Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

opposition since Pinochet took power—the other being the National Accord. 128 “In
Chile, the impact was twofold,” recalled Harry Barnes, U.S. Ambassador to Chile
from 1985 to 1988. “It annoyed and frustrated the government. And second, it gave a
lot of encouragement to the opposition.” Just two years later, the Chilean democratic
opposition managed to defeat Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite. 129 Despite a massive
government publicity campaign for Pinochet, 54.5 percent of Chileans voted against
the continuation of the military dictatorship. 130 In December 1989, in the first
presidential election in Chile since 1970, Patricio Alywin was elected. 131
Lister’s principal role in helping restore democracy to Chile was by opening a
dialogue between the democratic opposition and the U.S. State Department. The
dialogue gave symbolic backing to pro-democratic forces at a time when the U.S. was
pursuing a policy of quiet diplomacy, and it helped the Chilean opposition to form a
unified front against Pinochet. When the U.S. finally changed to a more overtly
critical policy by introducing the U.N. resolution in 1986, Lister was able to go to the
Chilean opposition for backing. Dialogue between the U.S. government and the
Chilean democratic opposition also opened on a second front in 1985, when Barnes
became ambassador and began meeting with opposition leaders. 132 Still, as noted in
Chapter 4, Vargas regarded Lister as the Chilean opposition’s “best friend in the U.S.
government.” 133
In 1992, the Chilean government invited Lister to Chile to recognize him for
his contributions to the return of Chilean democracy. Lister gave speeches at
119