Eagles of the Andes, a Chile wank TL

Welcome to my modest attempt at a timeline, it’s not perfect and I would welcome some constructive criticism on it, but I figured that without feedback I was just spinning my wheels. This is a TL which springs from my desire to see more middle powers, and for South America to be globally relevant. So without further delay, welcome to the TL.

Whilst the first American continental war is often regarded as having started in 1978, the direct cause of the conflict goes back ten years earlier to 1969 when the Argentinean Junta used the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo’s working up period to put pressure on Chile over the Beagle Isles. Pointing out in a brutal manner that countries naval weakness. Given the long standing rivalry in the region, and the area in question (It was an area that was a long running point of contention between Chile and Argentina.) Chile’s response was always going to be a search for an equalizer.

Of course to really understand the conflict you need to know just why the Argentinian navy felt the need to deploy both of their carriers to the area. Two years earlier the Chilean navy had attempted to move one of their patrol boats (the Quidora) into an Argentine harbour. Of course the officer in charge of the boat was broken from the service by President Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva order. That had annoyed the Chilean navy and they proceeded to repeat the incident in ’68 with a pair of patrol vessels. When the Argentines didn’t fire (The Argentines were well aware that their previous antics in the area had rendered their international image in the area as trigger happy maniacs and in an effort to control that declined to fire.) on them they left, satisfied that they had proved their point. Over the course of the next year various Chilean ships preceded to treat Argentinian waters around Terra Del Fuego as a private preserve violating Argentinian Sovereignty as they pleased. This severely irritated the Argentinians, and they resolved to hit back hard.

The response came in 1969 when both the ARA Veinticino de Mayo and the ARA Independicia were both moved towards the Beagle islands. Faced with two carriers the Chileans backed down, but not before they exacted a price from the Argentines. One of the P-2 Neptune’s that the Argentinians had deployed went more than a hundred miles over the border. Documents declassified in the ought’s show that this was meant to be a show of force along the lines of the Chileans provocations. The Chileans of course were not in the mood to accept Argentinian push back, after all their own aggressive actions had been meant to remind the Argentines that they were not to be messed with. As such the unfortunately P-2 became a fireball as soon as the Chilean air force could get a jet after it.

The Argentinian response was predictable. Both of the carriers launched their fighters. The Chilean navy seeing this, and knowing that they didn’t stand a chance against the enraged argentines hauled ass out of the area. Essentially their surface combatants made for either port or away at their best speed leaving the Argentine navy in control of the area. Naturally this flight was brought up at the negotiating table much to the displeasure of the Chileans. Despite getting their licks in at the negotiating table the Argentinian establishment felt that it had gotten the upper hand in the game of brinksmanship, and that in backing down the Chileans had weekend their position to such a degree that the Argentinian position would carry the day.

The ham handed attempt to force Chile to back down had a major effect on the Chilean presidential election, leading to the election of Jorge Alessandri who had run a strong campaign on security issues. Some analyses insist that the assassination of General Rene Schneider by left wing radicals in the middle of the campaign was the more decisive factor, of course in the early nineties it came out that the CIA was responsible for the assassination, causing a major diplomatic row. Alessandri’s candidacy was further helped by General Carlos Prats infamous loss of temper with reporters when he gave his first press conference.

The weeks leading up to the fateful press conference had been filled with news stories and leaks from the investigation. The government had ordered a clamp down on information coming out of the investigation as it looked more and more likely that the Soviet Union was at least in part responsible. The pressure on the army and the police force to remain neutral, or at least to not talk about the assassination until the election was over hurt the government and lead to a massive amount of discontent in the armed forces. Prats had been known in political circles as an even tempered constitutionalist but even he was annoyed with the government, and what seemed to be a policy of sweeping the assassination under the rug. Prats was walking a tight rope even as he sought to do his job, the Chilean military tradition of constitutionalism was coming directly into conflict with the facts of the case. From what he was being told this assassination was political with a capital P, and if the military let it go then they would be dragged into politics anyways as their long held neutrality would be considered little more than a defensive fig leaf.

Under enormous pressure from both sides it is no surprise that when he gave the press conference, even after receiving instructions not to, and he began ranting about the ‘murderous left’ impeding the investigation. Given that he blamed the politicians publically for hamstringing not only the armies own investigative branch, but the policia as well, the press conference lead to the impression that the army saw a break down in law and order occurring with the consent of the left leaning politicians. The army’s clear annoyance, coupled with the implication that left wing parties had been a part of the assassination plot made for an ugly political situation. The situation was exacerbated as the left hemmed and hawed whilst scrambling to cover themselves in case their associates were part of the plot publically. All of this lead many in the electorate to swing hard right. This trend was accelerated when Alessandri began to hawk the law and order credentials he had accumulated during his last term in office.

By the time the elections were over and done with Alessandri came into power facing a major crisis of confidence in the government. Additionally while the economy was doing well on paper, inflation was a serious problem and it refused to go away. There was a real split between the Companista class and the land owning class due to the expropriation issue causing a festering social divide. Although very good for Chilean literature and filmography the social issues would continue to plague the country to this day.

On the international front things didn’t look any better. The Argentineans successful looking use of the threat of force (Chile had been forced to ask for international mediation instead of maintaining its position that the beagle islands were and always had been Chilean.) had emboldened both the Peruvians and the Bolivians. Both of those countries were purchasing an alarming number of weapons. Peru had even gone so far as to invite Cuban advisors into the country openly, and several of their officers were publishing in soviet military journals about the tactics of assaulting mountain infantry. Considering that the bulk of the Chilean army was made up of mountain infantry it was a worrying bit of intelligence. Chile looked weak and Alessandri couldn’t seem to find a way out of the bind that his predecessor had led them into.

Domestically Alessandri enacted his tax reform plan. It didn’t sound like much but was probably the most revolutionary piece of legislation that he would enact in his presidency. In it he created a massive tax incentive for major land owners to divest themselves of their lands, and use the profits from their divestment to invest in industry. Government backed loans to the rural companista population meant that they were able to buy the land they had been living on. It was a program which had more then a few ups and downs but in general it was successful. The press aided in the success as the left leaning press sold it as a victory for the left. Obviously the president had recognized the need for land reform and had simply changed the form of it, rather then the substance. The press on the right sold a different narrative, to them it was a return to traditional Chilean values. The President was trying to encourage the companista to pull themselves up through hard work rather then handing them the land. All in all it was a successful program and it would be continued under the next three administrations.

The secondary benefits from this program wouldn’t be apparent until the eighties, but during this time Chiles light industry expanded massively, and would continue to expand until the late eighties, bringing jobs to the urban poor. Large land owners did lose a fair bit of their political pull, but as business owners they retained and gained financial power. What they did with that power was essential to the continued economic growth of Chile. All of this helped on the domestic front, but the international front remained rocky.

Help came from an unusual source; Vicealmirante Jose Toribio Merino. The Naval Director of Weapons, came to the newly sworn in president with an interesting proposal. The Chilean navy needed a new flagship, and reports where that the United Kingdom was looking to divest themselves of the HMS Eagle. Marino’s arguments were thorough and very compelling. He acknowledged that a carrier didn’t look like it was needed, but he pointed out that it was a both a prestige project and it was supremely useful given Chile’s limited strategic depth.

Alessandri wasn’t convinced of the Vicealmirante’s argument but he did keep it in mind. After a week of deep thought Alessandri directed Merino to bring him a plan of action and the appropriate austerity measures to ensure that it was financially feasible to do so. What he had been expecting was a minor couple of tweaks, perhaps letting go of a vessel or two. What he got was completely different. Jose Toribio Merino was an aggressive commander who had served with the US navy during the second world war on a cruiser and then gone on to specialize in logistics. As such he was painfully aware of the way that Chiles scatter shot buying pattern in major military hardware was costing them in terms of maintenance and in terms of needing to buy from multiple supply chains.

Merino recommended a complete rationalization of the navy. Under his plan all nine destroyers would be put on the block along with everything heavier than a destroyer. Being different makes and seven of the nine destroyers being from world war two along with the other heavy ships, Merino had grave doubts about their ability to do more then take up Chilean funds and absorb enemy fire in such a way as to get good Chilean sailors killed for no return. He recommended that the planned purchase of Condell class frigates from the United Kingdom be expanded from three to seven. Both of the Chilean submarines were axed, to be replaced by between four and eight new built 209’s from Germany along with a submarine tender. If he could have Merino would have cancelled the purchase of the two Oberon’s from the United Kingdom but it was too late for that. Finally four type 42 destroyers were to be purchased from the United Kingdom to escort the Eagle which would require a refit before it could be bought into service. All Cruisers and more then a few of the Landing ships would be let go without replacement. While the purchasing sounded excessive the more that Alessandri read the more it made sense. Marino was modernizing the navy and at the same time was downsizing it, at least in terms of sailors at sea that was.

In the end Alessandri brought the plan to his cabinet, after extensive talks with both the army and the air force, and began to implement it. Of course there were compromises to be made. Air craft procurement was pushed through the office of the air force, it was felt that an appropriate carrier plane would be able to benefit the air force as well as the navy. Mostly this stipulation was ignored, as the air force and navy had differing philosophy’s and desires, but in some cases it would prove to be a success for both services.

The army felt left out and so was allowed to purchase 350 ex Israeli AMX-13 Light tanks that had suddenly become available when Singapore cancelled the deal to replace its small M24 Chaffee fleet. It was the beginning of a cooperative relationship with Israel that would last years and extend beyond military cooperation. Of course the army wanted main battle tanks but the decision was put off in light of the already heavy military expenditures under way. A strong secondary factor in the president and cabinet’s reluctance to purchase all up main battle tanks was that they were not common in South America. Argentina, the bogyman for the Chileans, was still using M-4 Sherman’s so the pressure to upgrade was less than the pressure on both the air force and the navy. Despite this the Army played its cards very well, in getting a commiserate increase in funding they had set a precedent that would live on and mean a steady increase in lethality. The army might not have gotten the press, but they did get the dollars, and that meant that by the time anyone took notice they were already ready for action.
 
Excerpts from the Merino New model navy paper, circulated 1970.

These excerpts should give a student an insight into the thinking behind the new navy policy. While he remains a controversial figure to this day Merinos impact on naval policy is undeniable. These excerpts should be taken as the thinking in 1970, the plan was modified several times after it was published to reflect reality. It was widely believed that the loss of four deployable hulls (when viewed against the 1970 number of thirty nine deployable hulls) under the plan was not an issue, even if it was from a single type of vessel. Thinking on the plan was generally neutral, it wasn’t until the debate over its implementation instead of the 1968 growth plan that controversy reared its ugly head.

It is when you compare the Merino plan to the previously published navy plan you begin to see the difference in thinking that would qualify this plan as the signature document of the new model navy. Under the old plan the navy would grow by eight ships for a total of forty eight ships deployable, and from fifty five hundred sailors at sea to seventy seven hundred deployable. Comparatively the Marino plan called for a much more modest thirty five hulls and sixty nine hundred deployable sailors. The proposed loss of around a thousand at seas sailors was counteracted by a corresponding increase in the fleet air arm, especially the helicopter wings. In the end the most major point of departure from the plan was the reduction in type 42 destroyers ordered, from four to two, in order to compensate for the retention of two Landing ship mediums. The marines effectively argued that they needed those ships in order to do their job.

Aside from the marines the biggest winner under the Marino plan was the fleet air arm. Merino supported air power to a frightening degree. Several later scholars have speculated that his experience in the pacific during WWII convinced him that aviation was vital for a successful navy. Whatever the reasons the modern fleet air arm is almost completely his creation. He was also an early advocate for missile and helicopter power in a naval context and it shows in his planning.


Action plan for naval growth:
Section 1 Disposal of current inventory:

Cruisers:

Recommend scraping or disposal of all cruiser class vessel currently in inventory, and opting out of current contract on the third cruiser. Ships are outdated and the cost to maintain them is already becoming a burden, further upgrades would cost two to four times as much as purchasing a smaller vessel with comparable fighting abilities.

Destroyers

Scraping of Fletcher and Buckley class destroyers is a must, neither vessel is relevant in today’s threat environment. Phasing out of Buckley’s as Condell class frigates come out of the yards as the Condell class fills the roll of the Buckley and exceeds it in capabilities by a large margin. Fletcher class to be let go upon receipt of the Type 42’s ordered. They were good ships but their time is past, the advent of the missile has rendered them ineffectual in our fleet mix. Additionally inspection of the vessels in question has revealed that they are on the edge of wearing out, without a major overhaul they can be expected to break down completely sometime in this decade. Almirante Class to be retained until 1980, steps should be taken to see if other nations can be interested in purchasing these ships. Upgrade strongly recommended if ships are to be retained for any amount of time. Retention and upgrade recommendation based on mechanical condition of the ships.

Purchase of type 42 destroyers recommended. Attempt should be made to replace all destroyers with type 42 class hulls. General naval consensus is that the missile is the way of the future. With appropriate upgrades these ships should last until the next millennium should there be no further paradigm shift. Ships are helicopter capable and consultation with both USN and RN personnel has indicated that such is essential for modern fleet operations, especially in the realm of ASW. Additional savings should be obtained by tying purchase to the expanded Condell order.

