Cuba Archive - Case 8869

Case ID: 8869

Title: N/A

First name: Beatriz

Last name: Allende Bussi

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: Tati

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 34

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: Day:8 / Month:9 / Year:1943

Civil Status: Divorced / Separated

Date of death/disappearance: Day:11 / Month:10 / Year:1977

Citizenship: Chile

Last known address: N/A

Last known city: La Habana

Last known province-TOD: La Habana

Last known province current: La Habana

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: La Habana

Location of death - city: N/A

Location of death province - at TOD: La Habana

Location of death province - current: La Habana

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: No

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: No

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Beatriz, who was a doctor, committed suicide while exiled in Cuba after the coup d'etat against her father, Salvador Allende, president of Chile from November 1970 to September 11, 1973 (and head of the Chilean Socialist coalition, Unidad Popular).  She left a 6 year old daughter and a 3 year old son. In Cuba, by October 1973, Beatriz had established the Comité Chileno de Solidaridad con la Resistencia Antifascista. Run by left-wing Chilean exiles and paid for by the Cuban government, this committee played an important role in focusing global opposition to Chile’s dictatorship in the first years after the coup. However, she had reportedly withdrawn from the Committee months before her death, at least in part reportedly discouraged with the management of the funds raised internationally. Cuban defectors have reported that she had been the target of a Cuban intelligence operation to penetrate her father's inner circle even before he became president of Chile. The handsome Luis Fernández Oña, a Captain in Cuba's intelligence service using the alias "Demid," was instructed to seduce Beatriz; when Allende ascended to the presidency and Beatriz was assigned his Chief of Staff, transferred to the Cuban embassy in Chile as a diplomat, he was instructed to divorce his wife and marry Beatriz to secure information and influence for the Castro regime. The couple had a daughter and a son born in Cuba shortly after the arrived after the coup in Chile led by General Augusto Pinochet. Eventually, Fernández Oña (not his real name) told Beatriz that he had never loved her and had only married her to follow Cuban government orders. Feeling used, rejected, and disappointed, she wrote a letter to Fidel Castro and shot herself. The Cuban government published an official notice of the suicide, attributing it to depression over the coup d’état in Chile. The alleged letter has never been published. Oña remarried his Cuban wife.  Cuban defectors now in exile also report that one of Beatriz's friends, a young Chilean also exiled in Cuba, Carlos (nickname "el Morocho) unknown last name, was later executed by the Cuban regime. He is reportedly buried at Colon Cemetery in Havana in a tomb marked "unknown." Another close collaborator of Beatriz, Alberto García, was also reported to have committed suicide in mysterious circumstances at the Hotel Presidente in Havana. Laura Allende Gossens, Beatriz's aunt and her father´s sister, who was exiled in Cuba, committed suicide by reportedly jumping from a high floor of the Riviera Hotel in Havana on May 23, 1981. Reportedly, she had cancer. Some Cuban defectors have alleged that she might have been killed by the intelligence services but no evidence has surfaced to that effect. (Only Beatriz Allende's case is documented in this Archive; the other cases are not for lack of sufficient information and corroborating evidence.)
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Beatriz se suicidó estando exiliada en Cuba después del golpe de estado contra su padre, Salvador Allende, jefe de la coalición socialista chilena, Unidad Popular, y presidente de Chile desde noviembre de 1970 hasta septiembre 11,1973. Dejó una hija de 6 años, nacida en Chile, y un hijo de 3 años nacido en Cuba. Ya en octubre de 1973, Beatriz había establecido en Cuba el Comité Chileno de Solidaridad con la Resistencia Antifascista, dirigido por exiliados chilenos de izquierda y pagado por el gobierno cubano, para enfocar la oposición global a la dictadura de Chile.  Se reporta que se había retirado del Comité meses antes de su muerte, al menos en parte supuestamente desanimada con la gestión de los fondos recaudados a nivel internacional. Desertores cubanos han informado que ella había sido blanco de una operación de inteligencia cubana para penetrar el círculo íntimo de su padre desde incluso antes de que su padre asumiera la presidencia de Chile. Luis Fernández Oña, capitán del servicio de inteligencia de Cuba, había recibido instrucciones de seducir a Beatriz y cuando Allende ascendió a la presidencia y Beatriz fue asignada Jefe de su Gabinete, Fernández Oña fue trasladado a dirigir la embajada de Cuba en Chile (con fachada diplomática), con órdenes de divorciarse de su esposa cubana y casarse con Beatriz. Al exiliarse en Cuba después del golpe de estado, éste le había confesado que nunca la había amado y que solo se había casado con ella para seguir las órdenes del gobierno cubano. Sintiéndose usada, rechazada y decepcionada, Beatriz le escribió una carta a Fidel Castro y se suicidó. El gobierno cubano publicó un aviso oficial del suicidio, atribuyéndolo a la depresión por el golpe de Estado en Chile. La supuesta carta nunca se ha publicado. Oña se volvió a casar con su esposa cubana.
Desertores cubanos ahora en el exilio también informan que uno de los amigos de Beatriz, un joven chileno también exiliado en Cuba, Carlos (apodo "el Morocho) de apellido desconocido, fue posteriormente ejecutado por el régimen cubano. Según los informes, está enterrado en el cementerio de Colón en La Habana en una tumba marcada como "desconocida". Otro colaborador cercano de Beatriz, Alberto García, también se informó que se suicidó en circunstancias misteriosas en el Hotel Presidente de La Habana. Laura Allende Gossens, tía de Beatriz y hermana de su padre, exiliada en Cuba, se suicidó presuntamente al saltar desde un piso alto del Hotel Riviera en La Habana el 23 de mayo de 1981. Los desertores cubanos sospechan que fue asesinada por los servicios de inteligencia (sólo el caso de Beatriz Allende está documentado en este Archivo; los otros casos no están documentados por falta de información suficiente y pruebas que lo corroboren).

Sources:

Confidential testimony of a former friend of Beatriz Allende in Cuba, Jan. 26, 2022. Enrique Garía, a former official of Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence who had handled Chile, confirmed that Fernández Oña was an intelligence official who had been sent to Chile and had a relationship with Beatriz, Jan. 26, 2022.  Benigno (Dariel Alarcón Ramírez), Memorias de un soldado cubano: vida y muerte de la revolución, Barcelona, Tusquets Edictiones, 1997, pp. 227-228. Alina Fernández, Alina: memorias de la hija rebelde de Fidel Castro, Barcelona: Plaza y Janés Editores, 1997, p. 118.  Rocío Montes, Allende’s granddaughter elected mayor of Santiago borough, Santiago de Chile, El País, Nov. 09, 2012. Rocío Montes, Allende’s granddaughter elected mayor of Santiago borough, Santiago de Chile, El País, Nov. 09, 2012. Repercusión del suicidio de Beatriz Allende en Latinoamérica, El País, Oct. 13, 1977. Rafael Rojas, Allende, el suicidio y la posverdad, Rialta, Jan. 21, 2021. Odelín Alfonso Torna, Suicidios por camancola, 2007. Laura Allende dejó una carta a Fidel Castro explicando su suicidio, La Habana, EFE, May 25, 1981. Tanya Harmer, The view from Havana: Chilean exiles in Cuba and early resistance to Chile’s dictatorship, 1973-1977. Hispanic American Historical Review, 96 (1). pp. 109-146, Duke University Press, 2016.

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Suicide/Alleged Suicide

Occupations: - Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Other

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Beatriz Allende Bussi