--- alias: - David H. Popper category: Intelligence & Government created: 2026-09-21 location: Santiago, Chile summary: US ambassador to Chile from 1974 to 1977 whose human rights approaches drew Kissinger's marginalia, and who in August 1976 advised against warning Pinochet about Condor, proposing that the CIA raise it with Contreras instead. tags: - Person - DavidPopper - StateDepartment - Chile - OperationCondor - HenryKissinger - AugustoPinochet updated: 2026-09-21 --- David H. Popper was the [United States](/places/united-states/) ambassador to [Chile](/places/chile/) from February 1974 to May 1977, arriving five months after the coup.[^1] ### Human Rights Between April 1974 and February 1975 Popper made ten approaches to Chilean officials on human rights. On December 13, 1974, he told the foreign minister, Admiral Patricio Carvajal, that "Congressional critics might be impressed and progress be possible if the GOC were to move towards restoration of normality regarding the applicability of traditional Chilean legal requirements and the state of siege, restoration of habeas corpus, a role for civil court review of military sentences and convincing assurances regarding alleged practice of torture." On February 3, 1975, he told the interior minister, General César Benavides, that "the release of a few well known prisoners" was "probably not sufficient to restore the GOC's image." Beside those two entries on the list sent him by William D. Rogers, [Henry Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/) wrote: "What was this about?" On an earlier cable Kissinger had written: "Tell Popper to cut out the political science lectures."[^2][^3] ### Condor The department's cable of August 23, 1976, told him to see the head of state about "government planned and directed assassinations within and outside the territory of Condor members." Popper answered the next day: "While I appreciate importance of objective sought in reftel, I seriously doubt that an approach to President Pinochet is the best way to achieve it." Given [Augusto Pinochet](/people/augusto-pinochet/)'s "sensitivity regarding pressures by USG, he might well take as an insult any inference that he was connected with such assassination plots. It is quite possible, even probable, that Pinochet has no knowledge whatever of Operation Condor. Particularly of its more questionable aspects." He proposed instead that the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) station chief convey the message to Colonel [Manuel Contreras](/people/manuel-contreras/) of [DINA](/organizations/dina/) "in the context of having heard a rumor which he cannot believe, but which if substantiated would be disastrous for the perpetrators." On August 27 [Harry Shlaudeman](/people/harry-shlaudeman/) told CIA officers that an approach to Pinochet would be futile. [William Luers](/people/william-luers/) pressed Popper through September to deliver the message. On September 20 the ambassadors were told to take no further action. [Orlando Letelier](/people/orlando-letelier/) was killed in Washington the next day.[^4][^5] On September 13 Popper reported that Pinochet's anniversary speech "contains little of encouragement to us," and that the release of 205 prisoners that day "does not indicate that detentions and 'disappearances' have ceased to occur in Chile. They still do occur." In early October, "after consulting with Ambassador Popper," the station chief "confronted the Chilean head of DINA, Colonel Manuel Contreras, with U.S. knowledge of Condor's existence. Colonel Contreras denied that our information of Condor was accurate and refused to admit that one of its objectives was to operate against terrorists in Europe. Recent clandestinely acquired information indicates that plans for Condor are continuing."[^6][^7] [^1]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, editorial notes; tenure dates from the Department of State's Office of the Historian. [^2]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 182, memorandum of William D. Rogers to the Secretary of State, "Démarches in Chile on Human Rights," February 8, 1975, with editorial note. [^3]: Dinges, John. *The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents*. New Press, 2004, p. 157. [^4]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 241, telegram 209192, August 23, 1976; document 242, telegram 8210 from Santiago, August 24, 1976, with editorial note. [^5]: National Security Archive, "Operation Condor Verdict: GUILTY!," Electronic Briefing Book, May 27, 2016; *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 245, telegram 4526 from San José, September 20, 1976, with editorial note on Secto 27128 of September 16. [^6]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 244, telegram 8956 from Santiago, September 13, 1976. [^7]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976,* vol. E-11, part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976, document 253, paper prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency, "Items Which May Be Discussed," undated.