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{{Short description|Overthrow of President Salvador Allende by the military}}
{{otheruses4|the successful coup in September 1973 that brought Army Commander-in-Chief ] to power|the failed coup attempt in June of the same year|Tanquetazo}}
{{Redirect|11 de Septiembre|the date|September 11}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = 1973 Chilean coup d'état
| partof = the ] in South America and ]
| image = {{Photomontage
| photo1a = Golpe de Estado 1973.jpg
| photo2a = Sylvain Julienne durant le coup d’état au Chili en septembre 1973.jpg
| photo3a = Chile- el pueblo vencera cropped.jpg
| photo3b =
| photo4a =
| photo4b =
| spacing = 1
| position = center
| color_border = white
| color = white
| size = 300
| foot_montage = '''From top to bottom''': the bombing of ] on September 11, 1973, by the Chilean Armed Forces; a journalist and policemen during the coup; and detainees and torture victims being detained at the ]}}
| image_size =
| caption =
| date = 11 September 1973
| place = ]
| coordinates =
| map_type =
| latitude =
| longitude =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| territory =
| action = Armed forces put the country under military control. Little and unorganized civil resistance.
| result = Coup successful
* ] government overthrown
* ]
* ] led by General ] assumed power
| combatant1 = '''{{flagicon|Chile}} ]'''<br/>
* ] ]
* {{flagicon image|Socialist red flag.svg}} ]
{{flagicon image|Flag of the MIR - Chile.svg}} ]<br/>Other working-class militants<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawson |first=George |title=Negotiated revolutions: the Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile |publisher=Ashgate |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7546-4327-2 |series=ESRC, economic & social research council |location=Aldershot, Hants |page=182 |quote=The only armed resistance came in a handful of factories, the La Legua ''poblacion'' in Santiago and in isolated gunfights with MIR activists.}}</ref>
----'''Supported by:'''<br />{{flag|Cuba}}
| combatant1a =
| combatant2 = '''{{flagicon image|Roundel of Chile.svg}} ]'''
*]
*]
*]
*]
----'''Supported by:'''<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the United States (DoS ECA Color Standard).svg}} ]<ref>{{Cite book |last=McSherry |first=J. Patrice |author-link=J. Patrice McSherry |title=State violence and genocide in Latin America: the Cold War years |publisher=] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-415-66457-8 |editor-last=Esparza |editor-first=Marcia |series=Critical terrorism studies |location=London |page=107 |chapter=Chapter 5: "Industrial repression" and Operation Condor in Latin America |editor-last2=Huttenbach |editor-first2=Henry R. |editor-last3=Feierstein |editor-first3=Daniel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acGNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107}}</ref><ref name="p. 223">{{Cite book |last=Hixson |first=Walter L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNId6HxkzQwC |title=The myth of American diplomacy: national identity and U.S. foreign policy |date=2008 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-300-11912-1 |location=New Haven |pages=223}}</ref><br />{{flagicon|Brazil|1968}} ]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kornbluh |first1=Peter |title=Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB282/index.htm |website=National Security Archive |publisher=George Washington University |access-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708142510/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB282/index.htm |archive-date=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref><br>{{flagicon|Canada}} ]<ref>{{cite news |last=Engler |first=Yves |date=11 September 2018 |title=Remembering Canada's support for the right-wing coup in Chile |url=https://rabble.ca/general/remembering-canadas-support-right-wing-coup-chile/ |access-date=11 September 2023 |website=rabble.ca |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://jacobin.com/2023/09/canada-chile-allende-pinochet-coup-trudeau-neoliberalism|title=Unmasking Canada's Role in the Chilean Coup|last1=Engler|first1=Yves|last2=Schalk|first2=Owen|date=10 September 2023|work=Jacobin|access-date=10 September 2023}}</ref><br>{{flagicon|Australia}} ]<ref name="Daley">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/11/declassified-documents-show-australia-assisted-cia-in-coup-against-chiles-salvador-allende|title=Declassified documents show Australia assisted CIA in coup against Chile's Salvador Allende |last=Daley |first=Paul|date=10 September 2021|work=The Guardian|accessdate=10 September 2021}}</ref><br>{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} ]<ref name="mcevoy">{{cite news|url=https://declassifieduk.org/exclusive-secret-cables-reveal-britain-interfered-with-elections-in-chile/|title=Exclusive: Secret cables reveal Britain interfered with elections in Chile|last=McEvoy|first=John|date=22 September 2020|work=]|access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Curtis |first=Mark|author-link=Mark Curtis (British author)|date=September 4, 2023 |title='Our major interest is copper': Britain backed Pinochet's bloody coup in Chile|url=https://declassifieduk.org/our-major-interest-is-copper-britain-backed-pinochets-bloody-coup-in-chile/|work=Declassified UK |location=London |access-date=September 11, 2023}}</ref><br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the National Party (Chile, 1966).svg}} ]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of the Christian Democrat Party of Chile.svg}} ] (parts)<br>{{flagicon image|Democracia Radical 1971.png}} ]
| combatant2a =
| polstrength1 =
| polstrength2 =
| commander1 = '''{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]{{KIA|Death of Salvador Allende}}'''<br />{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the MIR - Chile.svg}} ]
| commander2 = '''{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]'''<br />{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]<br />{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]<br />{{flagdeco|Chile}} ]
| strength1 =
| strength2 =
| casualties1 = 46 GAP
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 = 60 in total during the coup
| notes =
}}
{{Operation Condor}}
{{Covert United States involvement in regime change}}
{{Richard Nixon series}}


The '''1973 Chilean coup d'état''' ({{Langx|es|Golpe de Estado en Chile de 1973}}) was a ] of the democratic socialist ] ] and his ] coalition government.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Youssef|date=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lTTTBv4UJ_kC|title=Radicals, Reformers, and Reactionaries: The Prisoner's Dilemma and the Collapse of Democracy in Latin America|location=Chicago, Illinois|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=–|isbn=978-0-2261-1271-8|access-date=August 30, 2023|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Busky 2000, pp. 195–196">{{cite book|last=Busky|first=Donald F.|date=<!--July 30,-->2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3joQKjDtn4wC|title=Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|pages=–|isbn=978-0-275-96886-1|access-date=August 30, 2023|via=Google Books}}</ref> Allende, who has been described as the first ] to be democratically elected president in a Latin American ],<ref>{{cite magazine |date=September 24, 1973 |title=Chile: The Bloody End of a Marxist Dream |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,907929-1,00.html |access-date=August 30, 2023 |issn=0040-781X |quote=Allende's downfall had implications that reached far beyond the borders of Chile. His had been the first democratically elected Marxist government in Latin America.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ross |first=Jen |date=December 12, 2006 |title=Controversial legacy of former Chilean dictator |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1212/p06s01-woam.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194106/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1211/p00s01-woam.html |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |issn=0882-7729 |quote=Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew Chile's democratically elected Communist government in a 1973 coup and ruled for 17 years, died Sunday without ever having been condemned for the human rights abuses committed during his rule.}}</ref> faced significant social unrest, political tension with the opposition-controlled ]. On 11 September 1973, a group of military officers, led by General ], seized power in a coup, ending civilian rule.
The '''Chilean coup d'état''' was a watershed event in the ] and the ]. Historians and partisans alike have wrangled over its implications ever since.


Following the coup, a ] was established, and suspended all political activities in Chile and suppressed left-wing movements, particularly ] and ] parties, such as the ] and the ], as well as the ] (MIR). Pinochet swiftly consolidated power and was officially declared president of Chile in late 1974.<ref>{{cite book |author=Genaro Arriagada Herrera |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7F8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Pinochet: The Politics of Power |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-04-497061-3 |page=36}}</ref> The ], which had played a role in creating favorable conditions for the coup,<ref name="Winn 2010 270-271">{{cite book |last=Winn |first=Peter |url={{Google books|YJ7ZBGy0wsIC|page=270-271|plainurl=yes}} |title=A Century of Revolution |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2010 |editor-last=Grandin & Joseph |editor-first=Greg & Gilbert |pages=270–271}}</ref><ref>] (11 September 2013). '']''. ]. {{ISBN|1595589120}}</ref><ref>Lubna Z. Qureshi. ''Nixon, Kissinger, and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile.'' Lexington Books, 2009. {{ISBN|0739126563}}</ref> promptly recognized the junta government and supported its efforts to consolidate power.<ref name="NSA-2000-9-19">{{cite web |author=Peter Kornbluh |date=19 September 2000 |title=CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression: Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128142216/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ |archive-date=28 November 2006 |access-date=26 November 2006 |work=Chile Documentation Project |publisher=National Security Archive}}</ref> During the air raids and ground attacks preceding the coup, Allende delivered his final speech, expressing his determination to remain at ] and rejecting offers of safe passage for exile.<ref>{{cite web |title=Salvador Allende's Last Speech – Wikisource |url=http://en.wikisource.org/Salvador_Allende%27s_Last_Speech |access-date=19 November 2011 |publisher=]}}</ref> Although he died in the palace,<ref>{{cite news |last=Gott |first=Richard |date=12 September 2009 |title=From the archive: Allende 'dead' as generals seize power |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/sep/12/from-the-guardian-archive |access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref> the exact circumstances of ] are still disputed, but it is generally accepted as a suicide.<ref>{{cite news |last=Davison |first=Phil |date=20 June 2009 |title=Hortensia Bussi De Allende: Widow of Salvador Allende who helped lead opposition to Chile's military dictatorship |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hortensia-bussi-de-allende-widow-of-salvador-allende-who-helped-lead-opposition-to-chiles-military-dictatorship-1710766.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hortensia-bussi-de-allende-widow-of-salvador-allende-who-helped-lead-opposition-to-chiles-military-dictatorship-1710766.html |archive-date=1 May 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
In ]'s ], in accordance with the constitution, ] resolved the 3-way split — between ] (with 36.3% of the vote), conservative (and former president) ] (35.8%), and the ] ] (27.9%) — by voting to approve Allende's narrow plurality. Allende's ] political agenda brought opposition from sectors of Chilean society as well as the ], which placed diplomatic and economic pressure on the government.