Frigates

Upgrade of order from two to seven. Compensate for the loss of deployable hulls with frigates. Offensive abilities of the navy will be minimally impacted in this manner. As major combat assets the frigates will be free to roam as needed and be deployed overseas without effecting the ability of the navy to defend our shores.

Submarines:

Balao class to be stricken from the ship list with all possible haste. The loss of submersible capability from 1951 to 1961 was a regrettable disaster and is still effecting the efficiency of the submarine force. Oberon vessels are acceptable but not desirable, hold purchases to current levels (2) and use as training vessels. 209 class vessel to be obtained ASAP as their capabilities and personal requirements work well with our fleet mix. Recommend purchasing up to eight units so as to be able to threaten both the Argentine Navy and Peru at the same time. Should this not be possible at least four units must be obtained so as to represent a credible threat. All 209’s are to be missile capable.

Landing Ships:

Retain Aquila in ready reserve condition if not active. All nine other landing ships to be placed in reserves. Reserve vessels to be scrapped or sold off as warranted. Landing capability is nice to have but not essential, review of strategic situation indicates that war with Argentina would be decided in the mountains. Island war is a side show and one we can deal with through the judicious application of air power. In the event of a need for a landing or major transport operation vessels will be withdrawn from the reserves. Keeping them active at this point in time is counter indicated based on the strategic situation.

Support Vessels, Patrol Vessels, and other Vessels:

Current force posture is acceptable. Patrol vessel replacement competition to begin mid-seventies for a replacement date of eighty or later. Colo Colo upgrade canceled, ship to be retained as naval museum. Rolling replacement of Tugs will continue as previously planned.

Section 2 New Class purchases:

Major Surface Units:
Since the scrapping of the Almirante Latorre in 1959 the navy has not had any major units. Given tensions in the region this is a lack that should be rectified forthwith. Argentina and Brazil both have an active carrier force, and it is beneath Chile’s dignity to be the only major power in the region which is lacking. Currently there are multiple options available to us for rectifying this: Buying an Essex class from the United States, a Light fleet carrier from Britain like the Argentines and Brazilians have, or examining the possibility of purchasing a fleet carrier from Britain.

At this time it is felt in the navy that with our numerical inferiority to the Argentine fleet parity is counter indicated. As such the Essex and Audacious options should be explored. Preference given to the Audacious as our current and future fleet mix continues to be of British design. Fleet air arm aircraft should be American as they have the most depth and variety. Phantoms are a must, but attack craft are still open to discussion.

Helicopter:

With the navy moving towards deploying platforms that are capable of housing such units it is recommended that we invest. Westland Wasps can be leased for all units until we get a handle on deploying helicopters at sea. Sea Kings should be leased to explore the possibility of replacing inshore maritime patrols with helicopter patrols. At this time buying is counter indicated as the infrastructure needed is not in place or underdeveloped. Investment in said infrastructure should occur over the next five years.
 
Not sure if I got the personalities and beliefs of the people and time right, but here's the next part. Much more prose-ish so I'm hoping for a slightly better reaction then dead silence...

Jorge Alessandri looked around the small sitting room in his town home at the military leaders he had invited and tried to suppress a laugh. He was well aware of the uncertainty that this last election had generated in the Chilean people. The talks of coupes and assassinations had not been beneficial for the public, and he was going to have to move fast in order to prove that the military was under control, and that he could execute his agenda without outside interference. Already the leftist papers were calling him a shill for the United States of America. It was a perception that he would need to kill off quickly if he wanted a successful presidency. Unfortunately his record from his last election worked against him there. Still he felt that this little get together was a good way to start off his presidency. As much as the left decried the military it was axiomic that the military was apolitical in Chile. In other Latin American countries this might not be the case, but Chile was different.

Fernando Porta Angulo was Alessandri’s most prominent guest for the night. After he had read over the Merino papers Jorge had decided to make the navy his priority. Of course the Marino papers were still making waves in the navy. Hugo Tirado and Raul Montero were busy fighting it out to see who would succeed Fernando Porta as CNO and they had come down on opposite sides of the issue. Hugo Tirado was supporting the traditionalists, and from the way he was huddled in the corner of the study, looking like he was expecting an attack at any minute and angrily puffing on a cigar, he was losing the political fight badly. The navy had never really recovered its pride after the 1931 mutinies had rendered it as the secondary service, and Raul Montero was harping on how the new model navy would give the navy back its place in the sun. He was easily working the room, gaining support for his position in the other services, especially the air force. Fernando Porta wasn’t hiding in corner and sulking, but neither was he working the room. He was sitting at the table enjoying a brandy and clearly thinking over the issue that the Merino papers had brought up.

The problem was of course that the papers success would mean promotion for that ambitious little shit Merino. No one was really happy about it, especially after the way he had pissed all over the chain of command in order to get an interview with the incoming president. Still he had proved himself to be effective, if not necessarily wise, and he had proved that he could get his ideas heard. His ambition might be off-putting to everyone who met him, but his effectiveness meant that could be forgiven in moderate amounts. Should he fail to deliver, the knives would be out, but so far he hadn’t failed. It didn’t help that the man was smart enough to go interservice with his plan. Fernando was still kicking himself after he had missed that little trick. It was annoying when a subordinate played the political game better then you did, especially if that was published to the world. Looking over at his air force colleagues he smirked a bit, they were doing his work for him.

Carlos Guerraty Villalobos and César Ruiz Danyau had both been sited dropping by Alessandris town house in the last week. Everyone knew it was to encourage him to think about the new model navy plan. It seemed that the outgoing commanding general of the Chilean Air Force, and the incoming one, both were fans. OF course that was because it would mean that the Chilean air force would be able to present a true credible threat to the other air forces on the continent. The fact was that the Mirages just weren’t threatening, and the incoming F-5’s and A-37’s were all regarded as second rate aircraft. The F-5 was good enough as a light fighter, but everyone knew that to threaten with it was a joke. They just didn’t have the range or payload to be made into a true threat. Of course the a-37 being a CAS plane only added to the perception that the air force was week. So far nothing the Air Force had succeeded in procuring was really threatening, or put the air force above its fellow air services. They could fight equally with Chile’s neighbors, but they lacked the numbers or technologies to triumph.

It was a perception that was false. Alessandri had seen the intelligence estimates that said Chile’s air force could hold its own with his own two eyes. Of course the argument that everyone was making was that if the air force was more threatening, just like the navy, then there wouldn’t be a confrontation. It was bullshit, but attractive bullshit. The Argentines were no more likely to back down from a strong Chile then the Chileans were to back down. They would be smart about it, but a confrontation was coming. That was the real reason why Jorge Alessandri had called this meeting. He wanted to know just what he had to work with, and what he needed to work on, to prepare for that confrontation. Polling his military before he began to implement his plans meant that there would be less resistance to his ideas. If the military didn’t like them, then they would not actually be implemented and he would have wasted a large amount of the public’s money.

The new model navy, and the F-4 Phantom II’s that came with it for the air force, was the first serious attempt at military reform he had seen in recent times. Like it or not it was a solid plan of action that diverged from the failed traditional procurement policy that Chile had been following. The way that Argentina had been able to push Chile around after the last Beagle crisis was proof enough of the failures in perception. Chile was never the biggest military power around, but it needed to be seen as a credible threat in the region otherwise its disputes with its neighbors would break out into war. Obviously following the lead of Brazil and Argentina in procurement policy had been a mistake. The new plans that Jorge was reviewing were much more aggressive, although he wasn’t comfortable with the balancing act that was being proposed. Chile had more to gain by going to the Americans, but politically doing so would be suicide. Of course all of this thought and planning hinged on the acceptance of his final guest.

Carlos Prats González made up the final guest of the informal soiree, as the commanding general of the Chilean army his assent would be needed. Of course his recent political problems had caused more than a bit of unrest in the lower ranks, and begun to undermine the traditional apolitical nature of the army. People like Augusto Pinochet Ugarte were beginning to openly advocate for the military’s involvement in politics. That was not a situation that Jorge wanted in any way shape or form. He would need to lend his own political capital to Prats in order to keep those idiots who were agreeing with Pinochet out of power. Prats might not be the best political head of service around, but he was a good solid constitutionalist. It wouldn’t do to replace him with someone who held other views or was more ambitious.

Jorge thought that he had something to give Carlos, after all the Navy and Air force would both be spending money hand over foot. Giving more money to the military was not something that he wanted to do, but with the appropriate finessing he would be able to get a great deal of bang for his peso. France had recently decided to knife Israel in the back, diplomatically of course, and had under sold its former allies robbing her of the Singapore deal. The Chilean army did not have a great number of tanks, and with the falling through of the Israel Singapore deal there were more than three hundred light tanks up for grabs. Jorge thought that they could be purchased cheaply, an act that would bolster both the Chilean army and General Prats.

“Gentlemen,” Jorge inclined his head to the uniformed heads of the military and their successors. “I trust you found the refreshments to your liking?”

“Cut to the chase,” Carlos Prats said bitterly. He had indulged just a bit too much in the fine scotch that Alessandri had provided and it showed. “We all know why you have us here.”

“I can see why the Air force and the navy are here,” César Ruiz Danyau spoke with a touch of contempt. “The army I am not so certain of.”

“It would be less uncertain if you would rein in those goddamn right wing fanatics like Fernando Matthei Aubel, or at least contain them.” Carlos rolled his shoulders like a bull preparing to charge. “That cocksucker has been talking to the little shitstain Pinochet about the direction that politics has proceed in in recent years.”

“That is an area we are going to need to take a closer look at.” Raul Montero said with a sour look on his face. “The young bucks need to be reminded that they do not know everything. Although I will admit that the young bucks that the navy is dealing with are a bit more productive than the ones that you need to deal with. Or the ones I have to deal with.”

“Gentlemen, we can all agree that the involvement of the armed forces with the body politic would be a disaster for all of us. Why you just need to look over the Andes to see the slipping state of readiness and battle worthiness of the Argentinian forces as an example.” Jorge began his presentation by appealing to the Chilean military traditions.
“Say what you will about them they still are bigger than us and they have more hardware,” Prats grunted out in disgust. “I know my boys can hold them in the mountains, after all we are much better trained, but they have tanks and we have infantry. It is not a situation that is conducive to me sleeping soundly what with the flare ups of tension every couple of months. Especially with the navy gleefully pouring gasoline onto that fire when they lack the strength to back up their provocations.” The general finished by glaring at his colleagues in blue.

“We gambled and we turned out to be wrong, wasn’t the first time and it will not be the last time that happens,” Fernando Porta Angulo shrugged as he admitted that. “I thought that the rot had gone deeper than it actually had. The same provocations in two or three more years will draw a very different response unless they change their ways.”

“Rot or not, no one disputes that they have the weight of metal on their side,” Jorge said flatly. “I called you here to ask for your support in implementing the new model navy suggestions. I know that you have people who you talk to in the congress, just as I do, and if they are aware of your support then raising the money for this expansion will be easier than if they believe that you are indifferent to it or outright opposed it.”

Fernando Porta Angulo was the first to react to that pronouncement. He gave his two competing sub commanders a long and searching look before nodding his assent. Hugo Tirado would not be the CNO of the Chilean navy it seemed. His old fashion views on procurement meant that he would be resigning with Fernando. The air force men just looked at each other and nodded their assent without a second thought. No one thought that they would turn down the expansion to their power base that was being offered. Carlos Prats was the last man, and he held himself stiffly for a minute before he spoke.

“I can arraign for the friends of the army to support you, but if I do this without getting anything for it then I will be ousted. You do realize that, do you not?”

“Of course, I would be disappointed if you did not realize that was the case,” Jorge shrugged lightly. “Still my foreign affairs consultant mentioned something of interest to me the other day. A certain deal between Israel and Singapore was recently scuppered by France, apparently there are more than three hundred AMX-13s floating around without a home.”

“While I appreciate your delicacy, those are light tanks,” Prats said firmly. “How would that help me?”

“According to those who I talked to their ninety millimeter guns are more than enough to blow through the Argentinean Sherman’s armor. Besides their low cost will allow you to buy them all you know…”

“So all of them…”

“Upgraded,” Jorge said firmly. “I am aware that they are not the newest, or the heaviest piece of equipment. Still our new purchasing directive must be to get the best out of what we buy. I’m sure that you understand…”

“Ah, I’m sure that the Israelis would welcome the business. I presume that any professional development undertaken by my officers in said country will be supported?”

“Of course! Our officers training is what allows us to be a military threat… we should do all that we can to continue to encourage that.” Jorge stated blandly. “I’m sure that the navy will tell you about their efforts to have their officers with the royal navy or the USN. Why should the army not take advantage of the professional knowledge of a power that has a rising renowned in the area which it wishes to expand its knowledge of. Although perhaps you can offer them some reciprocal professional development, after all our mountain infantry is world class and they do have that problem in the north of their country… Golan something or other I believe it is?”

