_EP: 04
EP 4: The Cybernetic Jacket
Allende stares down the barrel of his gravest crisis yet, as middle classes desert him. As cybernetic strategies bring a glimmer of hope, Fernando Flores is thrust into the limelight. Meanwhile, Stafford walks a perilous line, his reputation now tied to Allende's._Background
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| 01 : 44 | "Chile connected by trains" |
That vision is laid out in an essay by one of the key members of the Cybersyn team and a person close to Fernando Flores, Gabriel Rodriguez, and eventually Stafford Beer: the Berkeley-educated engineer Hermann Schwember. See his essay (in Italian) Hermann Schwember: "Politica e realtà tecnologica nel Cile di Allende", published in De Michelis, G., and De Cindio, F.. Il progetto Cybersyn. Cibernetica per la democrazia. Italy, Clupguide, 1980. |
| 03 : 24 | "band together in solidarity" |
For a good account of the strike and the motivation behind it, see the various articles and books by Marcelo Casals. See Casals, Marcelo. "The Insurrection of the Middle Class: Social Mobilization and Counterrevolution During the Popular Unity Government, Chile, 1970–1973." Journal of Social History, vol. 54, no. 3, Oxford UP, Nov. 2019, pp. 944-969, available here and Casals, Marcelo. "The Chilean Counter-revolution: Roots, Dynamics and Legacies of Mass Mobilisation Against the Unidad Popular." Radical Americas, vol. 6, no. 1, UCL Press, Jan. 2021, pp. 1-17, available here. See also chapter I of Contrarrevolución, colaboracionismo y protesta: La clase media chilena y la dictadura militar en la historia de Chile. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2022. |
| 04 : 05 | "replace them in the hospitals" |
On the uneasy relationship between Allende and Colegio Medico, the medical association that he helped co-found, see Miranda Ortiz, Jessica. Colegio Médico: posturas antidemocráticas en la trayectoria de la Unidad Popular (1970-1973). Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, 2014, PhD dissertation. Available here; and Candina-Polomer, Azun. "Studying Other Memories." Latin American Perspectives, vol. 43, no. 6, SAGE Publishing, July 2016, pp. 75–87, available here; see also Navarro, Vicente. "What Does Chile Mean: An Analysis of Events in the Health Sector Before, During, and After Allende's Administration" Milbank Memorial Fund, 31 July 2018, pp. 93–130, available here. |
| 07 : 07 | "a brain of its own" |
On Comando Gremial, see Valdivia Ortiz de Zárate, Verónica. Nacionales y gremialistas: el parto de la nueva derecha política chilena, 1964-1973. Chile, LOM Ediciones, 2018, pp. 356-357. See also Orlando Saenz’s account provided in González, Mónica. Chile, la conjura: los mil y un días del golpe. Chile, Ediciones B, Group Zeta, 2000, p. 157. |
| 08 : 04 | "something called miguelitos" |
For the origins of the name, see "Clinicpedia: ¿Por Qué Los Miguelitos Se Llaman Así?" The Clinic, Mar. 2013, available here. |
| 09 : 57 | "one puzzled State Department official" |
Haslam, Jonathan. The Nixon Administration and the Death of Allende's Chile: A Case of Assisted Suicide. United Kingdom, Verso Books, 2005, p. 142. |
| 10 : 55 | "rather ambiguous on this matter" |
See Church Report: "Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973." United States, Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations, 1975, p. 31. Available here |
| 15 : 33 | "a report from an American diplomat " |
Cited in a 1973 memo from an Ecuador-based US diplomat to the State Department. Available here |
| 19 : 41 | "prostate problem" |
Multiple people have confirmed this to me, including Allende's secretary Patricia Espejo. See also Jorquera, Carlos. El Chicho Allende. Chile, Ediciones Bat, 1993, p. 77-78 |
| 20 : 23 | "to save the fellow's life" |
This anecdote appears in Saenz, Orlando. Testigo privilegiado: anécdotas, curiosidades, revelaciones, indiscresiones y peripecias de un espectador afortunado del pasado reciente. Erasmo Ediciones, 2022, p. 87. |
| 22 : 16 | "called for a day of silence" |
The Day of Silence anecdote is related in Trumper, Camilo D.. Ephemeral Histories: Public Art, Politics, and the Struggle for the Streets in Chile. United States, University of California Press, 2016, pp. 74-75. |
| 22 : 45 | "industrial belts" |
On "industrial belts", see our interview with Camilo Trumper and Ephemeral Histories: Public Art, Politics, and the Struggle for the Streets in Chile. Also see Gaudichaud, Franck. Poder popular y cordones industriales: testimonios sobre el movimiento popular urbano, 1970-1973. Chile, LOM Ediciones, 2004. |
| 23 : 58 | "as Mario Grandi points out" |
See also Mario Grandi’s account of the strike in his interview that concludes De Michelis, G., and De Cindio, F.. Il progetto Cybersyn. Cibernetica per la democrazia. Italy, Clupguide, 1980. |
| 26 : 10 | "as one of their internal memos reveals" |
See "Memorandum for the Record." United States, Department of State, Washington, October 17, 1972. Available here |
| 30 : 37 | "The Council of Revolutionary Coordination" |
On JCR see Marchesi, Aldo. Latin America's Radical Left: Rebellion and Cold War in the Global 1960s. United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 126 - 132; and Lessa, Francesca. The Condor Trials: Transnational Repression and Human Rights in South America. United States, Yale University Press. |
| 35 : 52 | "He's brimming with enthusiasm" |
Stafford Beer collection, Box 66, Liverpool. |
| 37 : 12 | "Here's how Stafford puts it" |
Beer, Stafford. Letter to Herman Schwember. November 13, 1972. Stafford Beer collection, Box 66, Liverpool. |
| 40 : 00 | "He writes about it in an essay" |
See Beer, Stafford. "One Year of (Relative) Solitude: The Second Level of Recursion." December 1972, box 60, Beer Collection. |
| 43 : 10 | "he writes to Stafford " |
From Raul Espejo to Stafford Beer, November 27, 1972. Monthly Progress Report. Box 66, Beer Collection. |
| 49 : 36 | "worst-case scenario" |
Tanya Harmer also discusses it in her book on Beatriz Allende. See Harmer, Tanya. Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America. United States, University of North Carolina Press, 2020, p. 200. |
| 50 : 41 | "throughout the Cold War era" |
For details on this, see Bevins, Vincent. The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World. United States, PublicAffairs, 2021. |