean Supreme Court’s 2022 judicial sentence, which condemned Krassnoff to 10 years and a day in prison for Enriquez’s killing. Furthermore, Guerrida’s testimony was vital in altering the Rettig Report’s previously official version of Enriquez’s death.
“Grisly Bit of Psychological Warfare”
Dated Oct. 25, 1974, a later declassified, redacted CIA document corroborated DINA’s intent to kill Enriquez. Beyond calling the leftist a “terrorist,” language the dictatorship also used, the CIA document chalks Enriquez’s killing up to “perseverance and luck on the part of the security services.”
Another CIA declassified document dated Nov. 6 1974 notes, “The military government is maintaining the upper hand in its campaign against the extremist movement” and attributes a “grisly bit of psychological warfare” to “particularly zealous security officers.”
“The military government is maintaining the upper hand in its campaign against the extremist movement.” – CIA document
That document refers to the dumping of the body of a young woman, Lumi Videla, into the grounds of the Italian embassy in Santiago, where 300 opponents of Pinochet, including MIR members, were seeking asylum.
Grisly, indeed, but that’s coming from the US, which trained DINA officers at the School of the Americas and financed the military coup that led to the dictatorship. In fact, it is against that very backdrop of CIA covert action that Miguel Enriquez founded the MIR in Chile as a political alternative.
CIA Covert Action
In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress — a scheme that allegedly promoted democratic and social reform. Except for Cuba, every Latin American country endorsed Kennedy’s Alliance. Under the scheme, the US-funded counterinsurgency programs and trained paramilitaries to curb communist influence in the region.
A year later, the CIA started financing the presidential campaign of the Christian Democratic Party’s candidate Eduardo Frei, as well as a parallel campaign “directed at the defeat of Salvador Allende,”, who was the Popular Action Front’s (FRAP) candidate for the 1964 elections. Frei’s electoral slogan was “Revolution in freedom” — a direct nod to Kennedy’s scheme, as revealed by a US Senate intelligence document stating, “Chile was chosen to become the showcase for the new Alliance for Progress”.
In total, the CIA spent a total of $2.6 million on Frei’s campaign and another $3 million on anti-Allende propaganda. A declassified document details the US’s insistence on covert funding: “Funds could be provided in a fashion causing Frei to infer United States origin of funds and yet permitting plausible denial.” Frei won the 1964 presidential elections with 56% of the vote, defeating Allende.
The CIA’s funding of Frei came at a time when the neoliberal blueprint for Chile — the Chicago Project — was already in full swing with its economic graduates returning to Chile and paving the way for a political shift under the guidance of mogul and CIA collaborator Augustin Edwards.
Direct Confrontation with the State
Behind the CIA’s funding of neoliberalism in Chile lurked the fear that the Cuban revolution would spread influence in Latin America. In the 1960s, Cuba was extending its internationalist strategy to anti-colonial resistance organizations in Africa and Latin America.
In a small room Miguel Enriquez’s father built at the back of the family home in Concepción, a group of friends would meet to study, discuss, and exchange ideas. According to testimony, including Enriquez’s father, who served as Minister of Education during Allende’s presidency, MIR’s origins trace back to that small room in the family home. Among the members of Enriquez’s initial circle were Marcelo Ferrada Noli and Bautista van Schouwen.
The 1964 elections, particularly Allende’s defeat, prompted a rethinking within the revolutionary left in Chile. A growing rift between within the left determined major differences in political strategy. The traditional communist and socialist parties in Chile veered towards social transformation through the country’s institutions, while the revolutionary left argued in favor of direct confrontation with the state and the ruling classes, which would lead to armed struggle. The Cuban revolution influenced this position.
“Reactionary Military Coup”
A meeting that brought together several revolutionary socialist parties, mostly from Santiago and Concepcion, led to MIR’s founding on Aug. 15, 1965. Its Declaration of Principles, described Chile as a semi-colonial country due to its international dependence. The movement aimed to eradicate imperialism from the country, implement agrarian reform, and the carry out the restitution of land, as well as to involve the workers in the country’s economic reform. Beyond Chile, MIR aligned itself with Cuba and anti-colonial organizations worldwide.