“I will look into it,” Prats sat back with a profoundly satisfied smile on his face. The incoming president had just given him everything that he needed in order to get his own vision of what should be implemented by the army. He had even gone further than expected and was opening up the possibility of international cooperation to the military. That was something that had not been done since the army was last reformed by the Prussians. Of course it would take some time for these ideas to be implemented, but if they were started off now than there was a real possibility that they would have an enormous impact before then end of the decade.
 
Research for the next bit is going slowly, and includes a couple of surprises. Still I figured a political update would help clear up just what is going on in government, I will need to cover the military and bit of the foreign reaction before I move on to the next year. Although don’t expect those updates to be anywhere near this ones length. This update sort of grew on me as I went over it for editing. In an amusing side note the more in depth research that I’ve been doing has invalidated some of my later outline. Especially the parts dealing with the war itself. Also thank you to those who replied to let me know that someone was actually reading this.


Radomiro Tomic Romero glared around the conference room that he was meeting the incoming president in. The disrespect that Alessandri was showing him, and by extension his party, was utterly unacceptable. Things like this should be negotiated properly, in the comfort of a home, before the details were worked out in a conference room like this. At least that was the way things had been done the last time Alessandri was President. Things might have changed since then, but not by that much. Radomiro looked up, but declined to rise in a studied insult, as Mario Arnello and Jorge Alessandri entered the room. It seemed that the president had been talking to his conservative palls.

Everyone knew that Alessandri had gotten the nomination and the support of the National party through the old conservative party apparatus. Given that he was naturally inclined to support the National party with their legislative efforts over his left wing allies the Radical Party. Of course the man was stubborn enough and independent enough to hold on to his position of being an independent fiercely enough that he needed support from other parties for his own legislative agenda. As the leader presumptive of the Christian Democratic Party, despite the fact he wasn’t currently in congress, Tomic was proud to be the person who Alessandri wanted to talk to. As he saw it even if he had lost the election then having the president come to him hat in hand increased his prestige for the next run.

“Radomiro, thank you for coming,” Alessandri offered his hand which Radomiro took in order to not seem churlish, of course he had to rise to do so thereby defeating his earlier defiance. “I presume that you know why we are meeting here today?”

“Of course,” Radomiro just barely prevented himself from rolling his eyes histrionically. “Without the CDP you do not have a working majority in the chamber of deputies, your election will be meaningless unless you can come to a workable compromise with us. Unless you are willing to work with the socialists and communists, well your legislative agenda would be dead on arrival.”

“I wouldn’t say that we have too,” Mario Arnello, the national party hack obviously here to represent his parties interests spoke up for the first time, his voice filled with disgust. He was well known as being on the far right, and therefore was less then pleased with Alessandris attempts to include the Christian democrats in a government of national unity. “With the Radicals we have a majority in the chamber of deputies. I do not see why we need to talk to these people…”

“Patients, we are after all waiting for our last guest. Besides the people need to see that our government can function. Until the next election it is in our best interest to forge a government of national unity and actually govern, not fight with each other and cause instability. The assassinations effects are still being felt in the general public and we have to reassure them that we politicians can rule and rule well before some bright young officer gets the idea that a coupe is a good idea,” Jorge smiled looking slightly superior to the two younger men and then continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “So, now the election is over what do you intend to do? A return to journalism or do you intend to actually put that law degree of yours to work?”

“I am considering my options,” Radomiro responded coolly his mind racing. He was aware that the fact he had yet to actually practice law was a dig at his credentials, Jorge Alessandri was a well-known businessmen and he often told off other politicians for being too political from that point of view. He always did love to lord the fact he did something other than politics over other politicians heads. Still say what you would about the man he was smart and well-tuned in to the countries mood. If he was worried about the possibility of a coupe, and was looking to shore up the democratic system then perhaps it would be best to support him in his endeavor. It might cost the Christian Democrats some votes in the next election, but not as much as the accusation that they were undemocratic would.

“I am sorry I am late,” Luis Pareto González spoke up as he opened the door of the conference room. Despite his evident lateness the man looked hardly ruffled, then again that was important to his image as the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile. Radomiro barely contained his start as he saw who else had been invited. He had thought that he had gotten all of the rebellious factions of the party under control after his loss of the presidency. It seemed that he had been wrong. “Just what are we discussing this fine day? If you would make it quick I have places to be and people to see.”

“A minor thing, one that I am sure will take up little of your valuable time,” Alessandri replied with a straight face. “Just a minor parliamentary alliance between the Radical National alliance I am leading and the Christian Democrats. I’m sure you can sign off on it and we can be on our way in ten or so minutes with a government of national unity.”

“Of course, such a minor thing…” Luis and Jorge looked at each other and then at the shocked faces of their respective party representatives and burst out into laughter. “It is good to see you back in action again Jorge, no matter how painful your reentrance into politics was for my party.”

“You as well, though from where I was standing you were going to lose to that campesino lover Allande.” Jorge shrugged easily as he shook his old friendly rival’s hand. “Then from what my contacts in the embassy have been telling me the Americans would have acted… and I doubt we would have liked that.”

“I am surprised that you went back to the radicals again. Didn’t they lead you to ruin on your first go around?” Luis chose to pretend to ignore the warning he was being given in favor of small talk. It wouldn’t do to let Alessandri see just how shaken he was. Chile was better than those other countries to hear that the United States thought so little of them… That needed to change.

“Possibly, although I will admit that the advisors I got who were trained in the United States were more responsible for my failures. Uncle Sam likes to tell us poor Latin’s how things are going to be with little regard for how his theories actually work.”

“Very well, on to business. You would not have called us here if you didn’t think that we could work together before the next election comes around.” Luis set easily in a chair and leaned back with a highly speculative look at Alessandri. It seemed that the man was sharp as ever and his slightly inclined head seemed to show that he was agreeable to the time limit that Luis had proposed. “Let me guess the first bit, you are dropping the nationalization of the cooper mines.”

“How did you guess?” Jorge responded mildly even as Radomiro exploded out of his seat.

“That is Chiles national treasure, what in the world are you thinking allowing it to be despoiled by the norto bastards! Bad enough that they think they can push us around for little to no reason, to allow them to continue to control the natural wealth of Chile is treason!” Radomiro ranted at the calmly smirking Alessandri.

“You have been talking about a military expansion and the money for that needed to come from somewhere.” Luis shrugged continuing in his head; the Americans will like that good you plan to throw them a bone. “I got the work from my own contacts in the army, also, the entire armed forces political contingents has been working the chamber in favor of your plan. From what I have seen you are on the right track, and something does need to be done before our neighbors can push us around with little trouble… my ranting friend here does have a point. Too much of the control over the cooper mines is in American hands. I presume that you have a solution for this?”

“I was going to use the options to buy and the re sell the shares to other foreign investors. British, French, and German banks have all expressed interest in the past…” Alessandri spread his hands. “Perhaps conditional sales to respectable institutions of state…”

“I would need a full and complete plan and legislative slate before I even thought about proposing such an action to my colleagues, let alone my continuant’s. I like what I think you are thinking of attempting but I am not convinced that you can make it work.” Luis drummed his fingers on the table and frowned in concentration. It sounded like a solid plan that appeased both sides of the issue, the mines remained private while the Americans lost influence. Of course they could have only been after the influence, he was never sure which part of the chimera he was dealing with when he talked to the Americans, the pride filled nationalist, the profit driven pirate, or the hypocritical saint. “If you are thinking about it I would urge you to abandon your campaign promise to speed up the nationalization. Quick sales would lead us to the shares just returning to American hands as you would not watch things closely enough.”

“We are aware of the issue and have formed… committees… on the issue,” Mario Arnello acknowledged with a grimace and a wince as he thought about the fights that he had already had with the radical democrats over the issue. He was much less of a parliamentarian then his fellows. He in fact trended to being more of an ideologue, a trait that he shared with Radomiro although both would deny it to the ends of the earth should it be pointed out aloud. “I await their recommendation and while we are interested in this action it is on hold until we can either prove to our own satisfaction that the money will not just end up back in the Americanos hands or we can prove it to you.”

“I trust that several of my colleagues will be receiving invitations to sit on said committees in the near future?” Luis said repressively with a raised eyebrow of challenge. He was less then pleased to hear about committees being formed in his chamber of deputies without his consent. Then again the National and Radical Parties both tended to fly off the handle and go their own way at the drop of a hat on their pet issues. It made corralling them for a vote a rather trying experience. Looking over at Jorge he noted that the other man was just shaking his head with a resigned air. It seemed that Alessandri was even more aware then he was of just what it took to keep the two parties focused and on task. They shared a commiserating grin before the meeting continued, an action that was ignored by Ramomiro and Mario.

“Of course, we just were setting up the basic framework within which any discussion would occur. Naturally once the issue was on the table then others would be invited,” Alessandri said smoothly taking over for his fellow and continuing with a solid excuse. “You know how disputes over the shape of the table can sideline serious discussion. Much better to get the ephemeral stuff out of the way before opening up debate.”

“We shall see. Should the framework need work I’m sure that my fellows will reopen that portion of the debate,” Luis answered just as smoothly delivering his threat. “Any other sacred cows which you wish to slaughter? Perhaps land reform?”

“Actually…” Mario started before he got a quelling look from Jorge.

“Really? Really? Land reform? You are going to open up that can of maggots on me?” Luis asked plaintively.

“I think we should hear them out,” Ramorio said with a bit of hidden glee. He could see how his party would benefit from being seen as the ones who pushed the National party into increasing the rate of land reform.

“It was one of the planks that we gave to the Radicals,” Alessandri said in a very pained voice. “I agree that things need to be done but…”

“As always it is the process.” Luis commiserated. “Do you have a good idea or do you intend to just continue with the path you started during your first term of office?”

“What I did in my first term in office, and what Eduardo did, wasn’t the solution. Oh the syndicates helped, but the issue isn’t just the land itself. If that was the case we would already be on our way to solving the issue. No the problem is capital, and land, a linked issue which I know addressing is going to be… difficult. Especially with the way that Eduardo shot us in the foot with the ultra wealthy when he began to expropriate land. I do not doubt that it seemed to be a good idea at the time but he gave the compensation commission to the left wing of his party, and that was a mistake.”

“I agree. No one likes the Latifundia, but to solve the problem we need to include them… Screwing them the way that Eduardo did and then disclaiming the responsibility was ill thought out. We need them for any solution to work.” Luis looked over at his companion who was frowning mightily at the suggestion.

“Something that is political suicide for the one who suggests it,” Radomiro said in a resign voice. “I know you are correct but they have not made any friends with the way that they have been acting. Of course the campesino’s haven’t helped their case but…”

“That is at least partially not their fault,” Mario looked like he was in physical pain as he made that admission. “They are dirt poor, how can they mechanize their farming methods? Or follow any of the other modern farming methods, you know the ones which actually generate a profit…”

“So we need to convince the Latifundia that it is in their interest to support the newly created campesino farms…” Luis shrugged. “Never going to happen.”

“Not unless there is something in it for them.” Alessandri spoke with a measured voice. “Inquilino’s are already on their way out. It turns out that making the land owner responsible for ensuring that their employees did not starve did the trick but you still have the issues of the Hacienda owners and their multiple estates…”

“I presume that you have at least a marginal solution in a way that we have not considered before?” Luis raised an eyebrow and indicated for Jorge to continue with his thoughts.

“Tax incentives for breaking up estates in death. Higher death dues should estates be held together in one chunk. Incentives to sell the land and a federal bank to help the campesino’s to establish themselves.” Jorge paused before taking a deep breath. “And incentives for the Latifundia to get their capital involved in other sectors of the economy. Breaks on taxation for investment in industrialization and the like.”

“So you sell it as incentivizing the economy, not aiding the latifundia…” Radomiro said with an intrigued voice. “Between our two parties media holdings you might be able to sell it.”

“All of this is nice, but… we gave you the election in the chamber of deputies, now you are asking for more,” Luis stated calmly, letting his smirk speak for him. “What do we get?”

“We followed precedent, as is proper,” Radomiro hissed out. He was clearly annoyed by the bartering that was about to begin and wanted no part in it. That he was clearly not the lead negotiator only added to his ire. The bartering wasn’t what annoyed him, it was the way his companion was staking out his position and that he was doing it in the first place. Radomiro felt that he should have been the one to lead the discussion, but he wasn’t being taken completely seriously. Of course the fact that he was currently out of government hurt his position a bit, but he was still the heir presumptive to the Christian Democrat party. “To do other then what we did would have been treasonous, and completely indefensible!”

“We are aware of this,” Marco said with a grin, slipping Jorge a wink as he rose. “Perhaps you would like to share a drink with me while the two of them hammer out the details….” With that pronouncement the two men left the conference room looking for a bit to drink. They left the president and the president of the chamber of deputies to hammer out a power sharing agreement. At least the outlines of one. Everyone was well aware that all which would be decided here was the outline of what was to come. The details would take weeks of carful negotiations to hammer out.

