On March 12, 1989, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discovered cyanide in two Chilean grapes, withholding all Chilean fruit shipments and their complete withdrawal from the market. These events triggered a bilateral crisis with economic repercussions and impacts on domestic politics during Chile’s transition to democracy. To date, these events remain unexplored. Therefore, this article aims to revisit them through the lens of four opposition magazines during the military regime: Análisis, APSI, Cauce, and Hoy. The purpose is to analyze how these media reported the crisis, reflecting their tensions between exacerbating criticisms towards the dictatorship and the economic model, acknowledging conspiracy theories -whether communist or American- or adopting a stance of nationalist defense.