In 2023, declassified documents showed that Nixon, ], and the United States government, which had described Allende as a dangerous communist,<ref name="Busky 2000, pp. 195–196"/> were aware of the military's plans to overthrow Allende in the days before the coup d'état.<ref>{{cite web |date= November 3, 2020 |title=Allende and Chile: 'Bring Him Down' |publisher=National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-11-06/allende-inauguration-50th-anniversary |access-date=August 30, 2023 |via=The George Washington University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=August 8, 2023 |title=Chile's Coup at 50: Kissinger Briefed Nixon on Failed 1970 CIA Plot to Block Allende Presidency |publisher= National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2023-08-08/chiles-coup-50-kissinger-briefed-nixon-failed-1970-cia-plot-block |access-date=August 30, 2023 |via=The George Washington University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wilkinson |first=Tracy |date=August 29, 2023 |title=Previously classified documents released by U.S. show knowledge of 1973 Chile coup |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-08-29/us-releases-chile-coup-documents |access-date=August 30, 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>
On ], ], less than three months after the ], and less than a month after an August 22, 1973 Chamber of Deputies of Chile Resolution condemned Allende's alleged breaches of the constitution and implored his forcible removal, the Chilean military overthrew Allende, who died during the coup. ] exploited the situation to seize total power and establish a ], installing a ]-aligned political agenda which lasted until Pinochet stepped down voluntarily in 1990.


Chile had previously been regarded as a symbol of democracy and political stability in South America, while other countries in the region suffered under military juntas and '']''; the Chilean period prior to the coup is known as the ] era. At the time, Chile was a middle-class country,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lilley|first1= Sasha |last2=Schlotterbeck|first2= Marian |date=2020-09-04 |title=Salvador Allende's Brief Experiment in Radical Democracy in Chile Began 50 Years Ago Today |url=https://jacobin.com/2020/09/salvador-allende-chile-coup-pinochet |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=Jacobin }}</ref> with about 30% or 9 million Chileans being middle class.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nogee |first1=Joseph L. |last2=Sloan |first2=John W. |date=1979 |title=Allende's Chile and the Soviet Union: A Policy Lesson for Latin American Nations Seeking Autonomy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/165728 |journal=Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=339–368 |doi=10.2307/165728 |jstor=165728 |issn=0022-1937}}</ref> The collapse of Chilean democracy marked the end of a series of democratic governments that had held elections since 1932.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weimer |first=Tim |title=Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA |publisher=Doubleday |year=2007 |location=New York}}</ref> Historian ] described the 1973 coup as one of the most violent events in Chilean history.<ref name="Winn 2010">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Furies of the Andes |encyclopedia=A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence during Latin America's Long Cold War |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |url=http://read.dukeupress.edu/content/a-century-of-revolution |last=Winn |first=Peter |editor-last=Grandin & Joseph |editor-first=Greg & Gilbert |page= |doi=10.1215/9780822392859 |isbn=978-0-8223-9285-9}}</ref> The coup led to a series of ], who initiated a brutal and long-lasting campaign of ] through torture, murder, and exile, which significantly weakened leftist opposition to the ] (1973–1990).<ref name="nsaebb33">{{cite web |author=Michael Evans |title=National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 33 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB33/index.html |access-date=19 November 2011 |publisher=Gwu.edu}}</ref><ref name="torture">{{cite news |last=Collins |first=Stephen |date=16 December 2000 |title=Now open – Pinochet's torture chambers |work=] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/722163/Now-open---Pinochets-torture-chambers.html |url-status=dead |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120604004240/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/722163/Now-open---Pinochets-torture-chambers.html |archive-date=4 June 2012}}</ref> The internationally supported ] held under the military junta led to the peaceful ]. Due to the coup's coincidental occurrence on the same date as the ] in the United States, it has sometimes been referred to as "the other 9/11".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aguilera |first1=Pilar |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55665455 |title=Chile: The Other September 11 |last2=Fredes |first2=Ricardo |last3=Dorfman |first3=Ariel |publisher=Ocean Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-876175-50-8 |location=Melbourne |oclc=55665455}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=François |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1001447543 |title=Chile 1973, the Other 9/11: The Downfall of Salvador Allende |publisher=Helion & Company |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-912174-95-9 |location=Solihull, West Midlands |oclc=1001447543}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Osborn |first=Catherine |date=10 September 2021 |title=The Other 9/11 |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/911-chile-1973-pinochet-allende-coup-constitution-constitutent-assembly/ |work=Foreign Policy |quote=In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States this month, a leading Chilean university, the University of Concepción, held a series of panel discussions on their legacy. The program referred to the events as 'the other Sept. 11.'<br/>'Other' because, in Chile, Sept. 11 is best known as the date of the country's own national tragedy: the 1973 U.S.-backed coup against leftist President Salvador Allende that ushered in over 16 years of military rule.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='The other 9/11': As US marks attack anniversary, another infamous milestone looms |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/09/09/911-chile-50th-anniversary-coup/70784405007/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Situation before the coup==
When Allende came to power in 1970, Chilean society was already wracked by huge economic difficulties. Problems such as slow growth, inflation, unequal income distribution and the concentration of economic power remained stubborn and intractable. The majority of the Chilean population were at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum and had grown weary of perennial problems that were affecting the country.{{fact}}


==Political background==
== Allende becomes president ==
{{History of Chile}}
{{main|Chilean presidential election, 1970}}
{{Main|Presidency of Salvador Allende}}
{{see also|Chile truckers' strike}}
Allende contested the ] with ] of the ] and ] of the ]. Allende received 36.6% of the vote, while Alessandri was a very close second with 35.3%, and Tomic third with 28.1%,<ref name="Jobet">{{cite web|title=El Partido Socialista de Chile Tomo II|work=Julio César Jobet|language=es|url=http://es.geocities.com/omerocl/partidosoc2.pdf|page=120|access-date=5 June 2009|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5kmbQgbhB?url=http://es.geocities.com/omerocl/partidosoc2.pdf|archive-date=25 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> in what was a close three-way election.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schweitzer |first=Oren |date=2023-03-18 |title=Chile's Attempt at Democratic Socialism Combined State Action and Bottom-Up Initiative |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/03/chile-salvador-allende-popular-unity-democratic-socialism-working-class-control-bottom-up-politics-state-action |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=Jacobin}}</ref> Although Allende received the highest number of votes, according to the Chilean constitution and since none of the candidates won by an absolute majority, the National Congress had to decide among the candidates.<ref name=N1>] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p. 259 {{ISBN|978-0-19-928358-3}}</ref>


The ] did not allow a person to be president for consecutive terms. The incumbent president, ], was therefore ineligible as a candidate. The ]'s "Track I" operation was a plan to influence the Congress to choose Alessandri, who would resign after a short time in office, forcing a second election. Frei would then be eligible to run.<ref name=cia>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html|title=CIA Activities in Chile|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|quote=The political action program under consideration called for the Embassy and Station to influence the Chilean Congress as it took up the matter. This involved encouraging Congress to vote for Alessandri for President in spite of the fact Allende received a slightly higher popular vote. Allende's 36.3 percent of the vote on 4 September was a plurality, not the majority required by the Constitution to prevent Congressional reaffirmation of the victory. The Station and the Embassy, working through intermediaries, urged Frei to use his influence with Congress to convince non-leftist forces to vote for Alessandri. The scenario was to have Congress elect Alessandri as President; he would then resign, thereby allowing Frei to run as a candidate against Allende in a new election.|access-date=18 February 2013|archive-date=12 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612225422/https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Alessandri announced on 9 September that if Congress chose him, he would resign. Allende signed a Statute of Constitutional Guarantees, which stated that he would follow the constitution during his presidency trying to shore up support for his candidacy. Congress then decided on Allende.<ref>{{cite book |author=Régis Debray |title=The Chilean Revolution: Conversations with Allende |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |year=1972}}</ref> The U.S. feared the example of a "well-functioning socialist experiment" in the region and exerted diplomatic, economic, and covert pressure upon Chile's elected socialist government.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRdTAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|title=Post-Ethical Society: The Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, and the Moral Failure of the Secular|first1=Douglas V.|last1=Porpora|first2=Alexander G.|last2=Nikolaev|first3=Julia Hagemann|last3=May|first4=Alexander|last4=Jenkins|year=2013|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-06252-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://santiagotimes.cl/2014/05/26/new-declassified-files-shed-light-us-role-ousting-allende/ |title=New declassified files shed light on US role in ousting Allende |access-date=7 October 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009185456/http://santiagotimes.cl/2014/05/26/new-declassified-files-shed-light-us-role-ousting-allende/ |archive-date=9 October 2016 }}</ref><ref name="CIA_website">Kristian C. Gustafson. , CIA, Center for the Study of Intelligence. Retrieved 21 August 2007.</ref> At the end of 1971, the Cuban Prime Minister ] made ], alarming American observers worried about the "Chilean Way to Socialism".<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040530180004/http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/1971/ |date=30 May 2004 }}, University of Texas: English translations of Castro speeches based upon the records of the (United States) Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). See locations of speeches for November–December 1971. Retrieved 22 September 2006.</ref>
There are generally two views of the voting in 1970. Those who opposed Salvador Allende point out that he received less than 1% more of the vote than his closest opponent (36.3% to 35.8%) and did not have a majority. Also his vote was actually a 2.9% decline from his ] percentage. Those who supported him point instead to the fact that leftist forces clearly won a majority: in addition to Allende, running with the Unidad Popular (UP or Popular Unity) coalition, Christian Democrat Radomiro Tomic won 27.9% with a similar platform to Allende's. (Allende & Tomic together therefore received 64.2%) Conservative former president Jorge Alessandri received slightly under 35.8% of the vote.
{| class="wikitable"
|- align=center style="background:orange"
!&nbsp;&nbsp; Candidate&nbsp;&nbsp; !! Votes !! %
|- align=center
|Allende
|| 1,066,372 || &nbsp;36.29%&nbsp;
|- align=center
|&nbsp;Alessandri&nbsp;
|| 1,050,863 || 35.76%
|- align=center
|Tomic
|| 821,350 || 27.95%
|- align=center
| '''Total''' ||&nbsp;&nbsp; 2,943,561 &nbsp;&nbsp;
||<small>''Source:'' </small>
|}
According to the constitution, ] had to decide between the two candidates who had received the most votes. The precedent set on the three previous occasions this situation had arisen since ] was for Congress simply to choose the candidate with the largest number of votes; indeed, former president Alessandri had been elected in ] with 31.6% of the popular vote.


