Among the trove of documents released in 2025, a series of CIA memos and reports detail extensive covert operations in Latin America during President Kennedy’s administration.
These operations aimed to influence political outcomes and counter perceived communist threats in the region.
🕵️♂️ Covert Operations in Chile
One of the newly declassified documents reveals that the CIA funneled several million dollars into the 1964 presidential campaign of Eduardo Frei Montalva in Chile to ensure his election over socialist candidate Salvador Allende.
This operation was part of a broader strategy to prevent the spread of communism in Latin America. National Security Archive
🛑 Plans to Depose Haitian Dictator
Another set of documents discusses CIA plans to depose Haitian dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier.
The agency had been building an exile force to invade Haiti from the Dominican Republic.
However, these plans were compromised when Dominican President Juan Bosch decided he was unwilling to allow such an exile force to use his country as a base for military operations against Duvalier. National Security Archive
📁 Coordination with Israeli Intelligence
The files also include a proposal for extended CIA-Israeli coordination of intelligence activities in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
This suggests a broader international collaboration in covert operations during the Cold War era. National Security Archive
🧩 Implications and Historical Context
These revelations provide insight into the extent of U.S. involvement in foreign elections and regime change during the 1960s.
They highlight the lengths to which the CIA went to counteract communist influence, often intervening directly in the political affairs of sovereign nations.