The United States and the Last Two Years of the Frei Administration

This chapter addresses the congressional election of 1969, which took place in a landscape substantially different from that of 1965. Most political forces had endured transformative changes that led to the birth of new organizations, further internal polarization, or outright fragmentation. The Christian Democratic Party had suffered a predictable decrease in its popularity after four and a half years in government, during which many promises had been delivered on but no truly revolutionary change had been implemented. As shown by the internal fights of 1967–1968 and the attitude of its most likely presidential candidate for 1970, Radomiro Tomic, the Christian Democratic Party had lost the unity of purpose that had accounted for so much of its electoral success a few years earlier. Nevertheless, Eduardo Frei's personal popularity and the party's electoral following still allowed the Christian Democratic Party to stand as the strongest party in Chilean politics. The Radical Party had also been weakened by internal divisions; since 1967, the party had moved decisively, although not without conflict, to the left. Meanwhile, one of the most important Socialist leaders, Raúl Ampuero, created a new political movement in 1968, the Popular Socialist Union (USOPO), generously funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The only party that had not endured any transformative crisis or substantial change in the years after the election of 1964 was the best organized and most united of all, the Communist Party.