Allende presided over an increasingly unstable economy. A fiscal deficit of 3.5% in 1970 grew to 24% by 1973.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allende |first=Salvador |date=2021 |title='Last speech to Nation, 11 September 1973' (Chile, 1973) |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350302587.0031 |journal=Aesthetics and Politics in the Global South |doi=10.5040/9781350302587.0031|isbn=978-1-350-30258-7 }}</ref> In 1972, Economics Minister ] adopted ] policies that increased the amount of circulating currency and devalued the ]. That year, inflation increased by 225% and reached 606% by 1973. The high inflation in 1973 decreased wages by 38%.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allende |first=Salvador |date=2021 |title='Last speech to Nation, 11 September 1973' (Chile, 1973) |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350302587.0031 |journal=Aesthetics and Politics in the Global South |doi=10.5040/9781350302587.0031|isbn=978-1-350-30258-7 }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Blejer |first=Mario |date=April 1981 |title=Strike Activity and Wage Determination under Rapid Inflation: The Chilean Case |journal=ILR Review |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=356–364 |doi=10.1177/001979398103400302 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> To combat this, Allende created the Committees of Supplies and Prices (Juntas de Abastecimiento y Precios (JAP)). JAP reopened private shops and requisitioned goods which had been slowly disappearing due to drops in production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allende |first=Salvador |date=2021 |title='Last speech to Nation, 11 September 1973' (Chile, 1973) |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350302587.0031 |journal=Aesthetics and Politics in the Global South |doi=10.5040/9781350302587.0031|isbn=978-1-350-30258-7 }}</ref><ref name=":5" />
In this case, however, there was an active campaign against Allende's confirmation by Congress, and his presidency was ratified only after he signed a "Statute of Constitutional Guarantees".


In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. The Trucker’s Strike that began on 1 October in the Ayse providence was a response to economic problems and rumors that transportation would be nationalized. Eight days later, the Confederation of Truckers, led by Leon Vilarín with the support of the guilds and possibly the CIA, called for an indefinite national strike, which inhibited the movement and distribution of goods that had already been struggling. Truckers then blocked all main roads on 12 October, creating a shortage of essential goods. Allende declared a state of emergency in response and the strike leaders were arrested. This would only provoke the Chilean population further and more strikes and protests ensued. The state of emergency also failed to reverse the strike or the economic crisis.<ref name=":4" />
It has been argued that given that less than the majority of the voters voted for him, Allende did not have a clear "mandate" to embark in the wide reforms put forward on his program. But the legality of the election itself is not in dispute.


Among the participants were small-scale businessmen, some professional unions, and student groups. Its leaders – Vilarín, ], Rafael Cumsille, Guillermo Elton, Eduardo Arriagada – expected to depose the elected government. Other than damaging the national economy, the principal effect of the 24-day strike was drawing Army head, General ], into the government as Interior Minister, an appeasement to the right wing.<ref name="Tercera_Problemas">{{cite web |title=Comienzan los problemas |url=http://www.latercera.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_178048856_151840537,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070802230054/http://www.latercera.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_178048856_151840537,00.html |archive-date=2007-08-02 |language=es}}, part of series "Icarito > Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006.</ref> This replaced General ], who had been assassinated (Schneider had been shot on 22 October 1970 by a group led by General ], whom the ] had not attempted to discourage, and died three days later.) General Prats supported the legalist ] and refused military involvement in a ] against President Allende.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2000/05/22/mun6.html |title=mun6 |publisher=Jornada.unam.mx |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref>
== The Allende years ==
{{main|Chile under Allende}}


Despite the declining economy, President Allende's ] coalition increased its vote to 43.2% in the ]; but, by then, the informal alliance between Popular Unity and the Christian Democrats ended.<ref>, United States ]: Chile. Undated; according to , "The body of the text reflects information available as of 31 March 1994." Accessed 22 September 2006.</ref> The Christian Democrats allied with the right-wing National Party, who were opposed to Allende's government; the two right-wing parties formed the ] (CODE). The internecine parliamentary conflict between the legislature and the executive branch paralyzed the activities of government.<ref name="Se desata la crisis">{{cite web|url=http://www.latercera.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_178048856_151840547,00.html |title=Se desata la crisis |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109230054/http://www.latercera.cl/medio/articulo/0%2C0%2C38035857_178048856_151840547%2C00.html |archive-date=9 November 2007|language=es}} , part of series "Icarito > Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006.</ref>
In office, Allende pursued a policy he called ''La vía chilena al socialismo'' ("The Chilean Way to Socialism"). This included nationalization of certain large-scale industries (notably copper), reform of the health care system, a continuation of his predecessor ]'s reforms of the educational system, a program of free milk for children, and an attempt at ]. The previous government of Eduardo Frei has already partly nationalised copper by acquiring a 51 percent share in foreign owned mines. Allende expropriated the remaining percentage without compensating the U.S. companies that owned the mines.


Allende began to fear his opponents, convinced they were plotting his assassination. Using his daughter ] as a messenger, he explained the situation to ]. Castro gave four pieces of advice: convince technicians to stay in Chile, sell only copper for US dollars, do not engage in extreme revolutionary acts which would give opponents an excuse to wreck or seize control of the economy, and maintain a proper relationship with the Chilean military until local militias could be established and consolidated. Allende attempted to follow Castro's advice, but the latter two recommendations proved difficult.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=Jerome R.|title=Liberators, patriots, and leaders of Latin America 32 biographies|date=2010|publisher=McFarland & Co.|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0786455522|pages=213–214|edition=2nd}}</ref>
Chilean presidents were allowed a maximum of six years, which may explain Allende's haste to restructure the economy. Not only did he have a significant restructuring program organised, it had to be a success if a successor to Allende was going to be elected.


===Chilean military prior to the coup===
The government's efforts to pursue these reforms led to strong opposition by landowners, some middle-class sectors, the rightist National Party, and eventually the Christian Democrats. Also, the ] was displeased with the direction of his educational reforms .
Prior to the coup, the Chilean military had undergone a process of de-politicization since the 1920s, when military officers had held cabinet positions. Subsequently, most military officers remained under-funded, having only subsistence salaries. Because of the low salaries, the military spent much time in military leisure-time facilities (e.g., ]s) where they met other officers and their families. The military remained apart from society and was to some degree an ] group as officers frequently married the sisters of their comrades or the daughters of high-ranked older officers. Many officers also had relatives in the military.<ref name=privada/> In 1969, elements of the military made their first act of rebellion in 40 years when they participated in the ]. The Tacnazo was not a proper coup, but a protest against under-funding.<ref>González 2013, p. 28.</ref> In retrospect General ] considered that ] who were in power in 1969 committed the error of not taking the military's grievances seriously.<ref>González 2013, p. 29.</ref>


Throughout the 1960s, the governments of ] (]), ] (]), ] (]), ] (]), and ] (]) were overthrown and replaced by military governments.<ref name=Gonzalez35>González 2013, p. 35.</ref> In June 1973, Uruguay ] the coup d'état wave that swept through the region.<ref name=estado>{{Cite book |last = Lessa |first = Alfonso |title = Estado de guerra – de la gestación del golpe del 73 a la caída de Bordaberry |year = 1996 |publisher = Editorial Fin de Siglo}}</ref> The poor conditions of the Chilean military contrasted with the change of fortune the military of neighboring countries experienced as they came to power in coups.<ref name=Gonzalez35/>
The ]s that Allende highlighted as one of the central policies of his government had already begun under his predecessor Eduardo Frei Montalva, who had expropriated between one-fifth and one-quarter of all properties liable to takeover . The Allende government's intention was to seize all holdings of more than eighty basic irrigated hectares . Allende also intended to improve the socio-economic welfare of Chile's poorest citizens. A key element was to provide employment, either in the new nationalised enterprises or on public works projects.


During the decades prior to the coup, the military became influenced by the United States' ] ] in the context of various cooperation programs, including the ].<ref name=privada>{{Citation
In the first year of Allende's term, the short-term economic results of Minister of the Economy ]'s expansive monetary policy were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in ], accompanied by major declines in inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%). However, these results were not sustained and in ] the Chilean ''escudo'' had runaway inflation of 140%. The combination of inflation and government-mandated price-fixing led to the rise of ]s in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves.
| editor-last = Sagredo
| editor-first = Rafael
| editor2-last = Gazmuri
| editor2-first = Cristián
| title = Historia de la vida privada en Chile
| volume = 3: El Chile contemporáneo. De 1925 a nuestros días
| publisher = Aguilar Chilena de Ediciones
| place = Santiago de Chile
| date = 2005
| edition = 4th
| isbn = 978-956-239-337-9
| language = es
}}</ref>


==Crisis==
Towards the end of 1971, Cuban dictator ] toured Chile extensively during a four-week visit. This gave credence to the belief of those on the right that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba.
{{See also|Tanquetazo}}


On 29 June 1973, Colonel ] surrounded La Moneda presidential palace with his tank regiment and failed to depose the Allende Government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://literature.rebelyouth.ca/educhile_1970s/tanquetazo.html |title=Second coup attempt: ''El Tanquetazo'' (the tank attack) |access-date=13 October 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013002715/http://literature.rebelyouth.ca/educhile_1970s/tanquetazo.html |archive-date=13 October 2004}}, originally on RebelYouth.ca. Unsigned, but with citations. Archived on ] 13 October 2004.</ref> That failed ''coup d'état'' – known as the ''Tanquetazo'' tank putsch – had been organized by the nationalist "]" paramilitary group.
October 1972 saw the first of what were to be a wave of confrontational strikes by some of the historically well-off sectors of Chilean society. A strike by owners of trucks was joined by small businesmen, some (mostly professional) unions, and some student groups. Other than the inevitable damage to the economy, the chief effect of the 24-day strike was to bring the head of the army, general ], into the government as Interior Minister.


