CIA, Chile & Allende - CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR DEATH AND THE MAIDEN - WRITTEN TASK

VIDEO 1 - THE ORIGINS OF THE RED SCARE IN AMERICA GROWS AS MANY PEOPLE BECOME CONVINCED THAT COMMUNISM WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

THIS FEAR WILL CONTINUE THROGH THE 50s and intensify during the VIETNAM WAR 1960s and 1970s.

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IS BASED ON A 'COLD WAR' WITH RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNION. THERE IS FEAR OF COMMUNISM SPREADING TO ASIA AND SOUTH AMERICA. PRESIDENT ALLENDE IN CHILE IS A VICTIM OF THE PREVAILING BELIEF THAT AMERICA MUST OPPOSE COMMUNISTS EVEN WHEN THEY ARE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED. SOME OF THIS FEAR MAY BE JUSTIFIED BY STUDYING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OF OCTOBER 1962. THE SOVIETS HAD PLACED NUCLEAR MISSILES IN CUBA WHICH COULD REACH AMERICAN CITIES IN ONE HOUR FROM LAUNCH. THE WORLD CAME VERY CLOSE TO WORLD WAR 3.

DORFMAN had been a critic of America and a supporter of Allende. But he found refuge in the USA from the Chilean military and rose to be a Professor of Literature in American Universities. Somewhat ironic. You should also look up novelist Isabel Allende who also found refuge in the USA,

VIDEO 2 - HOW GENERAL PINOCHET LED THE CHILEAN ARMY IN A COUP AGAINST ITS OWN PRESIDENT ALLENDE. IN DORFMAN'S FICTIONAL PLAY, PAULINA AND GERARDO WERE SUPPORTERS OF THE MARXIST ALLENDE. ROBERTO TORTURED ON BEHALF OF THE MILITARY BUT MAINLY BECAUSE HE WAS A SADIST WHO ENJOYED POWER OVER FEMALE PRISONERS.

A BROADER HISTORICAL BACKGROUND BELOW - A SURVEY OF THE KEY HISTORICAL FACTORS WHICH LED TO THE COLD WAR.