American Foreign Policy III

Project Notes:

WARNING NOTICE: SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE SOURCES AND METHODS INVOLVED. DISSEMINATION AND EXTRACTION OF INFORMATION CONTROLLED BY ORIGINATOR.

November 6, 2004
To the Secretary of State
Immediate, eyes only

REPORT ON ADVANCE ACTIONS TO PRESIDENT BUSH’S UPCOMING PARTICIPATION IN APEC
(ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION) FORUM IN SANTIAGO, CHILE, NOVEMBER 19, 2004.

Philosophy
As of this date a number of actions have been placed in train to sensitize the external world to the advantages that American multi-national corporations offer. This is a necessary first step toward moving to more vital pressure points such as the internal acceptance of American products in the local market.

Situation
This effort is in its first stages. We were most pleased to note the program for ████████████ at the ██████ Gallery, in Santiago, Chile, which is a concrete move toward mobilizing internal acceptance. This event allowed us to create the pretext, or flash point, for action.

Pretext
If we are successful in heightening external and internal investments in multi-national corporations through the three main lines noted below the pretext for the takeover by American interests will, in all probability, present itself. We continue to be looking for additional opportunities and when the time comes spark them.

Tasks
It therefore follows that we should direct your attention in a systematic fashion to the three main and interlinked thrusts of this program. We have exhausted every possible means for doing this and are determined to engage in any operation that you think will accomplish this purpose no matter how large or small. All resources in terms of human contact, propaganda, or denigration will be used to persuade the public. Your internal actions should be aimed at the same objective.

First Action
We have placed American artist █████████ ██████ in the ██ ██████ Performance Festival, in Chile and Argentina, November 3-13, 2004. The first step of this contact was made in 1999, when ████████ invited ████████████ ████ ██ to participate in her event ‘██████████’ in Toronto. This contact was further cemented in a clandestine meeting in New York City, under the pretext of attending his performance at the ██████████ Festival in 2002. Agents ██████████ and ████████████ furthered the connection by attending the festival ‘██████████’ in Valparaiso, Chile in 2003. It is unclear whether Mr. ████ ██ is fully aware of his complicity in this operation.

In every fashion special interest groups that we contacted were financed and assisted in making public statements, public rallies, traveling to propagandize and in other imaginative ways the station could conjure, to assure that American corporate interests were visibly promoted.

Second Action
On Friday, November 5, 2004, ██████████ ██████ approached individual members of the audience. The audience reflected a range of economic classes, from students, young artists, local workers, middle class families and wealthy art patrons. This broad representative range of Chileans was due to the placement of the event on the local ‘Gallery Nights’ evening. The audience numbered 387, according to our estimates.

Throughout the evening, ██████ approached individuals, asking them to assist her in her performance by making short advertisements for Coca Cola. Her friendly nature broke down their normal reserve, though we detected that some of the comments could be construed as negative in relation to our goals. Fortunately, ██████ was oblivious to the nature of these comments, as her translator failed to appear. As a result, she managed to maintain an open and enthusiast attitude that we have come to identify as that American spirit.

The result was a 24-minute videotape of about 71 commercials for Coca Cola. By engaging individuals one by one to hold and drink Coca Cola, and promote its benefits, we have succeeded in making them personally invested in the success of ██████’s venture. This is the kind of infiltration resulting in an internalization of our goals that we seek.

Third Action
On Saturday, November 6, 2004, ██████████ ██████ created an event in the gallery in order to sell 100 bottles of Coca Cola. She used several strategies to transfer the stated goals from an external suggestion to an internal acceptance.

First she gave away 10 bottles of Coca Cola to entice 10 local Chileans in the audience who could speak both English and Spanish, to assist her. In three-minute intervals, 10 bottles of Coca Cola were offered for sale at increasingly higher prices. What was first a deal at 10 pesos, became more expensive later as the prices continued to double. The final 10 Coca Colas sold for 640 pesos. They were signed by ██████ and were considered an art object/relic of the performance. Unfortunately, none of the highest price bottles at 1280 pesos were purchased. These were to be personally addressed to the purchaser. We were surprised that the owner of the gallery did not purchase one of these art objects. Given the limited number of these objects, we have no doubt that it will be a profitable investment. Perhaps their involvement in the art market is not as thorough as we had initially assessed.

All in all, 67 were sold for a return of 5210 pesos. 23 remained unsold, and 10 were used either for the advertising, or disappeared through ‘attrition’ [i.e. pilfering].

While the original cost of the Coca Cola, at 18,000 pesos was not met, other more important goals were achieved. By creating a circus-like auction atmosphere, the audience was willing to engage in the act of buying this product. Once they realized that the prices would only go up, they became more eager to invest in the more affordable bottles.

By using local people to do the selling, the audience was more willing to make the exchange. The assistants’ fluency in Spanish, and familiarity with the local marketing practices made them most effective. This infiltration strategy of creating a local front has served American corporate interests in the past, and served us well here.

Certain individuals purchased multiple bottles of Coca Cola. Was hoarding taking place? It was also noted that some individuals within the audience began to sell the bottles that they had purchased earlier for a lower price, to their friends and colleagues for a higher price. What better evidence could we find of an embrace of American capitalist practices! We have no doubt that the entry of American multi-national corporations has been made easier by this action.

We might also point out that this was an effective method in further acclimating the Chilean people to inflation, particularly as the free trade agreements of APEC are instituted.

Conclusion
During the afternoon of November 6, 2004, we reviewed ██████’s program, in discussion with our other agents who returned today after absence from headquarters. We agreed that given the short time span of the ██ ████████ Festival, and circumstances prevailing in Chile, a maximum effort has been achieved. Only Chileans themselves can manage a successful embrace of American products, but the station, through their agent, has done an excellent job of guiding Chileans to that point today…

However, we must hold firmly to the outlines or our production will be diffuse, denatured, and ineffective, not leaving the indelible residue in the mind that an accumulation of arsenic does. The key is a kind of psych[ological] war[fare] within Chile. We cannot endeavor to ignite throughout the Americas an embrace of free trade, if Chile itself is a placid lake.

We will continue to generate maximum pressure toward this end utilizing every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG [U.S. government] and American hand be well hidden. While this imposes upon us a high degree of selectivity in making art world contacts and dictates that these contacts be made in the most secure manner, it definitely does not preclude such actions as reported in Santiago 544, which was a masterful piece of work.

We have taken your advice to preserve our assets. We will stay in touch. The time will come.

NOTE
Portions of this text were culled from:
CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], Secret Cable from Headquarters [Blueprint for Fomenting a Coup Climate], September 27, 1970, pages 1-7,
published in Kornbluth, Peter, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2004) A National Security Archive book.
pp. 50-56, identified as Document 7 in text

CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], Secret Cable from Headquarters [Firm and Continuing Policy that Allende be overthrown by a Coup], October 16, 1970, pages 1-2,
published in Kornbluth, Peter, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2004) A National Security Archive book.
pp. 64-65, identified as Document 12 in text

CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], Secret Cable from Task Force Director [Commendation for Schneider Shooting], October 23, 1970, page 1,
published in Kornbluth, Peter, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2004) A National Security Archive book.
p. 72, identified as Document 15 in text

Department of State, Secret Report on Operation Condor to Henry Kissinger, “ARA Monthly Report (July): The ‘Third World War’ and South America,” August 3, 1976, p. 1,
published in Kornbluth, Peter, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2004) A National Security Archive book.
p. 391, identified as Document 14 in text.