In August 1973, a constitutional crisis occurred; the ] publicly complained about the government's inability to enforce the law of the land. On 22 August, the Christian Democrats united with the National Party of the Chamber of Deputies accused the government of unconstitutional acts and called upon the military to enforce constitutional order.<ref>] on Wikisource</ref><ref name="Se desata la crisis"/>
In addition to the earlier-discussed provision of employment, Allende also raised wages on a number of occasions throughout 1970 and 1971. These rises in wages were negated by continuing increases in prices for food. Although price rises had also been high under Frei (27% a year between 1967 and 1970), a basic basket of consumer goods rose by 120% from 190 to 421 escudos in one month alone, August 1972. In the period 1970-72, while Allende was in government, exports fell 24% and imports rose 26%, with imports of food rising an estimated 149% . Although nominal wages were rising, there was not a commensurate increase in the standard of living for the Chilean population.


For months, the government had feared calling upon the '']'' national police, suspecting them of disloyalty. On 9 August, Allende appointed General Carlos Prats as Minister of Defense. He was forced to resign both as defense minister and as the Army commander-in-chief on 24 August 1973, embarrassed by the ] and a public protest of the wives of his generals at his house. General Augusto Pinochet replaced him as Army commander-in-chief the same day.<ref name="Se desata la crisis"/> In late August 1973, 100,000{{disputed inline|date=September 2013}} Chilean women congregated at Plaza de la Constitución to protest against the government for the rising cost and increasing shortages of food and fuels, but they were dispersed with tear gas.<ref name="Dream">{{cite magazine |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20Chile/Item%20030.pdf |title=The Bloody End of a Marxist Dream |magazine=Time |date=24 September 1973 |access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref>
The falls in exports were mostly due to a fall in the price of copper. Chile was at the mercy of international fluctuations in the value of its single most important export. As with almost half of developing countries, more than 50 per cent of Chile's export receipts were from a single primary commodity . Adverse fluctuation in the international price of copper negatively affected the Chilean economy throughout 1971-2. The price of copper fell from a peak of $66 per ton in 1970 to only $48-9 in 1971 and 1972 . This fall in the value of copper would combine with a lack of economic aid to bring about the economic conditions that led to events later in 1973.


===Resolution by the Chamber of Deputies===
Despite declining economic indicators, Allende's Popular Unity coalition actually slightly increased its vote to 43 percent in the parliamentary elections early in 1973. However, by this point what had started as an informal alliance with the Christian Democrats was anything but: the Christian Democrats now leagued with the right-wing National Party to oppose Allende's government, the two parties calling themselves the Confederación Democrática (CODE). The conflict between the executive and legislature paralyzed initiatives from either side.
On 23 August 1973, with the support of the Christian Democrats and National Party members, the Chamber of Deputies passed 81–47 a resolution that asked "the President of the Republic, Ministers of State, and members of the Armed and Police Forces" to "put an immediate end" to "breach the Constitution . . . with the goal of redirecting government activity toward the path of Law and ensuring the Constitutional order of our Nation, and the essential underpinnings of democratic co-existence among Chileans".<ref name="Resolution">"el Presidente de la República y a los señores Ministros de Estado y miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas y del Cuerpo de Carabineros" ).</ref>


The resolution declared that the Allende government sought "to conquer absolute power with the obvious purpose of subjecting all citizens to the strictest political and economic control by the state ... the goal of establishing a totalitarian system", claiming it had made "violations of the Constitution ... a permanent system of conduct". Essentially, most of the accusations were about the government disregarding the separation of powers, and arrogating legislative and judicial prerogatives to the executive branch of government. Finally, the resolution condemned the "creation and development of government-protected armed groups, which ... are headed towards a confrontation with the armed forces". President Allende's efforts to re-organize the military and the police forces were characterised as "notorious attempts to use the armed and police forces for partisan ends, destroy their institutional hierarchy, and politically infiltrate their ranks".<ref name="Resolution"/>
On ], ], a tank regiment under the command of Colonel ] surrounded the presidential palace (]) in a violent but unsuccessful coup attempt. That failed coup was followed by a further strike at the end of July, joined this time by the copper miners of El Teniente as well. On ], General Prats was made Minister of Defense, but this decision proved so unpopular with the military that on ] he was forced to resign not only this position but his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Army; he was replaced in the latter role by ].


It can be argued that the resolution called upon the armed forces to overthrow the government if it did not comply,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Agouborde |first=María Victoria |date=2023-08-23 |title=La Cámara de Diputados de Chile lee la resolución de 1973 que acusó de inconstitucional al Gobierno de Allende |url=https://elpais.com/chile/2023-08-23/la-camara-de-diputados-de-chile-lee-la-resolucion-de-1973-que-acuso-de-inconstitucional-al-gobierno-de-allende.html<!--English url: https://euro.eseuro.com/local/888840.html--> |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=El País Chile |language=es-CL}}</ref> as follows: "To present the President of the Republic, Ministers of State, and members of the Armed and Police Forces with the grave breakdown of the legal and constitutional order ... it is their duty to put an immediate end to all situations herein referred to that breach the Constitution and the laws of the land with the aim of redirecting government activity toward the path of Law".<ref>] on Wikisource</ref> The resolution was later used by Pinochet a way to justify the coup, which occurred two weeks later.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldberg |first=Peter A. |date=1975 |title=The Politics of the Allende Overthrow in Chile |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2148700 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=93–116 |doi=10.2307/2148700 |jstor=2148700 |issn=0032-3195}}</ref>
For some months, the government had been afraid to call upon the national police known as the ''carabineros'', for fear of their lack of loyalty. In August 1973, a constitutional crisis was clearly in the offing: the ] publicly complained about the government's inability to enforce the law of the land and on ] the ] (with the Christian Democrats now firmly uniting with the National Party) accused Allende's government of unconstitutional acts and called on the military ministers to assure the constitutional order.


===Salvador Allende's response===
*On May 26, 1973, Chile’s Supreme Court issued a unanimous resolution denouncing the Allende regime’s "disruption of the legality of the nation" by its failure to uphold judicial decisions.
On 24 August 1973, two days after the resolution, Allende responded. He accused the opposition of trying to incite a military coup by encouraging the armed forces to disobey civilian authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Affairs |first=United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Inter-American |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-20JAAAAIAAJ |title=United States and Chile During the Allende Years, 1970-1973: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives .... |date=1975 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=}}</ref> He described the Congress's declaration as "destined to damage the country's prestige abroad and create internal confusion", and predicted: "It will facilitate the seditious intention of certain sectors." He observed that the declaration (passed 81–47 in the Chamber of Deputies) had not obtained the two-thirds Senate majority "constitutionally required" to convict the president of ], thus the Congress was "invoking the intervention of the armed forces and of Order against a democratically elected government" and "subordinat political representation of national sovereignty to the armed institutions, which neither can nor ought to assume either political functions or the representation of the popular will."<ref name="La respuesta del Presidente Allende">{{in lang|es}} on Wikisource. ] on Wikisource. Retrieved 22 September 2006.</ref>


Allende argued that he had obeyed constitutional means for including military men to the cabinet at the service of civic peace and national security, defending republican institutions against insurrection and terrorism. In contrast, he said that Congress was promoting a coup d'état or a civil war with a declaration full of affirmations that had already been refuted beforehand and which in substance and process (directly handing it to the ministers rather than directly handing it to the president) violated a dozen articles of the then-current constitution. He further argued that the legislature was usurping the government's executive function.<ref name="La respuesta del Presidente Allende"/>
== The Chamber of Deputies Resolution ==


Allende wrote: "Chilean democracy is a conquest by all of the people. It is neither the work nor the gift of the exploiting classes, and it will be defended by those who, with sacrifices accumulated over generations, have imposed it ... With a tranquil conscience ... I sustain that never before has Chile had a more democratic government than that over which I have the honor to preside ... I solemnly reiterate my decision to develop democracy and a state of law to their ultimate consequences...Congress has made itself a bastion against the transformations ... and has done everything it can to perturb the functioning of the finances and of the institutions, sterilizing all creative initiatives." Adding that economic and political means would be needed to relieve the country's current crisis, and that the Congress was obstructing said means; having already paralyzed the state, they sought to destroy it. He concluded by calling upon the workers and all democrats and patriots to join him in defending the Chilean constitution and the revolutionary process.<ref name="La respuesta del Presidente Allende"/>
On ], 1973 the Christian Democrats and the National Party members of the ] passed, by 81 to 47 votes, a resolution entitled "Declaration of the Breakdown of Chile’s Democracy", which called upon the military to "put an immediate end" to what they described as "breach the Constitution... with the goal of redirecting government activity toward the path of Law and ensuring the constitutional order of our Nation and the essential underpinnings of democratic coexistence among Chileans."


==Preparations==
The resolution declared that the Allende government was seeking "...to conquer absolute power with the obvious purpose of subjecting all citizens to the strictest political and economic control by the state... the goal of establishing a totalitarian system," and claimed that it had made "violations of the Constitution" into "a permanent system of conduct." Many of the charges came down to disregarding the separation of powers and arrogating the prerogatives of both the legislature and judiciary within the executive.
In mid-July, a month before the resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, there was general agreement in the heart of the Army's high command on the desirability of terminating the Unidad Popular "experiment." How to do it was still nebulous. The constitutional generals, gathered around Army Commander-in-Chief General ], were facing pressure from an increasingly hardline anti-Allende faction within the Army. Prats had coined the idea of an Allende–Armed Forces government, including a "political peace treaty" with the Christian Democrats and restricted participation of the Chilean Communist party and a group of Socialists. Prats argued that "only thus will we prevent the extremist workers from rebelling." This idea had the support of Generals Joaquin Lagos Osorio, Herman Brady Roche, Washington Carrasco Fernandez, Hector Bravo Munoz, Mario Sepulveda Squella, Guillermo Pickering, and Orlando Urbina Herrera, but with variations. While Lagos Osorio and Urbina Herrera did not object to the Prats plan, the other five generals thought the Allende–Armed Forces government ought to be "transitional" and of "short duration," to prepare conditions for a "purely military government including the military police." The hardline faction, consisting of Generals Oscar Bonilla, ], and Javier Palacios formed another group, joined by ], which posited that the Allende–Armed Forces phase was not necessary.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rrojasdatabank.info/murder50.htm | title=The murder of Allende and the end of the Chilean way to socialism | website=The Róbinson Rojas Archive }}</ref>


