Roberto Viaux was a Chilean Army general, born in Talca on 5 September 1917 and died in Santiago on 25 May 2005, who became one of the most consequential and contested figures in Chilean Cold War history. A career officer from a military family, he rose to the rank of Brigadier General before his involvement in a CIA-backed covert operation in October 1970 placed him at the center of the kidnapping of Army commander René Schneider, which resulted in Schneider’s death. A Chilean military court sentenced Viaux to twenty years in prison for his role, though an appellate court reduced that sentence to two years by a vote of three judges to two, a ruling that generated intense public controversy in Chile.
Key facts
- Born: 5 September 1917
- Birthplace: Talca
- Died: 25 May 2005
- Place of death: Santiago
- Country: Chile
- Occupation: military personnel; university teacher
- Employer: Chilean Army War Academy
- Education: Bernardo O’Higgins Military School; Chilean Army War Academy
Origins and military formation
Viaux came from a military household. His father, Ambrosio Viaux Aguilar, held the rank of Army major and commanded the ‘Chorrillos’ Regiment Group in Talca, the city where Roberto Viaux was born on 5 September 1917. The family background shaped a career trajectory that moved from the Liceo Alemán in Santiago, where Viaux completed his secondary schooling, directly into uniformed service.
He entered the Bernardo O’Higgins Military School in 1933 and graduated as a second lieutenant in the Artillery branch on 1 January 1937. Both his secondary school and the Military School are listed as his formal educational institutions, alongside the Chilean Army War Academy, where he later served as a teacher and where he had also received training. He married Delia Ygualt Ossa, and the couple had four children: Roberto, Delia, Juan Pablo, and Rodrigo.
Military career and promotion
Viaux’s career advanced through the ranks of the Chilean Army over several decades. In February 1969, he was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned as commander in chief of the First Division of the Army, stationed in Antofagasta. That appointment placed him in one of the Army’s significant regional commands.
Beyond operational commands, Viaux also held a position at the Chilean Army War Academy as a teacher, an institution that had been central to his own professional formation. His dual role as both a product and an instructor of that academy reflected a career built within the institution’s own educational framework.
The CIA, Track II, and Project FUBELT
In October 1970, following Salvador Allende’s electoral victory in Chile, the CIA initiated what it called Track II, a covert effort to prevent Allende from taking office. The program, documented under the project name FUBELT, identified Viaux as the retired officer most willing to act against Army commander René Schneider.
A declassified CIA cable from October 1970 described Viaux as ‘a general without an army,’ acknowledging that he had the capacity to precipitate a coup but not to carry one through successfully.
The Schneider kidnapping and legal proceedings
The operation against Schneider was carried out in October 1970. A Chilean military court found Viaux responsible as the author of the crime of kidnapping resulting in serious harm to the victim, and sentenced him to twenty years of imprisonment along with permanent disqualification from public office and political rights.
On appeal, the Chilean Court of Martial Justice reduced the sentence from twenty years to two years. The vote was three judges to two. The narrow margin and the scale of the reduction from twenty years to two provoked strong public controversy in Chile, with the debate centering on what many regarded as inadequate accountability for the crime.
Did you know
- Although a Chilean military court sentenced Viaux to 20 years in prison at first instance, the Court of Martial Justice reduced the sentence to only 2 years on appeal. The decision passed by the narrow margin of three judges to two and generated a major political scandal in Chile. (bcn.cl)
- The CIA’s sponsors promised Viaux $250,000 to ‘keep Viaux movement financially lubricated’ during the 1970 Track II covert operation, yet the CIA simultaneously judged him ‘a general without an army’ who could not successfully lead a coup on his own. (nsarchive.gwu.edu)
- The military court’s initial 20-year sentence against Viaux was reduced to only 2 years by the Court of Martial Justice on appeal, with the three-to-two judicial vote triggering a major public controversy in Chile about impunity. (bcn.cl)
- While the CIA’s sponsors promised Viaux $250,000 to finance his participation in the 1970 Track II operation, CIA headquarters cabled its Santiago station that a coup attempted by Viaux alone ‘would fail’ and would be ‘counterproductive,’ a contradiction recorded in the declassified documents. (nsarchive.gwu.edu)
Data sources
Data updated: 2026-10-26