The Central Intelligence Agency has overthrown more democratically elected governments than most people can name. The operations had code names — Ajax, PBSUCCESS, FUBELT — and the consequences fell on millions of people who had no say in the decision. This is not speculation. Much of it is confirmed in declassified CIA documents, Senate hearings, and the agency's own internal histories. Iran, 1953 — Operation Ajax Mohammad Mossadegh was the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. In 1951, he nationalized Iran's oil industry, which had been controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). The British were furious. They asked the Americans for help. In August 1953, the CIA and Britain's MI6 orchestrated Operation Ajax — a coup that overthrew Mossadegh and restored the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to absolute power. The mechanics of the coup: CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (grandson of Theodore Roosevelt) ran the operation from Tehran with a budget of approximately $1 million The CIA bought off military officers, politicians, and street gangs to create the appearance of a popular uprising CIA-funded mobs staged protests and clashes that destabilized the government The Shah dismissed Mossadegh, and when Mossadegh refused to step down, the CIA-organized military moved in Mossadegh was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to three years in prison followed by house arrest until his death in 1967. The consequences: The Shah ruled as a dictator for 26 years, backed by the CIA and the SAVAK — his brutal secret police that tortured and killed thousands of dissidents. The resentment generated by the Shah's regime culminated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which replaced a US-backed dictator with an anti-American theocracy that has shaped global politics for nearly five decades. The CIA did not officially acknowledge its role until August 19, 2013, when it declassified documents confirming the agency's involvement. Guatemala, 1954 — Operation PBSUCCESS Jacobo Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala in 1951 in a free and fair election. His crime: he implemented land reform. The Decree 900 program redistributed unused land from large estates — including the United Fruit Company's vast holdings — to landless peasants, compensating the owners at the declared tax value. United Fruit Company objected. It had powerful allies: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles both had financial ties to the company. They also had a convenient pretext: Arbenz had legalized the Communist Party, and the Cold War was in full swing. Operation PBSUCCESS launched in June 1954: The CIA trained and armed a small force of Guatemalan exiles led by Carlos Castillo Armas in Honduras CIA planes bombed Guatemalan cities The CIA ran a psychological warfare campaign — including a fake radio station broadcasting reports of a massive rebel army advancing on the capital Arbenz, believing he faced a larger force than actually existed, resigned and went into exile The consequences: Castillo Armas became dictator, reversed the land reform, and launched a campaign of political repression. He was assassinated in 1957. What followed was a 36-year civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people — the vast majority Indigenous Mayans killed by US-backed military governments. A UN-sponsored truth commission in 1999 classified the killings as genocide. Congo, 1960 — The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba Patrice Lumumba was the first democratically elected prime minister of the newly independent Congo. He took office on June 30, 1960. He was dead within seven months. Lumumba's problem was the same as the others: he was seen as a threat to Western interests. Congo had vast mineral wealth — uranium, copper, cobalt, diamonds — and the United States and Belgium wanted access on their terms. The CIA moved quickly: On August 18, 1960, CIA Director Allen Dulles cabled the station chief in Leopoldville: "In high quarters here it is the clear-cut conclusion that if [Lumumba] continues to hold high office, the inevitable result will at best be chaos and at worst paving the way to communist takeover." The CIA sent an operative with poison to assassinate Lumumba, though the plan was never carried out directly Instead, the CIA supported a coup by Colonel Joseph-Desire Mobutu, who placed Lumumba under house arrest In January 1961, Lumumba was transferred to Katanga — a breakaway province controlled by Belgian-backed secessionists — and executed by firing squad on January 17, 1961 His body was dissolved in acid to destroy the evidence The consequences: Mobutu ruled Congo (which he renamed Zaire) for 32 years — one of the most corrupt and brutal dictatorships in African history. He embezzled an estimated $5 billion while the Congolese people remained among the poorest in the world. A 2001 Belgian parliamentary inquiry acknowledged Belgium's "moral responsibility" for Lumumba's assassination. The United States has never formally apologized. Chile, 1973 — Operation FUBELT Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile in 1970 — the first Marxist to win a democratic election in the Western Hemisphere. He nationalized the copper industry (previously controlled by US companies including Anaconda and Kennecott) and expanded social programs. The Nixon administration moved to destroy him. On the recorded order of President Richard Nixon — "Make the economy scream" — the CIA launched a multifaceted campaign: Economic warfare — The CIA worked to disrupt Chile's economy, funding strikes and sabotage Political destabilization — The CIA financed opposition media and political groups, spending over $8 million on covert operations in Chile between 1970 and 1973 Military coup — On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup. Allende died in the presidential palace — officially by suicide, though debate continues Track II — A direct CIA operation to provoke a military coup, authorized at the highest levels of the US government The consequences: Pinochet ruled for 17 years. His regime tortured over 30,000 people, executed at least 3,200, and "disappeared" thousands more. The Chilean National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation documented the atrocities in detail. Pinochet was eventually arrested in London in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity, though he died in 2006 before standing trial. The Church Committee In 1975, the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities — known as the Church Committee after its chairman, Senator Frank Church of Idaho — investigated CIA covert operations. The committee's findings were devastating: The CIA had plotted assassinations of foreign leaders (Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, among others) The agency had conducted domestic surveillance on American citizens Covert operations had been carried out without meaningful oversight from Congress The FBI had run COINTELPRO — a program to infiltrate and disrupt domestic political organizations Senator Church warned: "If a dictator ever took over, the NSA [and intelligence community] could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back." The committee's recommendations led to the creation of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 — reforms that have been steadily weakened in the decades since. The Pattern Each of these operations followed the same script: A democratically elected leader threatens Western corporate or strategic interests The CIA demonizes the leader as a communist or security threat A covert operation funds opposition, buys off military officials, and creates chaos A dictator friendly to US interests is installed The population suffers for decades The people of Iran, Guatemala, Congo, and Chile did not ask to have their democracies destroyed. They did not vote for the dictators who replaced their elected leaders. And they have never received an apology adequate to the damage done. They didn't ask if we wanted to know that "spreading democracy" often meant destroying it. The coup that wasn't supposed to be acknowledged is still shaping the world. _- The Department_