==American involvement==
Among other particulars, the regime was accused of:
{{See also|U.S. intervention in Chile#1973 coup}}
{{quote box|width=25%|align=right|quote="Like ] peering into the colonies from distant Rome, Nixon said the choice of government by the Chileans was unacceptable to the president of the United States. The attitude in the White House seemed to be, "If in the wake of Vietnam I can no longer send in the Marines, then I will send in the CIA."—Senator ], 1976<ref>{{cite book|author1=Bill D. Moyers|author2=Henry Steele Commager|title=The secret government: the Constitution in crisis : with excerpts from "An essay on Water-gate"|url=https://archive.org/details/secretgovernment00moye|url-access=registration |date=December 1990|publisher=Seven Locks Press|isbn=978-0-932020-85-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|title=The Secret Government – The Constitution In Crisis -Bill Moyers (PBS 1987)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eDTcGkOJj4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211102/0eDTcGkOJj4| archive-date=2021-11-02 | url-status=live|medium=video}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}


Many people in different parts of the world immediately suspected the U.S. of foul play. In early newspaper reports, the U.S. denied any involvement or previous knowledge of the coup.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=BZGggv0hN9sC&dat=19730913&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Estados Unidos niega en forma rotunda participación en golpe|date=13 September 1973|work=La Nación|via=Google Newspapers}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Hostile Intent:U.S. Covert Operations in Chile, 1964–1974|last=Gustafson|first=Kristian|publisher=Potomac Books|year=2007|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=12, 203}}</ref> Prompted by an incriminating ''New York Times'' article, the U.S. Senate opened an investigation into U.S. interference in Chile.<ref name=":0" /> A report prepared by the ] in 2000, at the direction of the ], that echoed the ], states that: {{blockquote|1=Although CIA did not instigate the coup that ended Allende's government on 11 September 1973, it was aware of coup-plotting by the military, had ongoing intelligence collection relationships with some plotters, and—because CIA did not discourage the takeover and had sought to instigate a coup in 1970—probably appeared to condone it.}} The report stated that the CIA "actively supported the military Junta after the overthrow of Allende but did not assist Pinochet to assume the Presidency."<ref>
* ruling by decree, thus thwarting the normal system of adopting legislation
{{citation|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html|title=CIA Activities in Chile|date=18 September 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612225422/https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html|archive-date=12 June 2007|quote=To respond to Section 311 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (referred to hereafter as the Hinchey Amendment), the Intelligence Community (IC), led by the National Intelligence Council, reviewed }}</ref> After a review of recordings of telephone conversations between Nixon and ], Robert Dallek concluded that both of them used the CIA to actively destabilize the Allende government. In one particular conversation about the news of Allende's overthrow, Kissinger complained about the lack of recognition of the American role in the overthrow of a "communist" government, upon which Nixon remarked, "Well, we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one."<ref>
* refusing to enforce judicial decisions against its own partisans and "not carrying out sentences and judicial resolutions that contravene its objectives"
{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/arts/17iht-dallek.1.5318101.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all|title=Robert Dallek on Nixon and Kissinger|last=Shane|first=Scott|date=18 April 2007|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114215904/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/arts/17iht-dallek.1.5318101.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all |archive-date=14 January 2014|quote= phone call reacting to news of the 1973 coup in Chile Kissinger grumbled that American newspapers, 'instead of celebrating,' were 'bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.' 'Isn't that something?' Nixon remarked. 'In the Eisenhower period, we would be heroes,' Kissinger said. 'Well, we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one,' the president said.}}
* ignoring the decrees of the independent General Comptroller's Office
</ref> A later CIA report contended that US agents maintained close ties with the Chilean military to collect intelligence but no effort was made to assist them and "under no circumstances attempted to influence them."<ref name="CIA 2000_12">, p. 12, ], George Washington University</ref>
* various offenses related to the media, including usurping control of the National Television Network and "applying ... economic pressure against those media organizations that are not unconditional supporters of the government..."
* allowing its supporters to assemble even when armed, while preventing legal assembly by its opponents
* "...supporting more than 1,500 illegal 'takings' of farms..."
* illegal repression of the El Teniente strike
* illegally limiting emigration


{{quote box|width=25%|align=right|quote=Since Allende’s inauguration, U.S. policy has been to maintain maximum covert pressure to prevent the Allende regime’s consolidation. — ], September 16, 1973, in a memorandum to ]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve16/d145|title=145. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Colby to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)|last=Colby|first=W.E. |date=September 16, 1973 |website=] |publisher= |access-date=September 14, 2023 |quote=}}</ref>}}
The resolution finally condemned the "creation and development of government-protected armed groups which... are headed towards a confrontation with the Armed Forces." Allende's efforts to re-organize the military and police, which he could not trust in their current forms, were characterized as "notorious attempts to use the Armed and Police Forces for partisan ends, destroy their institutional hierarchy, and politically infiltrate their ranks."


Historian ] found "extensive evidence" of United States complicity in the coup. He states that its covert support was crucial to engineering the coup, as well as for the consolidation of power by the Pinochet regime following the takeover. Winn documents an extensive CIA operation to fabricate reports of a coup against Allende, as justification for the imposition of military rule.<ref name="Winn 2010 270-271"/> Peter Kornbluh asserts that the CIA destabilized Chile and helped create the conditions for the coup, citing documents declassified by the ].<ref name="The Pinochet File" /> Other authors point to the involvement of the ], agents of which allegedly secured the missiles used to bombard the ].<ref>] ''Chili, le Dossier Noir. (Chile: The Black File)'' ], ]: ], 1974, p. 87</ref>
Although this call for "redirecting government activity toward the path of Law and ensuring the constitutional order of our Nation and the essential underpinnings of democratic coexistence" was invoked to justify the ] coup, in retrospect that was clearly not the agenda of the coup.


The U.S. Government's hostility to the election of Allende in 1970 in Chile was substantiated in documents declassified during the Clinton administration, which show that CIA covert operatives were inserted in Chile in order to prevent a Marxist government from arising and for the purpose of spreading anti-Allende propaganda.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Memorandum for Mr. Henry Kissinger |publisher=United States Department of State |author=Ad Hoc Interagency Working Group on Chile |date=4 December 1970 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch20-01.htm |access-date=10 December 2007}}</ref> As described in the Church Committee report, the CIA was involved in multiple plots designed to remove Allende and then let the Chileans vote in a new election where he would not be a candidate. The first, non-military, approach involved attempting a constitutional coup. This was known as the ] approach, in which the CIA, with the approval of the ], attempted to bribe the Chilean legislature, tried to influence public opinion against Allende, and provided funding to strikes designed to coerce him into resigning. It also attempted to get congress to confirm ] as the winner of the presidential election. Alessandri, who was an accessory to the conspiracy, was ready to then resign and call for fresh elections. This approach completely failed in 1970 and was not attempted again.
== Allende responds ==


The other approach of the CIA in 1970 (but not later), also known as the ] approach, was an attempt to encourage a military coup by creating a climate of crisis across the country. A CIA telegram sent to the Chile station on 16 October 1970 stated:
Two days later (], ]), Allende responded , , characterizing Congress's declaration as "destined to damage the country's prestige abroad and create internal confusion," and predicting that "It will facilitate the seditious intention of certain sectors." He pointed out that the declaration (passed 81-47 in the Chamber of Deputies) had not obtained the two-thirds Senate majority constitutionally required to convict the president of abuse of power: essentially, they were "invoking the intervention of the Armed Forces and of Order against a democratically elected government" and "subordinat political representation of national sovereignty to the armed institutions, which neither can nor ought to assume either politicial functions or the representation of the popular will."


{{Blockquote|text=It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October but efforts in this regard will continue vigorously beyond this date. We are to continue to generate maximum pressure toward this end utilizing every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American hand be well hidden."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v21/d154|title = Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXI, Chile, 1969–1973 - Office of the Historian}}</ref>}}
Allende argued that he had followed constitutional means in bringing members of the military into the cabinet "at the service of civic peace and national security, defending republican institutions against insurrection and terrorism." In contrast, he said that Congress was promoting a coup or a civil war, using a declaration "full of affirmations that had already been refuted beforehand" and which, in substance and process (handing it directly to the various ministers rather than delivering it to the president) violated a dozen articles of the then-current constitution. Further, he argued that the legislature was trying to usurp the executive role.


] operatives contacted senior Chilean military officers and informed them that the U.S. would actively support a coup, but would revoke all military aid if such a coup did not happen.<ref name="The Pinochet File">{{cite book|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|title=The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability|year=2003|publisher=The New Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-56584-936-5}}</ref> In addition, the CIA gave extensive support for ] against Allende, channeled mostly through '']''. Financial assistance was also given to Allende's political opponents, and for organizing strikes and unrest to destabilize the government. By 1970, the U.S. manufacturing company ] owned 70% of Chitelco (the Chilean Telephone Company), and also funded ''El Mercurio''. The CIA used ITT as a means of disguising the source of the illegitimate funding Allende's opponents received.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#17 |title=U.S. Dept. of State FOIA Electronic Reading Room – Hinchey Report (CIA Activities in Chile) |publisher=Foia.state.gov |access-date=19 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110606/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#17 |archive-date=20 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/30/world/edward-korry-81-is-dead-falsely-tied-to-chile-coup.html?pagewanted=1|work=The New York Times|title=Edward Korry, 81, Is Dead; Falsely Tied to Chile Coup|first= David|last=Stout|date=30 January 2003|access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref><ref>. '']'' 10 September 2013.</ref> On 28 September 1973, the ] bombed ITT's headquarters in New York City in retaliation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0815FA3554137A93CBAB1782D85F478785F9|work=The New York Times|date=29 September 1973|access-date=20 April 2010|title=I.T.T. OFFICE HERE DAMAGED BY BOMB; Caller Linked Explosion at Latin-American Section to 'Crimes in Chile' I.T.T. Latin-American Office on Madison Ave. Damaged by Bomb Fire in Rome Office Bombing on the Coast Rally the Opponents|first=Paul L.|last=Montgomery}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ayers |first1=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2OJhrWo6PcC&dq=itt+bomb+1973&pg=PT257 |title=Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiques of the Weather Underground 1970-1974 |last2=Dohrn |first2=Bernardine |last3=Jones |first3=Jeff |date=2011-01-04 |publisher=Seven Stories Press |isbn=978-1-58322-965-1 |pages=257 |language=en}}</ref>
"Chilean democracy," Allende wrote, "is a conquest by all of the people. It is neither the work nor the gift of the exploiting classes, and it will be defended by those who, with sacrifices accumulated over generations, have imposed it... With a tranquil conscience... I sustain that never before has Chile had a more democratic government than that over which I have the honor to preside... I solemnly reiterate my decision to develop democracy and a state of law to their ultimate consequences... Parliament has made itself a bastion against the transformations... and has done everything it can to perturb the functioning of the finances and of the institutions, sterilizing all creative initiatives."