“Just so you know there are nine senate seats and twenty two deputies seats that I can move on within an hour of being sworn in to office,” Jorge said coldly. “Do not mistake my forbearance and desire to work with you for desperation.”

“And just where would you find these free seats?” Luis asked calmly.

“Did you know that the Ley de Defensa Permanente de la Democracia was never taken off the books, it just stopped being enforced? Most people assume that it was annulled not derogated, and the derogation was much less sweeping as written then it was as practiced,” Jorge smiled like a shark as he pointed that little tidbit out. “All of those poor communists… illegally sitting in chambers.”

“I had not thought about that,” Luis admitted with a wince as he thought about the chaos which would result from the communists being kicked out of the government. “You are aware of just how bad of an idea that is aren’t you? Provoking a constitutional crisis just as you got into office in the midst of this unsettled time…”

“Oh yes, that’s my nuclear option,” Jorge admitted with a shrug. “If you turned me down I was going to the socialists and offering them the health care system on a platter. They don’t have as much to offer as you do, and are much father to the left then I would like, but…”

“But you could get them for a song.” Luis agreed even as his mind raced to cover the implications that were being thrown around. He was well aware that there was no way that Jorge would follow through on his threat because of the socialist’s last party conference, but that he was willing to even pretend to be open to the idea was disturbing. “We want education and interior.”

“Not health?”

“You saw how well Eduardo was able to implement his ideas on drug rationalization and bulk tenders,” Luis responded bitterly. The failure of that initiative was still a sore point for the entire Christian Democrat party. Not that it had crashed and burned, it had just failed to gain the momentum it needed in order to become a self-sustaining policy rather than a one off gimmick.

“That’s because he went about it like an idiot,” Jorge rolled his eyes in exasperation. “All he needed to do was diversify his purchases somewhat and spread them out and it would have worked. Instead he went straight for bulk tenders, a clear threat to then entire industry. It was bad politics and worse business sense.”

“You think you can do better?”

“I know I can, the radicals have taken health and they have sent me the revised plan… I think that it will work. The only regret I have about it is that it retains Fries name, such a pity that.”

“I will conceded that is a concession that I will welcome, but I will need some guarantees over the ministries that we are getting. I do not want to end up with nothing but a title.”

“I cannot mess with education, you know that.”

“But can you increase it in proportion to your increase in military spending?”

“I’m going from three percent to five percent of the GDP on the military. You know we need to keep the budget under control somehow, and you aren’t going to let me cut social spending.”

“Two percent on education sounds reasonable.”

“Half a percent.”

“Split the difference and call it one,” Luis wheedled. “You know just as well as I do that education is a solid long term investment.”

“And the roads, rails, and other infrastructure?” Jorge asked heavily. He wasn’t looking forward to pre slicing the budget.

“Can be decided at the budget meetings.” Luis frowned and then tipped his hand. “I will give you a moratorium on pressing for social spending until after the seventy three election though if you give me the educational increase.”

“Agreed.” Jorge nodded firmly. “I believe we have the beginnings of a true unity government here.”

“Mostly, unless you think you can convince the communists and socialist to join…”

“Those fucks… I have plans for dealing with them,” Jorge bared his teeth. “When we wind this little government down in the next election I believe that some people will be surprised.”
 
Once again trying something a little different. This is a short update, mostly because I lost the next four updates first drafts when my computer updated… apparently autosave didn’t like what I was writing and decided not to save it. After I finished cursing I went back and managed to re write most of what I had but… it took me a bit more time than I thought. Still I should have a substantial update ready to go tomorrow. One request is if what is going on in this isn’t clear could you let me know? I realize that for some reason South American history seems a little obscure. Admittedly I will be clearing up what is going on in later updates, but I would appreciate it if the obscurity is too much people would let me know.
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USA Today article dated Friday, May 8, 1970
Terrorist’s bomb Argentine Ministry of Defense.
Buenos Aires, Argentina.



Yesterday a massive bomb blast rocked the front of the Libertador Building. Details are unclear at the moment but slowly leaking out of the Argentine security apparatus. This attack on the Ministry of Defense has caused a complete lock down of Buenos Aires as the Police and other security services investigate. Gendarmerie units from outside the city have been called in to help keep order as the national police have found themselves stretched to the limit. Even as the investigation continues there are reports of raids being carried out throughout the country by both the police and the military. Casualties have yet to be fully determined or disclosed but sources close to the Minister of Defense have privately warned the media to expect an explosion from Chile and the Argentinian military has quietly been put on high alert. One of the few confirmed casualties is General Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio, Chilean Army, who was said to be killed in the initial blast.

This comes at a poor time for the Argentinean government as it attempts to contain the increasing high tension between Chile and Argentina. It is unclear just what he was doing at the Argentinean Ministry of Defense but according to local media he was one of the lead Chilean negotiators in walking the continuing tensions over the Beagle Islands back down to manageable levels. Speculation is rampant on just what he was doing in country at this time, as talks had supposedly been suspended while international mediation is ongoing. Government officials have stated off the record that he was continuing the talks which prevented a war from breaking out last November in the hopes of reaching a settlement without international involvement. Speculation is rampant that he or other members of his delegation, were a target for the bomb.

If he or his delegation was the target then this brings the number of Chilean Generals who have been assassinated or died under mysterious circumstances to three in the past six months. General Rene Schneider, assassinated on his way home in Santiago, and General Camilo Valenzuela, shot in what the Chilean police have classified as a very suspicious carjacking, are the most well-known victims of this wave of violence. Sources in the CIA have been quoted as saying that this violence has a high likelihood of being a reaction to the loss of Salvador Allende in Chile’s presidential elections.

Despite the speculation for Washington sources close to the investigation have been pointing at culprits closer to home. Police spokesmen have been quick to blame the violent Marxist group the ERP (People's Revolutionary Army) which has in the past two months come to prominence. Jefe de Policia Luis Margaride had this to say;

“This horrible tragedy is a continuation of the attack on traditional Argentine values and morals. Leftists and intellectuals continue to prove their moral bankruptcy by attacking the foundations of the Argentine state. We will not give them the satisfaction of seeing us fail. The ERP and their cowardly fellow travelers will not be allowed to continue to terrorize the good and godly argentine people. Grupo Alacrán has been ordered to use any means necessary to bring this group of cowardly thugs to heal.”
 
Still rewriting work, but at least I managed to get eighty percent or so back on track. Just about the only major piece that I lost I haven’t been able to re-create is a conversation I had written between Helms and Kissinger. Still I will be glad when I finish this year up, it’s almost there and driving me up a wall that it’s taking so long. I had originally envisioned a sprint to 78 and then a slow down to cover the war but that’s just not happening. There’s too much material that needs to be covered before the war, and too many changes from OTL for the TL to work as I envisioned it.
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José Toribio Merino Castro looked over the bay of Coquimbo. He had come here for a second opinion, at least that’s what he had told his fellow officers. In reality that was a lie, it had turned out that his new naval plan was much more controversial than expected. Merino might have gotten the Air force on side with his plan but he had forgotten to sell it to the army. That was going to come about and bite the navy in the ass next year when the budgeting fight began. There was a reason why the navy had gone with big gun cruisers even after they had become obsolete, and that was to support the army.

The more conservative members of the army were being led by Pinochet who was being advised by the retiring Hugo Tirado. It seemed that Jose had made an enemy for life there, the man just couldn’t accept that he hadn’t been awarded the coveted position of CNO and he firmly blamed Merino for the loss. He also couldn’t accept that Cruisers were not still a viable unit. Having served on one during the Second World War, for the Americans so he had seen combat, Jose was well aware of the cruisers potential and their limitations. He was considering allowing the Tre Khronor to be purchased after a compressive modernization. Jose was at the moment undecided, but leaning towards no on the issue. The Tre Khronor class might require half the crew of a Brooklyn after a refit but she also had half the big guns and minimal secondaries. Given that the only reason for keeping a cruiser was to keep those big guns it made purchasing her seem like less than a good idea.

The guns mattered because Chile wasn’t a very deep country, and most of it was made up of impassible mountainous terrain. That meant that most road and rail lines passed well within gun range of the ocean at one point or another. The Chilean navy was supposed to interdict those routes in the event of an invasion, it was why the navy was so gun heavy after all. The thing was that an aircraft carrier was even better for the mission. The problem that the army, and the traditionalists in the navy, kept bringing up was that there would only be one carrier. Chile couldn’t afford more than that no matter how much Merino wanted that not to be the case. Or how badly he cooked the books. Still he thought that his way was better, now he just had to defend it.

That explained why he was here. Capitan de Navo Danito Toro was the rising star in naval aviation and was therefore being courted by all the political factions in the navy. Of Course Merino was certain that he had the best carrot, but he would have to see if he could work with the man. If he could get Toro on side Jose Merino was certain that Toro would bring his sizable block of the navy in line with Merino’s already well established faction thereby winning the political fight in the navy. Outside of the navy, it was another ball game and fortunately not his problem, yet. Raul Montero was an old hand at political infighting and he had a better set of contacts in the chamber of deputies then Merino did. That meant the CNO was well positioned to take on the army, especially since the Marines had been reestablished and the army had virtually ceded the defense of the southern portions of the country to them.

Jose was of two minds over that tactical move by the army. On one hand he knew that the navy and marines would eventually win their war in the south. On the other the fact that the navy and marines would have to retreat from sacred Chilean soil would leave them in a weaker position following any war. Then again it wasn’t as if a war was a complete certainty, even if the Argentines tended not to think things through completely. The army had given up their responsibility betting that there would be a war, or at least a serious confrontation. Merino trusted that they knew what they were about on land the same way that he knew what he was about at sea and so was busy trying to think up counter arguments for the politics after the war. So far the best he had come up with was that by giving the navy the responsibility for the south the Army had covered for their inability to plan logistically. It was a shite argument, and one that he hoped never to have to use. He knew the real reason why the south was to be virtually abandoned and even agreed with the logic behind it.

“Almirante,” a voice came from behind Merino and he started slightly as he had been deep in thought and turned to survey the arriving officer. Toro it seemed had decided to dress down for this meeting, wearing his working at sea uniform. It was a wise decision and spoke well of his instincts.

“Capitan de Navo,” Merino replied with an incline of his head. “Walk with me if you would…”

“If you are expecting instant support because of your plan then I would hasten to disabuse you of that notion,” Toro spoke pugnaciously. “While in parts your plan would be a good thing for naval aviation other parts would be a disaster. Why in the world did you specify S-2 Trackers for a job that we having been saying for years that we need P-3 Orion’s to do. The Tracker is a good aircraft, don’t get me wrong, but the range is limited and we do not have either the basing or the midair refueling assets in order to allow the aircraft to complete the mission that it needs to.”

“I am aware of the issues involved with my plan,” Merino grimaced even as he enjoyed the stroll he was taking. It was always pleasant to walk along the sea and smell the air. “It was originally meant as a first draft plan, one that the rest of the navy would take apart and then put back together as an improved plan. I’m sure you have seen procurement plans go through before. Unfortunately parts of it caught the politician’s eyes, and it became highly political. So much so that modifications became difficult to do politically as any admission of error resulted in the other side gaining ground. You may not like me or my plan but can you honestly say that you can support the traditionalist’s plans?”

“If you say so. As to your question, no I cannot but you know that,” While Toro’s words were perfectly acceptable his tone made it clear that he was very skeptical of this claim. “Still why am I here?”

“To fix my errors,” Merino decided to flatter the man, and to allow him to do a job that Merino himself couldn’t do. He hadn’t been completely lying when he said that the plan had become too political and that changing it was fast becoming impossible to do because of politics. If one of the services changed it because of operational requirements that was one thing, but he had his hands tied. “You know we are looking for a carrier?”

“There is not an officer in the navy who doesn’t know that. Especially after the screams of outrage came from you putting the Tre Khronor purchase on hold and under review…” Toro said with a slightly lifted eyebrow.

“Naturally. I want you to take the lead on that, sort through the three main strains of thought and bring us the best solution,” Merino enjoyed the look of shock that flitted over Toro’s face. “Naval aviation will have a major role to play in the future, but at the moment none of you have the rank you need in order to get your house in order. If you take this job then you will be gaining rank and respect, allowing your voice to be heard more clearly when it is needed.”

“I assume there are traps and pitfalls that you cannot put into writing and that is why you are telling me this in such a covert manner?” Toro raised an eyebrow skeptically. He couldn’t see Merino doing anything for him without extracting a price, the man was known throughout the navy as ambitious and would have ruined his reputation the way Pinochet in the army was ruining his if he hadn’t succeeded in bringing the president to his point of view.

“Raul Montero is a very good CNO, he fights well for the navy and he gets things done. The problem is that he is a bit old school in how he plans to go about choosing his successor, as such he allows divisions in the navy so long as they are not obvious to outsiders. He views such divisions as a Darwinian test for those who want follow him. If they cannot navigate the relatively calm waters of naval politics then they would be eaten alive in the chamber of deputies at least that is what he claims.” Merino’s voice was contemplative as he spoke. “I am in the running and my political faction is one of the largest so naturally I see more of the divisions then you do. If I warn you about a few of them it costs me some time, and gives me a leg up when the time comes for Montero to retire because you will be indebted to me.”

