US pressed Pinochet to accept defeat - Documents

US: The United States warned Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet against plans to use force to overturn a 1988 referendum that ended his military regime, according to declassified documents released here.

The documents' publication comes as the movie "No," about the ad campaign that propelled the Chilean opposition to victory in the referendum, is a favorite to win an Oscar on Sunday for Best Foreign Film.

The US documents released by the National Security Archive, a non-profit run by George Washington University, show that the Pinochet regime sensed it was going to lose the October 8, 1988 plebiscite and began plotting to override the outcome.

A Defense Intelligence Agency document on the eve of the referendum reported that Pinochet's supporters were said to have "contingency plans to derail the plebiscite by encouraging and staging acts of violence." "They hope that such violence will elicit further reprisals by the radical opposition and begin a cycle of rioting and disorder. "The plans call for government security forces to intervene forcefully and, citing damage to the electoral process and balloting facilities, to declare a state of emergency. "At that point, the elections would be suspended, declared invalid, and postponed indefinitely," the document said.

AFP