According to an article written by lifelong CIA operative ], although it was widely reported that the CIA was directly involved in orchestrating and carrying out the coup, subsequently released sources suggest a much reduced role of the US government.<ref>Jack Devine & Peter Kornbluh, 'Showdown in Santiago: What Really Happened in Chile?', Foreign Affairs 93 (2014), 168-174.</ref>
Allende went on to argue that the parliamentarians used the expression ''Estado de derecho'' ("]") to refer to "a situation which presupposes economic and social injustice... which our people have rejected." Strong economic and political means, he said, would be needed to get the country out of its current crisis, and Congress was obstructing these means; having already "paralyzed" the state, they were now seeking to "destroy" it.


==Military action==
Allende concluded by calling upon "the workers, all democrats and patriots" to join him in defense of the constitution and of the "revolutionary process."
{{more citations needed|section|date=September 2018}}<!--first 3 paragraphs have no citations-->
By 6:00&nbsp;am on 11 September 1973, a date chosen to match a historical ], the Navy captured ], strategically stationing ships and marine infantry in the central coast and closed radio and television networks. The Province Prefect informed President Allende of the Navy's actions; immediately, the president went to the ] (La Moneda) with his bodyguards, the "]" (GAP).<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Ensalaco |first=Mark |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhg49 |title=Chile Under Pinochet: Recovering the Truth |date=2000 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |jstor=j.ctt3fhg49 |isbn=978-0-8122-3520-3}}</ref> By 8:00&nbsp;am, the Army had closed most radio and television stations in Santiago city, one of the first acts of the coup. By 8.30 a.m. both the carabineros and military broadcast their first edict, which would present a unified front that wanted Allende disposed. This edict declared that Allende would surrender his office to them and the carabineros and armed forces were a unified front that have tasked themselves with protecting Chile “from falling beneath the Marxist yoke.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ensalaco |first=Mark |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhg49 |title=Chile Under Pinochet: Recovering the Truth |date=2000 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |jstor=j.ctt3fhg49 |isbn=978-0-8122-3520-3}}</ref> By 9 a.m. the only loyalist broadcast still in control of its station was Radio Magallens, operated by the Chilean Communist Party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spener |first=David |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1kft8ff |title=We Shall Not Be Moved/No nos moverán: Biography of a Song of Struggle |date=2016 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-4399-1297-3 |pages=17–26|jstor=j.ctt1kft8ff }}</ref> The Air Force bombed the remaining active stations and the President received incomplete information that convinced him that only a sector of the Navy conspired against him and his government.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Laborde |first=Antonia |date=2023-09-11 |title=Minuto a minuto: así fue el golpe militar del 11 de septiembre de 1973 en Chile |url=https://elpais.com/chile/2023-09-11/minuto-a-minuto-asi-fue-el-golpe-militar-del-11-de-septiembre-de-1973-en-chile.html |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=El País Chile |language=es-CL}}</ref>


President Allende and Defense Minister ] were unable to communicate with military leaders. Orlando Letelier would be arrested by the military when he reached the Defense Ministry. Following this, he would be imprisoned, then exiled and assassinated in Washington D.C. on 21 September 1976.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffitt {{!}} Forging Memory |url=https://www.forgingmemory.org/narrative/assassination-orlando-letelier-and-ronnie-moffitt |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.forgingmemory.org |language=en}}</ref> There is evidence that his assassination was ordered by Pinochet. Admiral Montero, the Navy's commander and an Allende loyalist, was rendered incommunicado; his telephone service was cut, and his cars were sabotaged before the ''coup d'état'', to ensure he could not thwart the opposition. Leadership of the Navy was transferred to ], planner of the ''coup d'état'' and executive officer to Adm. Montero. ], General of the Army, and ], General of the Air Force, did not answer Allende's telephone calls to them. The General Director of the ''Carabineros'' (uniformed police), ], and the head of the Investigations Police (plain clothes detectives), ] answered Allende's calls and immediately went to the ''La Moneda'' presidential palace.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Steenland |first=Kyle |date=1974 |title=The Coup in Chile |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2633976 |journal=Latin American Perspectives |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=9–29 |issn=0094-582X |jstor=2633976}}</ref> Despite evidence that all branches of the Chilean armed forces were involved in the coup, Allende hoped that some units remained loyal to the government. Allende was convinced of Pinochet's loyalty, telling a reporter that the ''coup d'état'' leaders must have imprisoned the general. Only at 8:30&nbsp;am, when the armed forces declared their control of Chile and that Allende was deposed, did the president grasp the magnitude of the military's rebellion. Despite the lack of any military support, Allende refused to resign his office.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Devine |first=Jack |date=2014 |title=What Really Happened in Chile: The CIA, the Coup Against Allende, and the Rise of Pinochet |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24483554 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=26–35 |jstor=24483554 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref><ref name=":7" />
== Military coup of 1973 ==
]


At approx. 9:00 the ] left the building.<ref>{{cite web
General Pinochet came to power in a military ] on ], ], in which rebels bombed the ] with British-made ] fighter jets. Allende and some of his aides were besieged in the palace. Allende refused to surrender, and addressed the nation for a last time in a potent ]. During this coup, Allende died. The junta officially declared that he committed suicide with a machine gun (generally presumed to be the machine gun given to him by Fidel Castro), and an autopsy labelled his death as suicide. This explanation has been widely accepted, even by members of his own party and family, after decades of silence and pointing to the Military. This (now) general acceptance is based on statements given by two doctors from the La Moneda Palace infirmary: Patricio Guijón, who made a statement at the time, and José Quiroga who confirmed it many years later. (Some sources misattribute these statements to "Allende's personal doctor"; that would be Enrique Paris Roa, who does not appear to have made such a statement.) However some still insist he was murdered by Pinochet's military forces while defending the palace. , , , , , ,
|url=http://diario.latercera.com/2013/09/07/01/contenido/reportajes/25-145786-9-el-balcon-del-adios.shtml
|title=El balcón del adiós &#124; Reportajes
|publisher=La Tercera Edición Impresa
|access-date=7 September 2013
|archive-date=29 April 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429004202/http://diario.latercera.com/2013/09/07/01/contenido/reportajes/25-145786-9-el-balcon-del-adios.shtml
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> By 9:00&nbsp;am, the armed forces controlled Chile, except for the city centre of the capital, Santiago. Originally, the military had planned to arrest Allende at his residence but he had made it to ''La Moneda,'' the presidential palace''.'' There, Allende refused to surrender, despite the military's declaring they would bomb the ''La Moneda'' if he resisted being deposed. The military would turn to negotiating with Allende where they would offer to fly him and his family out of Chile, which Allende would refuse. <ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=CHILE'S COUP at 50 Countdown Toward a Coup {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2023-09-08/chiles-coup-50-countdown-toward-coup |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}</ref> The Socialist Party along with his Cuban advisors proposed to Allende that he escape to the San Joaquín industrial zone in southern Santiago, to later re-group and lead a counter-''coup d'état''; the president rejected the proposition. According to Tanya Harmer, Allende's refusal to lead an insurgency against the coup is evidence of his unrelenting desire to bring about change through non-violent methods.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Allende's Chile and the Inter-American Cold War|last=Harmer|first=Tanya|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8078-3495-4|editor-last=Odd Arne Westad|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA|pages=11}}</ref> The military attempted more negotiations with Allende, but the President refused to resign, citing his constitutional duty to remain in office. Finally, at 9:10 &nbsp;am, Allende gave a ], telling the nation of the ''coup d'état'' and his refusal to resign his elected office under threat.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Allende Years and the Pinochet Coup, 1969–1973 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/allende |website=Office of the Historian}}</ref> <ref name=":2" />


Leigh ordered the presidential palace bombed but was told the Air Force's ] jet aircraft would take forty minutes to arrive from their base at ]. Pinochet ordered an armoured and infantry force under General Sergio Arellano to advance upon the ''La Moneda'' presidential palace. When the troops moved forward, they were forced to retreat after coming under fire from GAP snipers perched on rooftops. General Arellano called for helicopter gunship support from the commander of the Chilean Army Puma helicopter squadron and the troops were able to advance again.<ref>La misión era matar: el juicio a la caravana Pinochet-Arellano, By Jorge Escalante Hidalgo, Page 43, ], 2000</ref> Chilean Air Force aircraft soon arrived to provide close air support for the assault (by bombing the Palace), but the defenders did not surrender until nearly 2:30&nbsp;pm.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FewtAAAAIBAJ&pg=7165,1410181&dq |title=ROME NEWS TRIBUNE Sep 11, 1973 |date=11 September 1973 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> Allende's Cuban-trained guard would have had about 300 elite commando-trained GAP fighters at the time of the coup, according to a book of 2005 by ],<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Haslam|title=The Nixon Administration and the Death of Allende's Chile: A Case of Assisted Suicide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBcDJ34AJGMC&pg=PA64|year=2005|publisher=Verso|isbn=978-1-84467-030-7|page=64}}</ref> but the use of brute military force, especially the use of Hawker Hunters, may have handicapped many GAP fighters from further action. Which was the case of some GAP members during the Hawker Hunters attack against Allende's residence in Tomás Moro.<ref name="ferrada-noli.blogspot.com">{{cite web |last=Carvallo |first=Mauricio |date=September 1999 |title=El Regreso de los GAP – La Vida por Salvador Allende. |url=https://www.gap-chile.org/nuestros-martires/ |access-date=7 September 2023 |website=Salvador Allende GAP. Aporte a la memoria histórica. |publisher=Dispositivo de Seguridad del Presidente Salvador Allende}}</ref>
Initially there were four leaders of the ]: in addition to Pinochet from the Army, there were ] of the Air Force, ] of the Navy, and ] of the National Police (''Carabineros de Chile''). Coup leaders soon decided against a rotating presidency and named Pinochet permanent head of the junta.


