Editing Roberto Viaux

{{More citations needed|date=June 2010}}
{{family name hatnote|Viaux|Marambio|lang=Spanish}}
{{short description|Chilean Army General}}
'''Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio''' (May 25, 1917 in [[Talca]] &ndash; September 5, 2005 in [[Santiago de Chile|Santiago]]) was a [[Chilean Army]] General and the primary planner of two attempted [[coups d'état]] in [[Chile]] in 1969 and 1970. The first was against President [[Eduardo Frei Montalva]], and the second sought to prevent [[Socialist Party of Chile|Socialist]] [[Salvador Allende]]'s election.

==Biography==
Prior to his involvement in the [[René Schneider]] case, Viaux was a very well respected and admired military leader.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} He became famous when he led a small military insurrection (the [[Tacnazo insurrection|''Tacnazo'']]) on October 21, 1969. In the ''Tacnazo'', Viaux shut himself up with the Tacna regiment inside its barracks and went on a strike. He demanded a pay-raise for the Army and the resignation of both the Defense Minister and the Army Commander-in-Chief. After tense negotiations with the government, he ended his strike when the Commander-in-Chief resigned and the government promised to study his salary demands.

On October 22, 1970, coup plotters loyal to Viaux attempted to kidnap constitutionalist Chilean [[Chilean Army|Army Commander-in-chief]] General [[René Schneider]], who was adamantly opposed to any prospect of a coup. General Schneider's official car was ambushed at a street intersection in the capital city of [[Santiago, Chile]]. When the general drew a gun to defend himself, he was shot point-blank several times. Though he was rushed to a military hospital, General Schneider's wounds proved fatal and he died three days later, on October 25. General Viaux was later convicted of involvement with the plot and imprisoned.

Critics of U.S. policy in Chile at the time, including journalist [[Christopher Hitchens]], have accused former [[United States National Security Advisor|U.S. National Security Advisor]] and [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]] of conspiring with Viaux in the murder of General Schneider. Yet declassified U.S. documents show that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had explored the possibility of supporting a Viaux coup but decided that his ideology was "far out" and, while maintaining contact with him, did not provide direct support. In a declassified October 15 conversation with President [[Richard Nixon]], Kissinger said, ''"This looks hopeless. I turned it off. Nothing could be worse than an abortive coup."''<ref>{{Cite web|authorlink=Mark Falcoff|last=Falcoff|first=Mark|url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/mark-falcoff/kissinger-chile-the-myth-that-will-not-die/|title=Kissinger & Chile: The Myth That Will Not Die|work=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]|date=November 2003|accessdate=2021-02-07}}</ref>

Although contact with the Viaux group was ended, a cable from CIA headquarters to the Santiago station reveals that the CIA did arrange the delivery of submachine guns and ammunition to a group led by General Valenzuela; Schneider was shot later that same day.<ref name="CIA Cable,October 19th, 1970">{{Cite web | url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc27.pdf | title=CIA Cable - Cite Santiago 562 | date=1970-10-18 | publisher=[[CIA]]}}</ref> The weapons, along with $50,000, were later recovered by U.S. military attaché to Chile Colonel Wilmert after he "pistol-whipped" General Valenzuela, who at first refused to hand the money over. Wilmert then drove to Vina del Mar, where he threw the submachine guns into the Pacific Ocean.<ref name="The Pinochet File">{{cite book|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|title=The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability|year=2003|publisher=The New Press|location=New York|page=30| isbn=1-56584-936-1}}</ref>

In August, 1973, Viaux was released and exiled to [[Paraguay]]. He was not involved in the successful [[Chilean coup of 1973]], and was allowed to return to Chile only in 1990, by President [[Patricio Aylwin]]. Viaux lived quietly in retirement in [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]], until his death on September 5, 2005.

==See also==
*[[1970 Chilean presidential election]]
*[[Carlos Prats]]
*[[Camilo Valenzuela]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch27-01.htm CIA, Cable Transmissions on Coup Plotting, October 18, 1970]
*[http://www.lafogata.org/02europa/europa/llueve.htmMore information on the plot] {{in lang|es}}
*[http://www.cooperativa.cl/p4_noticias/antialone.html?page=http://www.cooperativa.cl/p4_noticias/site/artic/20050905/pags/20050905210758.html Obituary] {{in lang|es}}
*[http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/prontus4_noticias/antialone.html?page=http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/prontus4_noticias/site/artic/20050906/pags/20050906034143.html El Mercurio Obituary] {{in lang|es}}

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[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:Chilean anti-communists]]
[[Category:Chilean assassins]]
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[[Category:Chilean people of French descent]]
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[[Category:People from Talca]]
[[Category:Bernardo O'Higgins Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Chile]]