Salvador Allende and the International Monetary Fund, 1970-1973: The Depoliticisation and Technocratisation of Cold War Relations

This article unveils the continuous and productive relationship that developed between Chile and the IMF during Salvador Allende's presidency (1970-73). This counter-intuitive relationship was made possible by the systematic depoliticisation and technocratisation of the ties between them. By downplaying ideological discrepancies and keeping a high degree of autonomy, the IMF and Chilean technocrats blurred rigid Cold War divides and circumvented the US-imposed embargo against Allende's regime. The examination of this relationship sheds new light on Allende's positioning in the international arena and provides a unique prism to reconsider dichotomist perceptions of the Cold War in Latin America.