Has any intelligence service succeeded in the assassination of a head of state?
Arguably the CIA was involved in the coup against Allende in Chile, which resulted in his death. Henry Kissinger’s comments to President Nixon imply that no CIA personel were given the assignment of assassinating him, though.
That isn’t the type of thing that they would advertise if they had or even if the hadn’t succeeded.
Right, but Nixon and Kissinger’s conversation was taped without the idea that it would ever be released to the public, so it’s a good assumption that they spoke freely. So as far as they knew, the CIA did not directly participate in the coup that killed Allende. If you start believing that there are CIA black ops missions without presidential approval without any direct evidence, then you are heading down a spiraling path towards a belief of a global conspiracy complete with orbital mind-controling lasers.
But it seems apparent that CIA agents had many contacts within the Chilean military which organized the coup. They were, after all, advised of the impending coup two days before it actually happened. And they were involved in creating the pressure that lead to the coup, too.
actually, there is at least ONE claim that I know of by a former Chilean general that the CIA gave him (literally) a bootfull of money to kill Allende.
I’m trying to find the cite for the general’s name, but this was subject matter covered in my political sciences Latin American studies class. I’ll see if I can get some more detailed information.
The CIA was supposedly involved in the overthrow and death of Diem. The CIA and MI6 were involved in the overthrow of Mossadegh. The KGB was supposedly involved in the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.