“Or at least look that way,” Toro allowed his cynicism to leak into his voice.

“True, not that it matters. Even if you do not support me Naval Aviation is intimately connected to my position. You are already going to rise or fall based on how well I do so it is in your interest to support me, just as it is in my interest to support you.”

“Politics,” Toro spat into the ocean as if to clear his mouth. “Still your point is well made. What are these pitfalls that I am not aware of?”

“First, the size of the carrier that we want; people are pushing for a light carrier, especially those connected to the army and air force. They feel that if we buy a light carrier then the F-4 Phantoms would go to the air force and we would be able to retain at least one of the cruisers. I don’t need to tell you that the loss of functionality would screw us and that a light carrier would just put us on par with the Argentines instead of returning them to their proper place.” Merino huffed in annoyance. He had heard many arguments over the past couple of months and this was one of the ones that pissed him off the most. The Chilean navy was better than anyone else at sea in South America, so why should they buy inferior hardware and only carry the day through skill. Much better to be better trained and to have better hardware.

“I can see that, I imagine that the naval aviators who you talked to were fans of that given the president signed the letter of intent without consulting us.” Toro paused, clearly thinking hard before continuing. “I do agree that a light carrier would not meet our needs. Especially if we are trying to replace the shore bombardment capabilities of the cruisers with air power.”

“Most people missed that bit of the plan,” Merino chuckled ruefully. “The second group you have to watch out for is those who supported our old procurement process and those who are… enamored… of the United States…”

“Really? Even after the arrests and the accusations that the Americans are following the lead of Lockheed?”

“You know how the officer’s corps works, they cannot believe that any of the officers in question actually took money from the Americans.” Merino shrugged as he said that. He was well aware that the investigations were turning up nothing, but it was important to keep them going if only to throw mud on those who opposed him. Despite the protests and the disbelief the accusations were sticking, many of the regular line officers were taking a very hard look at the procurement department and finding things not to their liking. It had helped that Merino had managed to get several of the Capitan’s of various ranks thrown out of the navy for accepting gifts for access from the Americans. That made the procurement department look like a typical south American kleptocracy, an image that the rest of the navy abhorred as they considered themselves equal to a first world navy in terms of training and professionalism.

“Punta’s,” Toro said his disgust plain to see. “What do they think we should buy?”

“It is not completely those officers, some of the better surface action officers and those on my own staff have put some serious thought into their suggestion,” Merino didn’t allow his smile to pass his lips. It wouldn’t do to give the game away to Toro after such a successful manipulation attempt. “They feel that an Essex would suite our needs being a full fleet carrier and available.”

“They think the Americans would sell us one?” Toro looked skeptical. “Aside from getting the Americans to sell us an Essex what are the issues with it? At first glance that sounds like a reasonable solution to our problems…”

“It is, or it would be, if it didn’t get the Americans foot back in the door in terms of procurement. Additionally… much as I hate to admit it… it’s too much of a carrier for us. I know that we could load her light but that would generate questions and our answers would not satisfy the politicians. We would end up needing to put a full air wing on her and that would kill our budget. As we are already looking at a loss of deployable hulls…”

“Ah. That I understand. I presume we are talking about the loss of more than one ship?”

“Considering that a full wing for an Essex is ninety air craft? We are looking at the loss of two destroyers at minimum.”

“And your preferred option?” Toro’s glance caught the surprised look on Merinos face. “Don’t look so shocked, I could tell that you had a preferred option from the moment that you started to talk. I might not agree with you but I will give it a fair shake.”

“The British are getting out of the carrier game and are looking to dispose of the HMS Eagle. She’s an Audacious class fleet carrier that has an air wing around half the size of an Essex. Very much the sweet spot we are looking for and we can get her completely refitted in England for a song before we take possession if we play our political cards right over there.”

“She also isn’t Phantom capable at the moment,” Toro observed dryly. “So I presume that she would need the refit…”

“As would the USS Randolph, our best option for an Essex,” Merino shrugged in dismissal of the point being raised by Toro. “Any carrier we buy is going to require a refit, yes the Eagles would be among the most extensive, but it is not a deal breaker. Especially since these carriers are getting old, none of the options we are looking at are truly new ships. I would rather have a carrier which has been completely overhauled and checked out in our service then one where things are likely to break soon after she begins to serve us.”

“I can see that, it is insurance is it not?”

“Exactly.”

“You have given me much to think on,” Toro frowned as he turned away. “I will get back to you on how I feel, in the mean time you can be assured that I will take the job and do it to the best of my abilities. There will be no procurement scandals on my watch.”

“I am heartened to hear that,” Merino paused before continuing. “Just to let you know should you prove to be as decisive and effective as I think you are there is a very good chance that you could be placed as the captain for our carrier. After all the surface officers don’t know how to use air craft… and with a surface XO I’m sure that you could adjust to such a hardship posting with ease.”
 
Hello, just read this TL and while it's nice to see a South American TL, there are several points you should clarify or fix... (and no, it's not because of where I come from :D )

- Where is Chile getting the money for it's military expansion program? With a 1969 POD, Chile's economy was one of the slowest growing in South America. Also, import substitution industrialization (which I infer you mean by 'light industry's "massive expansion"', and was a common practice in the entire region), was already underway since the 1950's, and did not produce the desired results. Nor in Chile, or anywhere else in the region. The 1973 oil crisis would have also thrown a monkey wrench on rearmament plans.

- With this in mind, how did you prevent Salvador Allende's election in 1970? A strong political POD would be required, because unrest by the Chilean economic situation can't be suspended because of an air skirmish in the Beagle Islands.

- Despite what some people both in or outside Peru may believe, no, Velasco Alvarado would have never brought Cuban or Soviet advisors. He was nor a fool or an ideologically driven socialist or communist, and worked to keep stable relations with the US. His left-leaning measures were only internal, pretty moderate compared to actual socialist governments, and pretty much a 'last resort' kind of thing to prevent the nation to fall to an actual communist revolution on the future.

- And since Argentina is a long-time stauch anti communist nation, and Peru is far closer to the non-aligned movement than to the Soviets or Chinese, then why is the US approving sales of advanced armament such as the F-4 Phantom or the Essex carrier? Even a few years ago with Brazil's huge economy and political importance, the proposed F-18 for them came with huge restrictions (and thus, was not selected). The US won't alienate a pre-Falklands War Argentina by arming Chile this way. If anything, Chile would need to get advanced weapons from the only nation willing to destabilize the region: the Soviet Union.
 
Hello, just read this TL and while it's nice to see a South American TL, there are several points you should clarify or fix... (and no, it's not because of where I come from :D )

- Where is Chile getting the money for it's military expansion program? With a 1969 POD, Chile's economy was one of the slowest growing in South America. Also, import substitution industrialization (which I infer you mean by 'light industry's "massive expansion"', and was a common practice in the entire region), was already underway since the 1950's, and did not produce the desired results. Nor in Chile, or anywhere else in the region. The 1973 oil crisis would have also thrown a monkey wrench on rearmament plans.

- With this in mind, how did you prevent Salvador Allende's election in 1970? A strong political POD would be required, because unrest by the Chilean economic situation can't be suspended because of an air skirmish in the Beagle Islands.

- Despite what some people both in or outside Peru may believe, no, Velasco Alvarado would have never brought Cuban or Soviet advisors. He was nor a fool or an ideologically driven socialist or communist, and worked to keep stable relations with the US. His left-leaning measures were only internal, pretty moderate compared to actual socialist governments, and pretty much a 'last resort' kind of thing to prevent the nation to fall to an actual communist revolution on the future.

- And since Argentina is a long-time stauch anti communist nation, and Peru is far closer to the non-aligned movement than to the Soviets or Chinese, then why is the US approving sales of advanced armament such as the F-4 Phantom or the Essex carrier? Even a few years ago with Brazil's huge economy and political importance, the proposed F-18 for them came with huge restrictions (and thus, was not selected). The US won't alienate a pre-Falklands War Argentina by arming Chile this way. If anything, Chile would need to get advanced weapons from the only nation willing to destabilize the region: the Soviet Union.

Thank you for the feed back. I can answer a couple of your questions although I'm not certain just how viable my answer will be so please feel free to poke holes in them.

The easiest question to answer is Allende, there I had both [FONT=&quot]General Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio and [/FONT][FONT=&quot]General Camilo Valenzuela panic about Allende's chances and try to get the army involved earlier. They messed up very similarly to the way they did in OTL and ended up accidentally killing [/FONT][FONT=&quot]General Rene Schneider before the election rather then after the election but before the confirmation. Imidiatly after this the left was accused of the assassination and bungled the response. I think that would be enough to give Alessandri the 1.6% needed to edge over Allende.


On the Phantom and Essex, they aren't. The Chileans might be looking at the Essex but its not an option that's really on the table. The US has no intentions of allowing the Chileans to procure one. The Phantoms on the other hand are F-4J models, and there the Chileans latched on to the special relationship and are attempting to leverage it in order to get their planes. At this point in the TL they have them on order but they haven't been built or delivered yet. The Brits are all for this deal as it allows them to reduce costs somewhat as their reduction in order killed their per plane budget (seriously the Brits went from 400 units as an initial units to 170 delivered, even if the Chileans order results in an increase of 48 more units it helps them out on the cost front.)[/FONT]

As for paying for the increase in military spending, that's a straight out budget increase coupled with Nixon not wrecking Chile's economy. It's also more of a reorganization and modernization then an expansion. Around this time in OTL Chile was running three cruisers, one of which was bought in 70, so the money is there (I think, otherwise i wouldn't be writing this now would i?). From everything that i have read the Chileans were on the verge of beating the economic doldrums and beginning to grow the economy again when Allende was elected. Nixon and his administration then went about deliberately wrecking the Chilean economy, especially after the cooper nationalization. Now the recovery isn't really going to get started until after 71-72, and its going to get hit by the 73 oil crisis, but the model is going to be along the lines of South Korea's economy rather then a South American import substitution model.

As for Peru? I'm intending to put them in a bit of a vice. Everyone thought that if war had broken out in 78-79 that Argentina would have won handily. Recently though several upper level Argentine generals, including their chief of staff, have been saying that Chile would have won. With Chile not suffering under an arms embargo, getting better training, and a more modern force I'm betting on a massive Chilean victory that completely tips the balance of power in south America. From my notes the pre war positions were a Chile-Brazil alliance counter balanced by the Peru-Argentina alliance. Once the war kicks off and the Peruvians find themselves surrounded... well that's the kind of situation i was envisioning them panicking and calling for the soviet union in.

Feel free to point out errors in my thinking, i might have managed to make it up to functionally illiterate status in spanish, but that just means my reading comprehension isn't and the english sources I'm working from are informed through an american eye.
 

Deleted member 67076

Chile is always ignored here, even within the oft ignored South America. This has got my attention.
 
Thank you for the encouragement. I will say that research for this TL can be a pain in the rear at times, but it’s rather enjoyable as well. Plus I like doing something a little different from the norm. Mind you I probably am not getting everything right but… anyways, since I managed to finish my Kissinger/ Helms interlude last night (Finally!) but it still needs to be polished and edited, so it will be a while before it goes up. I figured I would give a bit of an outside prospective on Chile. So, Chile through the eyes of the Israelis… Fun fact, the bit I have about Israel only having the death penalty for one crime? Completely true; war crimes against jew’s is the only crime you can be executed for by the Israeli state.

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Tat Aluf Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam stormed into Israel Tal’s office, his expression thunderous. Having just come from the yearly readiness evaluation of his Golani Brigade he was still dressed in his battle uniform, and had yet to clear the cammo paint from his face. It was very obvious that something had set him off and Tal had a pretty good idea of just what it was. While not widely published the more senior members of the IDF knew that they had problems with their infantry. They just weren’t up to the standards that they had been.

“More issues with the infantry?” Tal asked not bothering to look up from the line drawing he was studying. After having the tank problem dumped on his shoulders he very rarely had much time for the usual politics that a general was expected to participate in. “I had thought that you were having some success keeping your troops in form as opposed to other officers.”

“Mine were acceptable,” Yekutiel snarled out, “But the performance of the other brigades I saw out there? Completely unacceptable. We need to do something about this before we are destroyed. I know that armor is critical to wining the big wars but the little ones, like this war of attrition we have been involved in? We need better infantry Tal.”

“Everyone knows that,” Tal answered. “Unfortunately with the international scene being what it is we need to concentrate on the armor. The Arabs see armor and they hesitate, they see infantry and they think they can take them. You and I know this isn’t the case but it’s a perception. We need that perception of strength, especially with France cutting us off at the knees on the international stage.”