Allende would be found in his inner office dead, from a self inflicted bullet wound done between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m.<ref name=":3" /> Prior to Allende's suicide, he addressed the nation one final time and stated hope for Chile in the future and wishing for the people to stay strong willed and overcome the darkness. In his own words he said: "Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened through which will pass free men to construct a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!"<ref>{{cite web |title=Document #28: 'Final Speech,' Salvador Allende (1973) |url=https://library.brown.edu/create/modernlatinamerica/chapters/chapter-10-chile/primary-documents-w-accompanying-discussion-questions/document-25-final-speech-by-salvador-allende-1973/ |website=Modern Latin America, 8th Edition Companion Website |publisher=Brown University Library |access-date=January 17, 2024}}</ref>
]


Pinochet's rule would officially begin at 2:30 p.m. 11 September 1973.<ref name=":8" />
Pinochet moved to solidify his control against any opposition. On ], the junta dissolved the Congress. The ] was used as a ] holding 40,000 prisoners. Approximately 130,000 individuals were arrested in a three-year period, with the number of dead and "disappeared" reaching into the thousands within the first few months. Most of the people targeted had been supporters of Allende; the September 13 decree also outlawed the parties that had been part of Popular Unity, and all political activity was declared "in recess".


==Casualties==
In the book in which he recounts the coup (''El Día decisivo''), Pinochet affirms that he was the leading plotter of the coup and used his position as Commander of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme that was coordinated with the other branches of the military. In recent years, however, high military officials from the time have said that Pinochet only reluctantly got involved in the coup a few days before it was scheduled to occur.
] were used as a detention and torture center after the coup.]]
According to official reports prepared after the return of democracy, at La Moneda only two people died: President Allende and the journalist Augusto Olivares (both by suicide). Two more were injured, Antonio Aguirre and Osvaldo Ramos, both members of President Allende's entourage; they would later be allegedly kidnapped from the hospital and disappeared. In November 2006, the Associated Press noted that more than 15 ]s and aides were taken from the palace during the coup and are still unaccounted for; in 2006 Augusto Pinochet ] for two of their deaths.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=] |website=] |url=http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=169298 |title=Pinochet indicted for deaths of Allende bodyguards, put under house arrest |date=27 November 2006 |accessdate=11 December 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/01/chile-court-upholds-pinochet-bail-in.php |title=Chile court upholds Pinochet bail in one case, removes immunity in another |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307013833/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/01/chile-court-upholds-pinochet-bail-in.php |archive-date=7 March 2008 |date=11 January 2006 |language=en |url-status=dead |website=jurist.law.pitt.edu}}</ref>


On the military side, there were 34 deaths: two army ]s, three army ]s, four ], two navy lieutenants, one navy corporal, four naval cadets, three navy conscripts and fifteen carabineros.<ref>{{cite web |title=Martires y Victimas de la Unidad Popular |first=Juan Alvaro |last=Arce |url=http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/1687/History_Chile_1970-73/martires.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018192607/http://geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/1687/History_Chile_1970-73/martires.html |archive-date=18 October 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=15 August 2009}}</ref> In mid-September, the Chilean military junta claimed its troops suffered another 16 dead and 100 injured by gunfire in mopping-up operations against Allende supporters, and Pinochet said: "sadly there are still some armed groups who insist on attacking, which means that the military rules of wartime apply to them."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nRMyAAAAIBAJ&pg=2709,16507&dq |title=Chile wars armed civilians. |work=] |date=17 September 1973 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> A press photographer also died in the crossfire while attempting to cover the event. On 23 October 1973, 23-year-old army corporal Benjamín Alfredo Jaramillo Ruz, who was serving with the ''Cazadores'', became the first fatal casualty of the counterinsurgency operations in the mountainous area of Alquihue in Valdivia after being shot by a sniper.<ref>Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación", Volume I, Page 441, Santiago, Chile, 1991. (SM, V, Chro)</ref> The Chilean Army suffered 12 killed in various clashes with MIR guerrillas and GAP fighters in October 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.despiertachile.cl/2001/agosto/hojasagosto/edicion2.htm |title=Mártires De Las Ff.Aa., De Orden Y Seguridad |date=11 April 2008 |access-date=19 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411012053/http://www.despiertachile.cl/2001/agosto/hojasagosto/edicion2.htm |archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref>
Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the Junta (originally agreed to be rotated among all members), and he was proclaimed the President of the Republic. In October ], at least 70 people were killed by the ] (''Caravana de la Muerte'').


While fatalities in the battle during the coup might have been relatively small, the Chilean security forces sustained 162 dead in the three following months as a result of continued resistance,<ref name="books.google.co.uk">{{cite book|author=Robert L. Scheina|title=Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900–2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FojnWy7_RN4C|date=2003|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-57488-452-4}}</ref> and tens of thousands of people were arrested during the coup and held in the National Stadium.<ref>{{cite report |first=Alex |last=Wilde |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030212124341/http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/view_ff_report_detail.cfm?report_index=384 |url=http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/view_ff_report_detail.cfm?report_index=384 |archive-date=2003-02-12 |title=In Chile, a New Generation Revisits Haunted Space |work=] Report |issue=Winter 2003 |accessdate=11 December 2006}}</ref> An estimated 40,000 Chileans were tortured under the Pinochet regime in the years following the coup.<ref>{{cite web |last=Fison |first=Maryrose |date=2013-09-12 |title=Chileans honor those tortured, killed after 1973 military coup |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2013-sep-12-la-fg-wn-chile-military-coup-anniversary-20130912-story.html |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=Los Angeles Times }}</ref>
== U.S. role in 1973 coup ==
]
{{main|U.S. intervention in Chile}}


==Allende's death==
While U.S. government hostility to the Allende regime is unquestioned, the U.S. role in the coup itself remains a controversial matter. Documents declassified during the ] show that the ] government and the ] had sought the overthrow of Allende in 1970, immediately after he took office ("]"; ''U.S. efforts to prevent Allende taking office in 1970 are discussed in ]''), but claims of their direct involvement in the actual coup are neither proven nor contradicted by publicly available documentary evidence; many potentially relevant documents still remain classified. Regarding Pinochet's rise to power, the CIA undertook a comprehensive analysis of its records and individual memoirs as well as conducting interviews with former agents, and concluded in a report issued in 2000 that the CIA "did not assist Pinochet to assume the Presidency."
{{Main|Death of Salvador Allende}}
President Allende died in La Moneda during the coup. The junta officially declared that he committed suicide with a rifle given to him by Fidel Castro, two doctors from the infirmary of La Moneda stated that they witnessed the suicide,<ref>{{cite web |first=Ronald |last=Hilton |authorlink=Ronald Hilton |url=http://wais.stanford.edu/Chile/chile_conflict.html |title=Chile: The Continuing Historical Conflict |publisher=] |date=22 December 1997 |accessdate=22 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061026205854/http://wais.stanford.edu/Chile/chile_conflict.html }}</ref> and an autopsy labelled Allende's death a suicide. Vice Admiral Patricio Carvajal, one of the primary instigators of the coup, claimed that "Allende committed suicide and is dead now."<ref>{{cite web |title=Patricio Carvajal Prado |date=2015 |website=Memoria Viva |url=https://www.memoriaviva.com/criminales/criminales_c/carvajal_prado_patricio.htm}}</ref> Patricio Guijon, one of the president's doctors, had testified to witnessing Allende shoot himself under the chin with the rifle while seated on a sofa.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Rory |title=Exhumation fails to end mystery over death of Salvador Allende |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:531F-86C1-JCDH-0208-00000-00 |access-date=25 September 2018 |newspaper=The Observer |date=5 June 2011}}</ref>


At the time, few of Allende's supporters believed the explanation that Allende had killed himself.<ref>{{cite book |first=Róbinson |last=Rojas |url=http://www.rrojasdatabank.info/murder.htm |title=The murder of Allende and the end of the Chilean way to socialism |publisher=], ] |year=1975 |via=RRojasDatabank.info}}</ref> Allende's body was exhumed in May 2011. The exhumation was requested by members of the Allende family, including his daughter Isabel who viewed the question of her father's death as "an insult to scientific intelligence." A scientific autopsy was performed, and the autopsy team delivered a unanimous finding on 19 July 2011 that Allende committed suicide using an ] rifle.<ref name="ak-47">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/20/salvador-allende-committed-suicide-autopsy |title=Chilean president Salvador Allende committed suicide, autopsy confirms |work=] |date=2011-07-20}}</ref> The team was composed of international forensic experts to assure an independent evaluation.
The CIA was notified by contacts of the impending Pinochet coup two days in advance, but contends it "played no direct role in" the coup. On ] ], after Pinochet had assumed power, the following exchange about the coup took place between U.S. ] ] and ] ]:


However, on 31 May 2011, Chile's state television station reported that a top-secret military account of Allende's death had been discovered in the home of a former military justice official. The 300-page document was found only when the house was destroyed in the ]. After reviewing the report, two forensic experts told ] "that they are inclined to conclude that Allende was assassinated."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/science/articles/2011/05/31/chile_tv_secret_report_suggests_allende_murdered/|title=Chile TV: Secret report suggests Allende murdered|last1=Vegara|first1=Eva|date=31 May 2011|work=]|access-date=2018-08-03 |publisher=] |last2=Warren|first2=Michael}}</ref> Two forensics experts said they believed he was shot with a small-calibre weapon prior to the AK-47. One expert, Luis Ravanal, noted the lack of blood on his collar, sweater and throat suggested someone else fired the AK-47 when he was already dead.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Rory |title=Exhumation fails to end mystery over death of Salvador Allende |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:531F-86C1-JCDH-0208-00000-00 |access-date=26 September 2018 |newspaper=] |date=5 June 2011}}</ref>
: Nixon: Nothing new of any importance or is there?
: Kissinger: Nothing of very great consequence. The Chilean thing is getting consolidated and of course the newspapers are bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.
: Nixon: Isn't that something. Isn't that something.
: Kissinger: I mean instead of celebrating – in the Eisenhower period we would be heroes.
: Nixon: Well we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one though.
: Kissinger: We didn't do it. I mean we helped them. created the conditions as great as possible.
: Nixon: That is right. And that is the way it is going to be played.