Miguel Enriquez became General Secretary of MIR in 1967 and held the position until his murder at the hands of DINA. During Frei’s presidency, MIR mobilized workers and peasants to carry out strikes in several areas in the country, while student movements carried out strikes to defend the universities’ autonomy. MIR employed various forms of struggle: from occupying land, schools, and factories, to armed resistance in the streets.
In turn, the government’s persecution of MIR, as well as the workers, students and union leaders escalated. The massacre at Puerto Montt — during an eviction, the military police shot dead nine peasants, and a baby died of suffocation — became a symbol of Frei’s repression.
MIR also showed awareness of the polarization within the Armed Forces of Chile, indicating knowledge of CIA-financed coup plotting at higher levels. MIR’s assessment was that “a reactionary military coup became tangible as a possible political solution for the right.”
Persecution, Torture, and Imprisonment
For MIR, the period prior to the 1970 presidential elections represented an intensification of class struggle and government repression. MIR also envisaged that a left-wing victory would see the ruling classes of Chile as well as the US supporting a right-wing military coup: “The CIA has long been organized and prepared within the Armed Forces.”
As the 1970 elections drew near, MIR decided not to participate — many of its members had endured persecution, torture, and imprisonment. In its criticism of the Popular Unity coalition, MIR unequivocally stated that their divergent paths did not render one an enemy of the other. Its concern was that an electoral victory would not suffice for a socialist revolution, given the enormity of the political influence of the Chilean right, the country’s elite, and the CIA. Hence, MIR’s insistence on preparing the masses for political and armed struggle in any scenario. Fidel Castro shared the latter view and had communicated with Allende, warning him not to put his trust in the military.
Additionally, MIR provided Allende with protection against right-wing violence since 1970, however, in the final moments as the coup was set into action, Allende rejected MIR’s plan to take him to safety and possibly continue the social struggle away from the presidency. While many leaders of other socialist factions in Chile fled, thus disintegrating the left in Chile, MIR decided to remain and organize against the coup — a decision that proved fatal.
Intensified Persecution
Enriquez’s directive led to the formation of the Halcon Brigade, which was tasked with eradicating MIR altogether. One of MIR’s strengths was its operations from infiltration cells, including in the Chilean military, which sowed deep concerns within the dictatorship. Yet, by December 1973, Von Schouwen had been detained, tortured, and disappeared. The persecution of MIR intensified, as did the hunt for Miguel Enriquez. Until 1976, Pinochet’s obsession with MIR remained paramount, despite the fact that the killing of Enriquez had already taken place in 1974.
The Halcon Brigade operated out of Casa José Domingo Cañas, the site of Videla’s torture and execution. During surveillance, the brigade narrowed down the search for Enriquez to the area of San Miguel. On Oct. 5 1974, Krassnoff, Marcelo Moren Brito, and Osvaldo Romo led a search in San Miguel, asking for the whereabouts of Enriquez’s partner, Carmen Castillo, who was pregnant at the time. The agents obtained information from a woman Romo had stopped and quickly moved to surround the safe house where Enriquez and Castillo were hiding.
It took the Halcon Brigade 10 bullets to finally assassinate Enriquez, who had fought tooth and nail to defend himself and Castillo. DINA later interrogated Castillo, and the dictatorship forcibly exiled him.
“My Happiness is the Struggle”
In 1977, having largely fulfilled the left-wing purge in Chile, DINA was dissolved and replaced by the National Information Center (CNI).
Since the transition to democracy starting in 1990, Chile’s left has failed to live up to the standards of the left-wing that rose against neoliberalism. This year marked the fifth anniversary since the Estadillo Social protests in 2019 which called for the late Sebastian Pinera’s resignation and the rewriting of Chile’s constitution. Rights organizations in Chile warned against consolidating impunity, with the Public Prosecutor’s Office being complicit.
Enriquez led a struggle against the dictatorship; the Chilean state, regardless of political leaning, continues to lead a struggle against the people.
It was not until 2003 that Castillo’s mother reminded her that Enriquez’s legacy, hidden in a trunk in her mother’s house, remained intact. Marking the 50th anniversary since his assassination, Enriquez’s belongings and memories are currently on display at the National Archives in Santiago. The theme? “My Happiness is the Struggle.”