“I thought that you fixed that problem…”

“If you mean I found an alternate buyer then yes, if you mean I actually fixed the problem then no. France is still lurking around looking to pounce on any military sales opportunities that we open up. They even tried to get the Chileans to go with them when they heard that they were negotiating with us.” Tal rolled his eyes. “The Chileans had another agenda so it didn’t work but…”

“Another agenda?”

“They want to work with us on a couple of development projects and to train their armored forces. They also want to pry us away from the Argentines,” Tal shrugged and looked up for the first time as Yekutiel dropped into a chair across his desk. “It’s not going to happen because we need all the sale we can generate but…”

“I presume they offered to train some of our infantry in exchange from the armor assistance?”

“They did. I’m not inclined to take it…”

“What?” Yekutiel exploded. “You know about the difficulties we have had with the infantry. These Chileans may not be able to help much but they are not incompetent. They are recognized as having some of the finest mountain infantry in the world!”

“Have you seen any pictures of just what a Chilean infantryman looks like?” Tal asked calmly. He knew that Yekutiel was somewhat right but the man didn’t have all of the facts.

“No, why would that matter?”

“Because their battle dress uniform starts with a Stahlhelm and keeps getting more German from there. They look like refugees out of the heer I fought during the Shoah. Before you object I know that they are not Nazis, hell the damned Argentines are closer to the Nazis politically then the Chileans are, but they look like they are Nazis and that means we can’t work with them. Besides they are known to harbor at least one of the architects of the Shoah, admittedly they tried to extradite him but their courts refused. That makes working with them... difficult,” Tal rubbed his face in exasperation. “You know the first time that a photo of our boys working with the Chileans appeared in the Jerusalem post then we would have a virtual revolt on our hands as the civilians asked just what the hell was going on and the politicians would make that worse.”

“When have we cared about how we look, what we do matters…”

“That old chestnut, why do you think we never told anyone that we got the patrol boats from Germany? Image matters and unfortunately the Chileans project the completely wrong image for us to be able to work with them. If they were better, and better known, then we might be able to work something out but as it is? Our public would know them as yet another South American kleptocracy, only this one looks like the Nazis and is sheltering a Nazi war criminal. Hell, we only have the death penalty for one crime, and they're sheltering a man who we would put to death. It’s not worth it for us to risk the back lash for minimal gain. Not to mention that they are trying to dictate our foreign policy to us in South America. That is a point we never could let go.” Tal paused for a second and let his exhaustion show on his face. Despite the brilliant victories that Israel had won in the six days war the political situation in the Middle East still didn’t favor them. They were balanced on knifes edge and one wrong move could easily throw them off. That was part of the reason why he had stressed France’s actions so much, with a great power actively working against them there were questions being asked about just how long Israel could remain a viable country.

“Did you get the deal?” Yekutiel asked as he cocked his head to the side and really looked at his fellow general for the first time in a while. Israel Tal looked exhausted, as if the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders had almost broken him. It seemed that no one had the guts to stand up to the great man and make him take a vacation before he burned out.

“Yes, the Chileans were easy enough to work with even if they did want missiles added to the tanks. Can you believe that? Missiles on tanks, baglam, complete and utter baglam. The Shear amount of mishagas I would have to wade through in order to get the French Nord Aviation MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile license and then have them exported to us? It would be impossible with the French at our throats and no one else makes a compatible missile we could use in its place. Thankfully they were willing to forget that part of their demands, but we did have to agree to upgrade the engines, optics, and fire control for the tanks.” Tal took a deep breath in between his ranting, before continuing at an even greater volume. “They’re light tanks! The AMX-13 is a good enough product for what it is but it isn’t a war winning weapon, just about anything armed can take one out and these Chileans yahoos are acting like their war winning weapons. What is wrong with the world?”

“I think that after you approve the lawyer’s copies of the contracts you should have yourself a vacation,” Yekutiel said seriously. “My friend you are on the verge of burning out. Take some time for yourself before you do yourself an injury.”

“You are probably right,” Tal subsided into his chair and slumped there for a bit. “It’s just that this Chile deal was thrown on to my plate after we lost the Chieftain tender, and the government in its wisdom has assigned me to find the resources to build our own tanks. Not only do I have to design them but I have to find the industrial resources to build them as well. You know just how much heavy industry we have…”
 
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Well the past two weeks have been a bit interesting, bit of an aside if you are going to quit a job, don’t do it ten minutes before you start your shift. It totally fucks over everyone else who works there. Anyways, short update, and one I am less then completely satisfied with the editing on… Still it’s been a while since I updated so I’m going to throw this up and move on.
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El Mercurio
Jorge Alessandri: President do nothing.
Sunday, June 14, 1970

Many of my readers know that I had praised the Alessandri win in the last presidential election to the sky. It was an example of the Chilean electorate ability to cut through the lies and see the truth. After all our choices were a Moscow controlled man who’s only interest was in the bribes that he could extort to rebuild his families squandered fortune, more of the Christian Democrats creeping socialism, or Alessandri and his refreshing promises to return to our national interests. Unfortunately the promise of those heady days of victory is long gone. Alessandri has betrayed his campaign promises and allowed himself to be pushed to left by his coalition partners.

If one is to rule this great country then one must have a majority, and the electorate has been hesitant to give any one party one for years. So it came as no surprise that Alessandri and his political advisors promptly worked out a power sharing agreement. Being an independent there was no doubt that Alessandri would need to connect with at least two parties, and as his campaign was distinctly to the right it was expected that the National party would take the lead in any coalition. What is unusual about the coalition he ended up building is that he chose to build a super majority, forgoing his natural allies interests, in favor of stability. By roping the Radicals, National party, and the Christian Democrats into a cohesive coalition Alessandri built what looked like an unassailable position. Unfortunately while this position allows him to reign, unconcerned with external pressures, it does not allow him rule. This is due to the internal rifts and inherent instability in the coalition. He has built a political paper tiger, one that undeniably has power but is completely unable to act.

Alessandri made too many promises at cross purposes for his coalition to actually function. Just look at its track record. What laws have the chamber of deputies and the senate passed at Alessandi’s bidding? Just one of any importance, even then it was an unadventurous choice, yet another land reform bill. There was no innovation, not risks taken, this was a solid and uninteresting conservative play that was made at a time when boldness was called for. Alessandri and his administration have a super majority to not use it is criminal. I find it deplorable that Alessandri and his political advisors have been content to sit on their laurels. They threaten all with their super majority but refuse to use it for fear of destroying their deterrent. For a man who won the last election he has been very cautious about just how far he is willing to push his congressional allies. With good reason.

Just two days ago the first cracks appeared in the Alessandri super majority without any action being taken by Alessandri. Given the lack of controversial legislation on the agenda this is a stark reminder that no matter how strong Alessandri’s coalition looks it is built on sand, and will eventually break down completely. The competing internal interests will ensure that no matter what happens. Bosco Parra’s declaration that he saw no future for Christian left positions within the Christian Democrat party is the first public signs of this. The action itself is not terribly surprising as he has been agitating for an increased humanist position for years, ignoring those who call the humanist movement little more than an Argentine cult. What was surprising is just who joined him; six other MPs from the Christian Democrat party, Fernando Buzeta, Jaime Concha, Alberto Jaramillo, Luís Maira, Pedro Urra and Pedro Videla, as well as by Silvia Alvarez. With one stroke and an announcement Parra’s new party became a factor in parliamentary politics. What has to be more worrying for the Christian Democrats is the defection of Luís Badilla, the leader of the Christian Democratic youth organization.

While this may seem like a crisis for the Christian Democrats, and therefore the ruling coalition, they were not the only party effected by this upstart. The new organization was joined by a number of MAPU militants who were dissatisfied with their party's affiliation with Marxism-Leninism and increasingly frequent instances of taking direction from Moscow. Included in this count were three senators: Julio Silva Solar, Alberto Jerez and Jacques Chonchol. This gives the new party a presence in both houses and the ability to project power. They haven’t broken with the Alessandri supermajority in any meaningful way yet, but this party could be a player in the long term so expect them to soon. After all while maintaining their reconcilable positions is tactically the correct move at the moment, before the next election the party will need to show that it is different from its progenitor.

Of course none of this political maneuvering means much to the average Chilean. What does matter is that the man they elected to the presidency has failed to act on any of his campaign promises. Where the new Industries that he promised to attract to our shores through lower taxes are? Where are the profits that he promised us? He said that they would be realized through a switch from import substitution to export lead markets, but even that has failed to appear. Where are the roll backs of the creeping socialism? Where is the increased spending on the military to keep us safe from the Argentinian menace? Instead of action we have a leader who is more concerned with keeping stability in a time that is inherently instable.

This focus on stability would be a laudable goal if the problems inherent in our political and economic system were not creating a situation that is inherently unstable. Alessandri is wasting his political capital to prop up a doomed system, rather than fixing it as he promised. We are left with a series of unanswerable questions that Alessandri refuses to even attempt to answer. He has built the most formidable parliamentary machine his Chiles history, but refuses to use it. With that in mind I name him president do nothing.
 
Work has made life a bit difficult. Still the next installment is out so feel free to comment at your leisure. Once again moving away from politics... at least elected politics in favor of the uniformed kind. I'm trying to show the scramble that the strategic realignment is causing though I'm not so sure that I'm coming off so successfully.




Gustavo Leigh didn’t want to be here, in this minor out of the way café. If he had to meet with a fellow military officer he wanted to do it on a military base safely behind their security. It wasn’t physical threat that made him nervous but rather the possibility that this meeting would be reported to either foreign governments or elements in the military. His old friend hadn’t made any new friends or even retained many of his old ones with his steady swing to the left, although that did make him useful at the moment. Much better to use the man and then fire him when he went over the line then to try and sideline him. Gustavo didn’t like admitting it but he had made a name for himself as a good CO with a steady reputation for keeping safety standards high while still performing.

“Gustavo, it has been a while,” Alberto Bachete spoke mildly over his cup of coffee. “I was rather surprised when you asked me for this meeting considering the circumstances of our last departure.”

“What did you expect? You and I have known each other since we were eighteen. Did you think I had mellowed at all over that time? Of course I haven’t. It is the hall marks of being a fighting officer rather than a supply officer,” Gustavo visibly reined in his temper before he continued. The fact of the matter was that he just didn’t like those on the left side of the political spectrum and it showed a bit too clearly at times. “César Ruiz has a job for you and I couldn’t talk him out of it. Mind you I do believe that he is correct but… it was the principal of the thing. I would prefer not to become a hypocrite, thank you very much.”

“Considering you were one of the officers who was getting close to little MacArthur…” Bachete commented idly, his eyes hard as he surveyed his childhood friend.

“Pinochet is a shit, but not a dangerous one,” Gustavo’s dismissed the army general easily. “Besides we needed to know how the army was going to react to the navy reorganization and if we would be able to pull off a similar one.”

“The army will bitch and moan and then get on with it. Even if Pinochet pulls in every political favor that the army has ever collected, not that he can since his faction is the smallest and everyone in both the chamber of deputies and senate knows that, little could be done about the navy. The army already ceded the entire south of the country to them in the event of a war when the Marine Corps was reestablished. It was a smart tactical decision to tie down the navies financials at the time but it’s come back to haunt the army now that money is available again,” Bachete leaned back in his chair and put his coffee cup down before continuing. “Of course I can quibble over the reorganization myself but that is just me sprouting off bullshit not effecting change.”

“What did you dislike about the proposal?”

“The loss of counter strike potential, without those transports the navy will not be able to land its forces in Argentina as they have been planning on since the fifties. They are going to have to completely re design the war plans they had, which will affect us.”

“I am aware of that,” Gustavo said easily as he leaned forward in his seat. “That is an issue that we can deal with later though. I can tell you that despite how it looks the new men of the Navy are not going to be getting everything their way. The planning staff has been feeling out their political winds as our own planning will be contingent on their planning so…”

“I had hoped that we would be working on our own reorganization…” Bachete trailed off as he saw the expression on Gustavo face. “What? I dislike that more the three quarters of our inventory is geared to supporting the army. We have two squadrons of fighters, and one of them is in the process of being retired. That is not enough to hold our own air space.”

“I know, as does the air general. It is an issue that we will be working on but now is not the time for us to be asking for money. Both the army and the navy are feeding from that trough and we will be squeezed out rather than benefiting by throwing our weight to the winner of any inner service fight.”

“I am relieved to hear that we have a plan at least,” Bachete shook his head. “What do you need me for?”

“Air defense.” Gustavo said shortly, his irritation at the situation spilling out for the first time in weeks. “Those fuckers who came before us have completely neglected our air defense. None of the five Grupo de Defensa Antiaérea have been updated since just after the Second World War. Our radar is pitiful and we are still using Oerlikon hand aimed cannons for base defense for god’s sake!”

“And you want me to fix this situation?” Bachete asked with a look of dawning horror. He was well aware of just how much work would need to be done on air defense if things were really as bad as Gustavo thought they were. Much as he disliked the other man at times Gustavo had never been one to exaggerate issues or to panic.

