Whereas nations around the world are confronting the challenge of strengthening the institutions of democracy against the dire threat of authoritarianism; Whereas Chile is a strategic partner of the United States, and the bilateral relationship, which includes cooperation on economic, environmental, defense, and human rights issues, is predicated on a shared commitment to democratic values, including absolute respect for free and fair elections; Whereas Chile is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bloody military coup d’état of September 11, 1973; Whereas, as part of that commemoration, the Congress of Chile has overwhelmingly passed a resolution requesting the declassification of United States records related to the coup and its aftermath; Whereas, after the democratic election of the Popular Unity Party candidate, Salvador Allende, in September 1970, according to reports in 1975 by the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, President Richard Nixon ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to make the economy scream and covertly block the inauguration of Allende through instigation of a military coup, an operation that led to the assassination of the pro-constitution commander in chief of the army of Chile, General René Schneider, in a failed kidnapping attempt supported by the Central Intelligence Agency; Whereas, under the supervision of then-national security adviser Henry Kissinger, the Central Intelligence Agency continued its efforts to foster a coup climate in Chile and, in Kissinger’s own words to Nixon, created the conditions as great as possible for the military takeover; Whereas the United States provided active support, including assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency, for the creation of the repressive intelligence directorate of Chile