In July 1971, the Chilean government nationalized the copper industry without compensating U.S.-based corporations that were, until then, co-owners of the mines. After nationalization, the coercive measures and economic strangulation the United States government was already applying against the Salvador Allende government became more acute, leading the Chilean government to seek a negotiated arrangement that would bring economic relief from the U.S.-imposed blockade. Chile offered to negotiate compensations, linked to the solution of other bilateral issues, in circumstances that it had no intention of making such concessions, bound by domestic politics and constitutional restrictions. There were four rounds of confidential bilateral conversations in 1972- 1973 that ended in a total impasse. Both sides became entrapped by their own arguments, based on a fierce defense of principles, divergent interpretations of international law and disagreements on the negotiation agenda.
Keywords:
Nationalization of copper, compensations, Salvador Allende, United States, bilateral relations, negotiations
Author Biography
Pascale Bonnefoy, Universidad de Chile
Periodista y docente del Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile, egresada del Magíster en Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile.
Bonnefoy, P. (2013). The confidential negotiations of the Allende and Nixon governments over the nationalization of the copper industry. Estudios Internacionales, 45(175), 79–108. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.2013.27349
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