“Not alone. I have Fernando Matthei headed to Germany for new radar and new guns. Yes I know you think he is a follower and not a serious officer but he has those German roots and he is very well regarded in the general community. If he does the job well enough there is talk of sending him to England to oversee our new Phantoms being built. Assuming the deal holds that is,” Gustavo held up his hand to forestall the building explosion that he knew was coming. “For you there is a much more complicated job. First and foremost you are going to need to find us a SAM. That will probably mean dealing with the Russians, but if you can avoid it do so.”

“You want Russian SAMs,” Bachete asked his eyebrows trying to crawl off his forehead.

“No, I don’t, but I think they are the best on the market so…”

“And the United States?”

“Will probably step in using their too large feet to screw with us.” Gustavo acknowledged grimly. “I think we are going to end up having to go with them but I don’t want to. Their influence in the procurement departments has been toxic and I hate to reward them.”

“Is that all? It sounds like a standard procurement trip.” Bachete leaned forward and stared at Gustavo closely. He could tell that wasn’t all but waited for the other man to explain his position.

“No it’s not all but I’m not sure of just how to break it to you. You are of course aware of FAMAE and ASMAR?” Gustavo lowered his voice and glanced around. He knew that he was being too obvious but he couldn’t help it.

“I am aware of them peripherally but not intimately…” Bachete indicated his interest with a slight narrowing of his eyes.

“They are the army and navies companies. We in the air force don’t have one and it is hurting our prestige. While you are looking for missiles see if you can find a license that if we secured it we could build our own aeronautic company around. You know just as well as I do that a full up aircraft manufacturing company is out of our league without outside support but I think that we can produce our own missiles…”

“I will be sure too,” Bachete got up and tossed a few peso on the table as he prepared to leave. “I presume that I should take this as a warning about my impending orders?”

“Yes, and informal directives from the top,” Gustavo rose as well adding his own pesos to the pile on the table despite not having bought anything. “Formal orders will be following in the next week. I don’t doubt you will be able to translate the legalistic jargon but it was felt that we were better off giving you a heads up about the thinking in high command.”

“In other words just were you want to shove me so I can be useful without infecting airmen with my heretical left wing thoughts.” Bachete replied acidly.

“Just so, glad you understood that.”
 
Relatively short update, one that was supposed to be completed and posted yesterday but… oh well. Anyways, after this update two more before I end the year. One about the judicial system in Chile getting a bit of a boost, as well as dealing with the… issues… that Nazis presented to the Chilean state. The other is a look in at the state of Chile through the eyes of Kissinger and Richard Helms. Feel free to leave critiques and other criticism.
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“This gentlemen is the M-16 assault rifle, and may represent the way of the future,” Carlos Prats stated blandly looking around the conference room at his supply officers and more than a few of his more combat focused officers even as he hefted the rifle. “Given that the navy and air force will be expanding, we are going to be getting a bump in funding in order to keep parity. At least that is the politicians desire, apparently our non-political nature is good for something after all, who knew. The intention is to use this money to modernize as best possible. I, along with the rest of the general staff, are well aware that we will not be able to completely modernize as we all would like to, there are limits gentlemen. As such we must look beyond our borders and consider the super powers and the way that their military’s are trending. A close look reveals that the militaries of both super powers are moving away from the full powered battle rifle and on to the assault rifle as their main weapon. This trend does not mean we should jump to follow their lead though. I want our people to go over our options and consider replacing the FN FALs we have in service at the moment. Testing every assumption and getting us the most bang for our buck.”

The officers around the room were nodding in agreement with their commanding general. Usually he wouldn’t be the one to present this idea to them but he was looking to bolster his reputation as a forward thinker even as he kept the thinking of the Chilean army conservative on political issues. As the protégé of Schneider he was keen to see the Schneider doctrine adopted by all officers. Of course with Pinochet spreading the idea of the deep state he had a bit of a battle on his hands. The civilians had made his life easier though, the correction to the right during the last election had made his argument that democracy was a self-correcting system that trended to the center hold more weight than it had following repeated left wing presidencies.

“I know that we were all looking forward to getting on with the modernization of our major systems but this is more critical. It is axiom that the infantry is the bedrock of our armed forces and I will not be the commander in chief who allowed our infantry to go into battle with outdated kit.” Prats continued giving every officer facing him a glare as he spoke. “We are not going to be the only country undertaking this testing, so be aware that our methods and results will be compared to the first world nations. It would not do for us to come across as a third world kleptocracy, so I want a good solid set of tests with everything above board. So with that said I turn this briefing over to Teniente Coronel Alex Whitten.”

“Gentlemen, General Prat thank you for that introduction,” Teniente Coronel Whitten was clearly nervous but he pulled himself together and continued in an even voice. “We have time, but it would be best to start this process early. We have jumped the gun a bit by soliciting data from the Israeli rifle trial. The Americans might be able to deal with refining the piece of shit they have, but we do not have that luxury, and make no mistake gentlemen the M-16 is from all reports a complete and total turd. I have no doubt that the Americans will polish it into a diamond given time but we cannot afford to do so…”

Carlos sat back in his chair and allowed the briefing to flow on around him as he thought about the younger man’s words. With just a few words the Teniente coronel had identified himself with the constitutionalist modernizer faction of the military. It was becoming a distressingly common thing to happen. Bashing the Americans for selling their cast offs to Chile. Everyone knew just why it was that way, but they didn’t like it. Instead of moving on hitting the United States verbally had become all the rage.

The ironic thing about this trend was just who was leading both the faction that the rhetoric was associated with and who was leading the opposition. Almirante Merino was known to have perfect English, he had served with the USN throughout world war two, written for US navy journals, and yet he was one of the people who was associated most heavily with the anti-United States rhetoric. Of course the man was only advocating a European procurement strategy to placate the more reactionary members of his own service. The Navy was after all very much a follower of the royal navy, much like the army was a creature of Prussia. Accusations of corruption in the procurement office had only made the man seem more sensible as time went on. It had gotten so bad that Prats had ordered his own IG office to look over the army’s procurement branch. He was waiting on the results of their preliminary investigation but given they hadn’t come back to him yet saying that his worries were unfounded he had the sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to like their report.

On the other side of the aisle was Augusto Pinochet a well-known anglophile, who played poker with the MI-6 station chief in Santiago weekly, leading the charge to be closer to the United States. Carlos would admit, if only in the privacy of his own mind, that if the positions were reversed he still would come down on Merinos side. This was despite the fact that Merino belonged to the enemy, and Pinochet was a member of his own service. The problem was he disliked Pinochet intensely, and didn’t trust him either.

Merino was an ambitious little shit at times, but at least he had the brains to back up his plans. Pinochet? Pinochet played at being intellectual in private while revealing his true intellectual level in his public persona of a buff peasant. The man had gone so far as to plagiarize his mentor, Gregorio Rodríguez Tascón, when he wrote his first book Geopolitica in 1968. There was a reason why the man’s star had been fading recently, Prats had made damn sure that just about every senior officer and politician who interacted with the military had found out about that little fact. Given that Pinochet’s name had been mooted about to replace Schneider after his assassination, and was known to be on the short list to replace Prats, Carlos felt perfectly justified in doing everything in his power to keep Pinochet away from the reins of command.

Despite his wandering thoughts Carlos kept a half an ear on the briefing. Alex Whitten was an officer whose name had been mentioned to him positively but before he even thought about putting the man’s name forward for a star he wanted to be sure that he wasn’t making a mistake. So far what had been said was fully acceptable but not earth shaking, the man was moving through his briefing at a brisk clip and doing a decent job of it. He was highlighting what needed to be highlighted and leaving the extraneous stuff in the briefing packet. Carlos would reserve judgement until he had the final report on his desk both from Whitten and from the IG’s office, who he had assigned to make sure that the test was fair or if it was biased that he knew about it.

So far Whitten had gone over the Galil, Gal, and Stoner all of which would have data from the Israeli tests. He was working on the HK 33, which to be honest was one of the options that Prat was partial too since it allowed a common platform even if some units retained the battle rifle rather than switching to the assault rifle, going over its strengths and weaknesses. Whitten would undoubtedly continue with the SIG 530, an update of the 510-4 that was already in service with the army. Carlos was less then enthused by the Swiss made weapon, he had lobbied hard to have it replaced as it was overly complicated and expensive when compared to the more ubiquitous FN FAL. Frankly given his own prejudices Carlos was rather relieved that he had nothing to do with the testing. He knew that given his druthers several of the contenders would have been tossed out on their ear simply for existing.

Carlos was well aware that he was not the most diplomatic of people at times and this particular evolution was going to require utter discretion and more than a bit of diplomacy. FAMAE was going to be attempting to buy a license for the gun rather than the armed forces buying the gun at the source. Given that Chile had the oldest arms manufacturer on the continent it was time that they used that resource. Chile meant to step out onto the world stage and that meant they needed to get their arms manufacturing industry up to snuff. If second rate powers like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia could produce their own weapons Chile could too. It would be nice if they were home designed as well, but Carlos was willing to forgo that if it meant a better rifle for his troops.
 
This piece is either going to be the weakest piece or one of the stronger transitional pieces that I have written. I’m trying to convey the sense of change, and that the old rules are being allowed to fall by the weighside while everyone scrambles to adjust. Let me know if I hit the mark of playing fast and loose while trying to establisha new normal through that playing around sense.
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Juan Guzmán Tapia was a nervous man. It wasn’t every day that a brand new judge was asked to meet with the president of the republic. Especially since this meeting was to be relatively covert. It wasn’t as if the president’s people had asked him to keep quiet about it but they certainly were not going out of their way to publicize the meeting. In fact they seemed to have gone through a fair bit of effort to make sure that the meeting was well under the Medias radar. There were more than a few worry inducing reasons this could be the case, especially since this meeting was coming so soon after he had been called in for a short meeting with the minister of justice.

“Thank you for coming,” Alessandri said as he strode into the room. “I’m sure it will come as a surprise to you but I wanted to request that you take on two cases as the prosecuting judge for the government.”

“While I am happy to hear you out, I must ask if you really want to violate the separation of powers that way,” Juan asked keeping his voice steady by dint of effort. It seemed that his supposition that there was a politically sensitive case was on the mark, that could be troublesome.

“I am asking, not ordering,” Alessandri replied evenly. “Ramiro Méndez Brañas has promised to talk to you about this and act as your mentor should you decide that you can take the cases in good conscious.”

“I… will consider, just consider mind you, what you wish,” Juan was unable to hide his surprise over that last announcement. It seemed that the president really wanted this, whatever it was, as he had gone so far as to arraign for the president of the Supreme Court to act as a mentor for the judge he picked. This was going to be big, and had the very real possibility of catapulting the young man into prominence very early in his career.

“That is all I can ask, if you would care for a seat, and perhaps a coffee? This will be a bit of an involved story and it would be best to tell it all at once before you ask your inevitable questions…” Alessandri spread his hands and indicated some comfortable arm chairs.

“Perhaps a small coffee would do me well,” Juan chose to accept the hospitality in the spirit that it was offered. He was pleasantly surprised when the service was prompt and withdrew almost immediately.

“I’m sure you are aware of the… difficulties in the military procurement offices. It is hard to ignore when not a day goes by without the headlines being about this officer placed on leave, that officer cleared, and a third officer going to prison. The political result of the corruption, or at least the impression of corruption, has been a rather hasty set of laws I want you to perform a test case on.” Alessandri settled into his chair and continued oration without missing a beat. “Simply put personal funding by any foreign government has been made illegal. Now this ordinarily would be a simple thing, just a change in the law and we would move on without comment but the law does allow me some international leeway that I had been looking for.”

“International leeway on an internal law? Bad practice from a legal stand point, the law is the law and should not be muted for political expediency. I rather thought that the example of our neighboring countries would have dissuaded you from that entire line of thought.” Juan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sure that you followed the Rauff case when you were in school? It was a major black eye for us on the international stage and it has made keeping our relations with the Israelis rather more contentious then we would like. For myself I was rather let down by the court citing the statute of limitations like that. Anyway, this new law will allow us a second crack at deporting the Nazi, publically. It seems that someone in Germany was rather found of the man beyond the ambassador, after all the German government paid for his lawyers, a direct personal subsidies…” Alessandri grinned like a cat that had eaten the canary. “Of course if he were to be arrested for taking foreign money it would be a felony and thereby allow the extradition hearings to be reopened as he would be a foreign national who committed a felony on Chilean soil rather than a resident of good standing. Admittedly the sentencing would be political, but the crime did occur and needs to be prosecuted.”

“And should he be extradited to Israel I’m sure you wouldn’t lose a moments sleep. Even when they hang him.” Juan shook his head and enjoyed the truly excellent coffee that the president had provided while contemplating the angles and dimensions of this case. He was hesitant to be a party to what would be the death of a man, there was no question in his mind that should Rauff be deported he would die, especially if the Israelis got their hands on him. “I will admit that I would be open to looking into the case, although the Israeli government would have to apply for extradition in order for that to even be on the table during sentencing. I will also do my own investigation, and would need a budget for that. I know you mean well but this kind of case needs to be built carefully and I have no intention of having my case fall apart because one of the security services failed to adequately take evidence. I also have no intention of allowing political considerations to influence the law, if there was a crime committed then I will prosecute but if this is all smoke and mirrors?”

