‘The survival of our influence’: French cultural and economic relations with Chile, 1960–1980

This article examines growing French-Chilean economic and cultural ties in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on French and Chilean diplomatic sources, it argues that French officials took a flexible, long-term approach to aid in Chile, in contrast to US approaches. It also argues that France sought to profit from Chile’s need for capital goods, and that Chilean leaders saw relations with France as increasingly important given dwindling US aid in 1970–3. This article adds to scholarship that decentres the United States to highlight other poles of mutual influence in the Latin American Cold War.