René Schneider was a Chilean general who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army and became a central figure in one of the Cold War’s most documented cases of foreign interference in a democratic election. Born in Concepción on December 31, 1913, he rose through a career shaped by formal training in tactics, operations, and military history. His public insistence that the armed forces would not intervene in the September 1970 presidential election placed him directly in the path of a CIA-backed operation to prevent Salvador Allende’s inauguration, and he was shot on October 22, 1970, dying three days later in Santiago. The Chilean government decreed three days of national mourning following his death.
Key facts
- Born: 31 December 1913
- Birthplace: Concepción
- Died: 25 October 1970
- Place of death: Santiago
- Country: Chile
- Occupation: military personnel; politician
- Education: Bernardo O’Higgins Military School; Liceo José Victorino Lastarria
Military career and education
His professional specialty was recorded as Staff Officer, and he held formal qualifications as a Military Professor in both Tactics and Operations and Military History. During his career he received several decorations, including the Presidente de la República medal and the Argentine Army’s Orden de Mayo al Mérito Militar en el Grado de Gran Oficial. The Orden O’Higginiana was conferred on him posthumously.
By 1970 Schneider held the highest military rank in Chile as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, a position that gave his stated policies institutional weight across the armed forces.
The Schneider Doctrine
On May 8, 1970, Schneider gave an interview to El Mercurio, Chile’s leading newspaper, which the Defense Intelligence Agency later described as ‘outspoken.’ In it he stated that the Chilean armed forces would not interfere in the September 1970 election. That position became known as the Schneider Doctrine.
Schneider had expressed firm opposition to preventing Allende’s inauguration through a coup.
The kidnapping plot and the shooting
The CIA supplied a group of Chilean officers led by General Camilo Valenzuela with weapons described in the record as ‘sterile,’ meaning untraceable, for a kidnapping operation. The plan was designed so that responsibility for the abduction would be attributed to Allende’s supporters, not to those who had carried it out.
On October 22, 1970, Schneider was shot, not by the Valenzuela group the CIA had equipped, but by a separate group of plotters led by retired General Roberto Viaux. He died on October 25, 1970, in Santiago. What relationship, if any, existed operationally between the two groups at the moment of the attack is not resolved in the available record.
Burial and commemorations
Schneider is buried at the Santiago General Cemetery in the Recoleta district of Santiago, Chile.
Did you know
- The U.S. State Department drafted a condolence letter for President Nixon describing the attempt on Schneider’s life as ‘a stain on the pages of contemporary history.’ The department composed the letter without knowledge of the CIA’s role in backing the attack. (nsarchive.gwu.edu)
- On the second anniversary of Schneider’s death in 1972, a commemorative postage stamp was issued in Chile honoring him as a defender of constitutional order. (adeyinkamakinde.blogspot.com)
Data sources
Data updated: 2026-10-26