“I will see what I can arraign with the ministry of justice,” Alessandri replied smoothly. He was internally rejoicing because he knew that if the judge was asking for money then he would investigate. His people in intelligence assured him that the evidence was rather easy to gather and that the trial would go his way without the need for the president’s office to get involved.

“I’m sure that you can,” Juan tried not to scoff at the president’s understatement. “And the second case?”

“I want an independent judge to go over the last two presidential elections with a fine toothed comb. I know for a fact that the Americans were pumping money into the parties in all three of the last elections, but just who else was, who they were paying, and if those pay outs violated the law I am less certain of.”

“You want me, a fresh newly appointed judge, to launch an investigation into the presidential elections? Are you insane? Do you have any idea just how many man hours would be required to go over the funding of one candidate in one election, and you want me to go over between six and nine? That alone is going to be three years’ worth of work. Not to mention the actually prosecution and preparing a real case.” Juan responded without thinking in his shock.

“I am well aware of the issues, which is why I went with a new judge. One who is unknown and therefore can complete such an investigation without comment.” Alessandri rubbed his face with his hands as he continued. “I don’t think you realize just how big of an issue this foreign money thing has gotten. The Helmet/Stahlhelm scandal alone is taking up ninety percent of the chamber of deputy’s time this session and that is just one piece of military equipment. If foreign money is involved in politics it will not just bring down the government but has a very real possibility of bringing down the state. The Chilean people are invested heavily in their self-image and this sort of scandal needs to be dealt with decisively. We cannot allow the usual politics in this case it is too important. We need to be able to point to a thorough and well done investigation before the next presidential election to assure the public that any foreign money that is in our political system is being correctly processed. That the people they are voting for are not bought and paid for by Washington.”

“I understand that you think this is important, critical even, but you have yet to convince me that it is necessary.” Juan held his ground as politely as he knew how. Alessandri was trying to persuade him but if he was to commit to a multiyear long commitment then he needed to know that it was that important. He might have taken the bait that the Rauff case represented, but he wouldn’t allow himself to be defined with ease this early in his carrier. “Why must this be done? Not the reason for public consumption but the real reason?”

“We need a strong left,” Alessandri slumped a bit as he admitted that. “I personally am to the right, but even I know that we need a strong left in order to function as a democratic country. At the same time we need to lessen the animosity of the last few years, get the political discourse back to civility and build consensus positions. That means we need to bring the left back to their traditional Chilean roots. The last party conference for the socialists? They threw out all of the Chilean parts of their party platform and imported Moscow’s wholesale. I have convincing reports that this was paid for by Moscow, and I don’t need to tell you just how destabilizing it would be if the Americans found out that little fact, or even if they got a whiff of such occurring, do I? They are already stirring the pot and pushing money at the far right and I am less then enamored of their connections to the military, especially the army. We need the foreign money out of our political system, but I am realistic so I know that isn’t going to happen. This way, what I am proposing, we do something big, ambitious, and so clumsy that no one gets caught but the super powers take notice and begin to act a little bit more discreetly. It won’t solve the problem but at least it will stabilize the situation. I hope with that stabilization we can get a handle on things and deescalate the tensions back down to a manageable level. Especially if I can cut the growing tendency to accept political violence out of the equation while this is ongoing.”

“I…” Juan took a deep breath and thought about what he was committing too. This would be the largest case he would probably ever investigate. Even if it went nowhere the sheer scope of it would make his reputation, along with the fact he attempted it. There were compelling reasons not to make the attempt, those in Latin America who irritated the super powers didn’t tend to have long lives, but both his patriotism and his sense of obligation to the law urged him to accept. He found himself at peace with his decision, he would do this, and he would do it well. “… Am convinced that this is necessary. I will make the attempt, but first, I believe I have a Nazi to prosecute.”

“The nation thanks you for your patriotism and service,” Alessandri intoned gravely as he rose to shake the young judge’s hand. “I can only hope that you represent the average of our legal profession rather than the best.”

“I will take that remark in the spirit it was intended.”
 
A bit of a long time, not sure how this will be received... anyways, have another update. As always comments ad criticism is very welcome.
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“Ah, Richard, excuse me, I had lost track of the time,” Henry Kissinger lied blandly to the director of the Central Intelligence agency. It was a petty thing to do but considering the circumstances of their meeting expected. Neither Kissinger nor Nixon liked it when William Porter was able to tell them something they didn’t know about foreign policy. The two men had considered the entirety of South America on lockdown as they dealt with the larger threats before Porter had brought up Chile and the CIA fuck ups there at a cabinet meeting. Nixon had exploded afterwards and demanded that Kissinger get the truth about what was going on and brief him on it.

“I’m sure you are busy, I’m rather swamped myself,” Helms replied evenly, letting just a bit of irritation leak into his voice. He knew this was supposed to be a backhanded reprimand but couldn’t Kissinger have waited for a week? The entire Laos situation was coming to a boil and he didn’t even want to think about what was happening in Cambodia.

“What exactly is going on in Chile?” Kissinger asked bluntly. “I hear that we spent the money on what we said we were spending it on, set up the track two options, but I distinctly recall telling you that track two was not authorized…”

“That… will take some explaining, do you mind?” Helms indicated a seat in Kissinger’s office and took his slow nod as assent to sit down. “Look my guys fucked up, everyone knows that, but Porter is bringing it up just to cover his own ass. His choice for ambassador almost got PNGed last month and he’s looking to spread the blame.”

“That I hadn’t heard about and we will come back to that later but for now please explain how we were connected to the death of Schneider?”

“Okay, you know we were prepping both the generals involved for a possible coupe if Allende won. One of the ways we were prepping them was access to a small supply of black weapons. Now after the Beagle skirmish and the Navy’s spectacular back down there the armed forces were looking a little shaky. Apparently those two yahoos thought it was the perfect time to force Schneider to resign in their favor. I’m not entirely sure just what the two of them were thinking to tell you the truth, neither are my analyses. End result was one very dead Schneider and the Chilean investigative arms out for blood in a way we have never seen before.” Helms paused and took the proffered glass of water from Kissinger, it seemed that his scolding was for the most part over for the moment.

“They were effective?” Kissinger asked while polishing his glasses, clearly surprised at the idea.

“No, they were ubiquitous. Everywhere you looked the Chilean security forces and police were out actively looking for clues. It disturbed the hell out of Allende who thought they were out to intimidate him. He responded like a typical Latin male and puffed himself up, thereby drawing the security services attention to himself. After the third time his parties office had been raided and the fourth time that his security details weapons had been confiscated he began to put pressure on Frie to reign in the security services. Frie did it, but did it in the worst way possible. He put direct pressure on General Carlos Prats, telling him that he was also pressuring the police. Now as you can expect after two months of this Prats got asked about the investigation while he was speaking about something else. Apparently the pressure got to him, or he was just annoyed enough, so he answered.” Helms shook his head in admiration. “Oh boy did he answer. He blasted the Christian Democrats for bowing to Allende’s pressure tactics, Allende for impeding the investigation at every turn, the head of the police for bowing to pressure, and even the army for not producing results. It was a massive hit to just about everyone in the presidential race except for Alessandri.”

“So that’s how he got elected.”

“Not really, it was a tight race before that, we might have been funding the anti Allende mud slinging machine, but the soviets were matching us dollar for dollar in support of Allende. I think they actually outspent us. Just about the only bit of mud that we flung that stuck was the allegations that Allende was broke and his land reform bill was little more than a massive extortion attempt. Apparently that was believable while the rest wasn’t.”

“Alright, so that’s what happened with the election. What happened after?”

“Are you sure that you want to know? You can’t have plausible deniability if I answer.”

“Tell me anyway, I doubt it will be worse than anything else that I’ve heard.”

“Right, so the station chief decided that he needed to clean the mess up, he had spent the beginning of his carrier working with the Koreans and the KCIA before he transferred to Vietnam and it shows in his response... He had General Camilo Valenzuela killed and made it look like a car jacking gone bad, did a good job with it too, the Chileans still have no clue why he died. Then he arranged for the Argentinians to take care of General Roberto Urbano Viaux Marambio with a car bomb. Once again we aren’t implicated and it took out the last person who knew we were connected to the assassination. Given his success I’m thinking of calling him home and putting him in charge of organizing all of our assassinations because he seems to be competent.”

“That might be a good idea, but I would hold off for the moment. Especially since he seems to be a bit too ready to reach for a gun when it’s not the only solution around,” Kissinger swung from side to side in his chair. “Give him a medal and an atta boy for sure though. Impressions on Chile at the moment? They are applying through the British to buy Phantoms, I’m not inclined to allow the sale but…”

“Do it. They are worried about the Peruvian and Argentinia Canaberras, they’ll be using the Phantoms they get for their original role as an interceptor. I doubt we would sell them a real interceptor, so…” Helms shook his head to clear it before he continued. “Besides they are both accommodating and an anchor of stability in the region. Even with this rearmament program they have, there would be very little visible change in the balance of power. They are going for substance over form, and considering how accommodating they can be when they feel like it? We want to keep them friendly.”

“Really? I would have thought you would be in favor of the Argentines, or the Brazilians as a regional power not the Chileans.”

“The Chileans have never really put themselves out there but they have held their position steadily. I would like to see them more active and advancing our interests, but we can count on them to be consistent. The Argentines are always having a coupe or something else that changes their foreign policy at the drop of a hat and the Brazilians… they have the potential to be a true power in the region and we don’t want the competition.” Helms leaned forward to make his point. “Chile is consistent, tough enough that no one screws with them, but not big enough for true power projection. I imagine they could cheat a bit but the reality is it’s not going to happen without a lot of work on their part, especially on their economy and non military sectors. Their military if it was supported by a better state would already be first rate but as it stands... They are going to buy their carrier and then do nothing with it. Things are too delicate for them to rock the boat down there.”

“That… offers some possibilities.” Kissinger mused aloud. “They are a pacific nation after all. I wonder if they would be interested in running some training for ARVN…”

“With Alessandri? Approach it right and he will comply with what you want done. Just remember that the man is a business man first so expect to pay a bribe, not to him but to the country. I imagine it will be something along the lines of the ability to support forces so far away, say C-141 Starlifter’s or something similar.”

“Why in the world would he want that? Long range transports would be useless to the Chileans… as you said they’re a regional power and one that has issues with power projection beyond their region.”

“Because this way they could make waves without swamping their own boat. You can bet your ass that Alessandri would have his military doing global disaster relief and other high profile missions in a heart beat if he thought he could get away with it. He, rightly, thinks that European recognition means more then Latin recognition and is dying to get it for his military. It’s a prestige thing as well, Peru is already nipping at Chiles heels as a regional power. Having intercontinental deployment capability would put Peru in its place even if the planes never leave their bases. Not to mention that he is well aware that his military is one of the things that Chile can show off with justifiable pride. If you managed to convince them that we would appreciate their getting involved internationally, and are willing to back their play with some cash, let me know. I can use them as a stick or a long spoon to deal with a few of the more objectionable regimes in the south of Africa.”

“So it’s a face thing Latin America style, and you think we should use the Chileans…” Kissinger shook his head. “I’ll think about it, you have convinced me on the Phantoms though. Now what was this about the ambassador?”

“Ed Korry screwed the pooch massively when Alessandri started to sell off the Chilean government’s shares in the cooper mines to European firms in order to finish the buy out. He basically threatened economic war with Chile and caused President Allessandri to call up Porter and bitch him out for half an hour or so. I’m not surprised that Ed lost it like that over the issue but… he’s an ambassador. From my prospective the biggest problem about the whole kerfluffle is that he managed to offend Sir Frederick Mason with his remarks, and we do care about England.”

“Something for me to keep an eye on then, and this ‘anti American’ sentiment that Porter was talking about?”

“Doesn’t exist. Alessandri, Merino, and Prats are all saying anti American things in public to score cheap political points while they gut the establishment and reform it massively. Those reforms? They’re completely in our favor. The most important one is a bill that they just passed that makes it illegal to be in the direct pay of a foreign power as anything other than a declared employee. See we don’t do that, we fund campaigns, buy up useless products, and stuff like that, we don’t give people money directly as a gift. Even our bribes are couched in terms that would pass the laws standards. The soviets on the other hand…”

“Merino and Prats are a surprise, I know they are military and not political so why are they acting out?”

“Because they, and the air force chief of staff, are revamping their procurement departments completely and rather than admit that they had self made problems they are using us and us bribing people in the mode of Lockheed as the excuse. Once again it’s a face saving measure that means nothing.” Helms shrugged. “I know that there’s some volume there but they are keeping a lid on it and making sure that all it is inconsequential talk. We had one protest over the issue at the embassy and the Chileans brought it to a halt almost immediately. We’ll lose some military sales, temporarily, during the reorganization but… Chile has never been a major arms buyer for us and its not worth rocking the boat over at this point in time.”
 
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