The Perennial Playbook of Regime Change
FIRST INSTANCE: The Congolese Coup (1960) On January 11, 1960, the CIA ordered the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo, viewing him as a potential Soviet ally. Declassified documents, including the Church Committee Report (1975), confirm direct US involvement. Lumumba was ultimately executed by local forces with Western backing after a coup
d'état engineered with external support. This act removed a nationalist leader who sought to control his nation's vast mineral wealth, aligning with Western economic interests. REPETITIONS: Chile and the 'Quiet' Overthrow (1970-1973) Following Salvador Allende's election in Chile in 1970, US President Richard Nixon explicitly ordered the CIA to "make the economy scream" to prevent him from
governing. While direct assassination attempts on Allende by US operatives were not documented in the same explicit manner as Lumumba, the sustained campaign of destabilization, economic sabotage, and covert support for opposition forces created the conditions for the military coup on September 11, 1973, which resulted in Allende's death. A declassified memo from the CIA director Richard Helms
detailing "Phase II" of the coup (September 1970) outlines tactics to foster a coup environment, including psychological warfare and economic pressure (US State Department, 2000). The P-38 Lightning jet used in the attack on La Moneda Palace was US-supplied. REPETITIONS: Venezuela and 'Regime Change' Rhetoric (2002) In April 2002, a short-lived coup attempted to depose Venezuelan President Hugo