Allende's widow and family escaped the military government and were accepted for exile in Mexico, where they remained for 17 years.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=BZGggv0hN9sC&dat=19730914&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Mexico dio asilo a la viuda de Allende|date=14 September 1973|work=La Nacion|via=Google Newspapers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/25/obituary-hortensia-bussi-de-allende|title=Hortensia Bussi de Allende |last=Gott |first=Richard|date=24 June 2009|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2017-02-05}}</ref>
Immediately after the Allende government came into office, the U.S. sought to place economic pressure on Chile. ] documents, later ordered released by U.S. President ] , include decision memorandum no. 93, dated ], ], written by Kissinger and addressed to the heads of diplomatic, defense and intelligence departments. This document stated that pressure should be placed on the Allende government to prevent its consolidation and limit its ability to implement policies contrary to U.S. and hemispheric interests, such as Allende's total nationalization of several foreign corporations and the copper industry. Specifically, Nixon directed that no new bilateral economic aid commitments be undertaken with the government of Chile .


==Aftermath==
Between 1964 and 1970 (under Frei), over USD $1 billion in economic assistance flowed in; during the Allende's tenure (1970-73) disbursements were non-existent or negligible . The reduction in aid combined with the fall in the value of copper from a 1970 high of $66 to a low of $48 per ton, which undermined Allende's proposed restructuring of the Chilean economy. As the program was dependent on government spending, this caused a decline in the socioeconomic circumstances of Chile's poorest citizens.
===Installing a new regime===
{{Main|Government Junta of Chile (1973)}}
]]]


On 13 September, the Junta dissolved Congress,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/chile/story/0,,1033575,00.html |title=Junta general names himself as new President of Chile |work=] |date=14 September 1973 |first=Richard |last=Gott |authorlink=Richard Gott}}</ref> outlawed the parties that had been part of the Popular Unity coalition, and all political activity was declared "in recess".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/countries/Chile/profile.cfm?folder=History+in+brief |title=Economist.com – Country Briefings: Chile |newspaper=] |date=2 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702045239/http://www.economist.com/countries/Chile/profile.cfm?folder=History+in+brief |archive-date=2 July 2008}}</ref> The military government took control of all media, including the radio broadcasting that Allende attempted to use to give his final speech to the nation. It is not known how many Chileans actually heard the last words of Allende as he spoke them, but a transcript and audio of the speech survived the military government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/allende/1973/september/11.htm|title=Salvador Allende: Last speech |website=www.marxists.org |access-date=2016-05-01}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=La Prensa Chilena En La Encrucijada: Entre La Voz Monocorde Y La Revolución Digital|last=M. Baltra|first=Lidia|publisher=]|year=2012}}</ref> Chilean scholar Lidia M. Baltra details how the military took control of the media platforms and turned them into their own "propaganda machine".<ref name=":1" /> The only two newspapers that were allowed to continue publishing after the military takeover were ''El Mercurio'' and ''La Tercera de la Hora'', both of which were anti-Allende under his leadership.<ref name=":1" /> The dictatorship's silencing of the leftist point of view extended past the media and into "every discourse that expressed any resistance to the regime".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cucurella |first=Paula|date=2014|title=A Weak Force: On the Chilean Dictatorship and Visual Arts |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/539218 |journal=The New Centennial Review|volume=14|issue=1|pages=99–127 |doi=10.14321/crnewcentrevi.14.1.0099|s2cid=144977347}}</ref> An example of this is the torturing and death of folk singer ]. The military government detained Jara in the days following the coup. He, along with many other leftists, were held in Estadio Nacional, or the National Stadium of Chile in the capital of Santiago. Initially, the Junta tried to silence him by crushing his hands, but ultimately, he was murdered.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Murder of Chile: Eyewitness Accounts of the Coup, the Terror, and the Resistance Today |last=Chavkin|first=Samuel |publisher=Everest House Publishers|year=1973|location=New York |pages=208–236}}</ref> Immediately after the coup the military sought television host ] to have him report on the events. Don Francisco declined the offer, encouraging the captain that had approached him to take the role of reporter himself.<ref>{{cite news |last=Contreras |first=Emilio |date=13 July 2017 |title=Don Francisco contó desconocido episodio vivido el día después al golpe de Estado de 1973 |url=http://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/espectaculos-y-tv/tv/2017/07/13/don-francisco-conto-desconocido-episodio-vivido-el-dia-despues-al-golpe-de-estado-de-1973.shtml |work=] |access-date=9 December 2017|language=es}}</ref>
U.S. officials ordered measures up to and including support for a potential coup to prevent Allende from taking office, although there are conflicting views as to whether the U.S. later pulled back from this position. That the U.S. planned a potential coup in Chile is evident in a secret cable from Thomas Karamessines, the CIA Deputy Director of Plans, to the Santiago CIA station, dated ], ], after the election but before Allende's inauguration. "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup ... it is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American hand be well hidden" .


Initially, there were four leaders of the junta: In addition to General Augusto Pinochet, from the Army, there were General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán, of the Air Force; Admiral José Toribio Merino Castro, of the Navy (who replaced Constitutionalist Admiral ]); and General Director ], of the National Police (''Carabineros de Chile'') (who replaced Constitutionalist General Director José María Sepúlveda). Coup leaders soon decided against a rotating presidency and named General Pinochet permanent head of the junta which would establish a seventeen year long civil-military dictatorship.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Faúndez Abarca |first1=Ximena |last2=Bravo Vidal |first2=Diego |last3=Gamboa Morales |first3=Dahiana |date=September 2023 |title=Women's Memories of the Day of the Chilean Coup in the City of Valparaíso |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605231168815 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |language=en |volume=38 |issue=17–18 |pages=9613–9640 |doi=10.1177/08862605231168815 |pmid=37162191 |issn=0886-2605}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#18
Once it became clear that Allende had won a plurality of the votes in 1970, the CIA proposed two plans. Track I was designed to persuade the Chilean Congress, through outgoing ] President ], to confirm conservative runner-up ] as president. Alessandri would resign shortly after, rendering Frei eligible to run against Allende in new elections. However, Track I was dropped, because Frei, despite being firmly anti-Allende, was also adamantly opposed to going against Chile's longstanding democratic traditions.
|title=Hinchey Report on CIA Activities in Chile |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110606/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp#18 |archivedate=20 October 2009 |date=18 September 2000}}</ref>


In the months that followed the coup, the ''junta'', with authoring work by historian ] and Admiral Patricio Carvajal, published a book titled ''El Libro Blanco del cambio de gobierno en Chile'' (commonly known as ''El Libro Blanco'', "The White Book of the Change of Government in Chile"), where they attempted to justify the coup by claiming that they were in fact anticipating a self-coup (the alleged '']'', or Plan Z) that Allende's government or its associates were purportedly preparing. Historian ] states that the ] had an extensive part to play in fabricating the conspiracy and in selling it to the press, both in Chile and internationally.<ref name="Winn 2010 270-271"/> Although later discredited and officially recognized as the product of political propaganda,<ref name="Valech1">{{cite book |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050520040544/http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/comision_valech/pdf/Capitulo3.pdf |url=http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/comision_valech/pdf/Capitulo3.pdf |url-status=dead |title=Comisión Nacional sobre Prisión Política y Tortura |chapter=III Contexto |publisher=] |archive-date=2005-05-20}}</ref> Gonzalo Vial has pointed to the similarities between the alleged Plan Z and other existing paramilitary plans of the Popular Unity parties in support of its legitimacy.<ref>{{cite news|last=Vial Correa|first=Gonzalo|title=Carlos Altamirano, el Plan Z y la "Operación Blanqueo" |newspaper=La Segunda|date=23 September 2003}}</ref>
The CIA had also drawn up a second plan, Track II, in case Track I failed. The agency would find generals willing to prevent Allende from assuming the presidency and provide them with support for a coup. Presumably, a provisional military junta could then call new elections in which Allende could be defeated.


A document from September 13 shows that ] was by then already tasked to study the creation of ].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Los informes secretos de la CIA sobre Jaime Guzmán |url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2013/11/05/los-informes-secretos-de-la-cia-sobre-jaime-guzman/|last=Basso Prieto |first=Carlos|date=2013-11-05|access-date=2021-09-29|work=]}}</ref> One of the first measures of the dictatorship was to set up a Secretaría Nacional de la Juventud (SNJ, National Youth Office). This was done on 28 October 1973, even before the Declaration of Principles of the junta made in March 1974. This was a way of mobilizing sympathetic elements of the civil society in support for the dictatorship.<ref name=Yanko2015>{{cite journal |last1=González |first1=Yanko |date=2015 |title=El "Golpe Generacional" y la Secretaría Nacional de la Juventud: purga, disciplinamiento y resocialización de las identidades juveniles bajo Pinochet (1973–1980) |journal=] |volume=512 |issue=512 |pages=87–111 |doi=10.4067/S0718-04622015000200006|language=es |trans-title=The "Generational Putsch" and the National youth Office: Purge, disciplining and resocialization of youth identities under Pinochet (1973–1980) |doi-access=free }}</ref>
The agency came into contact with General ], who was planning a coup with loyal military officers. An important part of Viaux's plan was to kidnap Chilean Army Chief of Staff General ], who, as a constitutionalist, was opposed to the idea of a coup from a historically apolitical military. The CIA maintained contact with Viaux, but eventually decided against supporting his plot, instead looking for other generals willing to take part in a coup. About the Viaux situation, Kissinger said to Nixon on ], ], "This looks hopeless. I turned it off. Nothing would be worse than an abortive coup."


===Continued violence===
However, on ], Viaux went ahead with his plan, which was badly botched. Gen. Schneider drew a handgun to protect himself from his attackers, who in turn drew their guns and shot him in four vital areas; he was pronounced dead in ]'s military hospital. The event provoked national outrage. As far as American involvement, the ], which investigated U.S. involvement in Chile during this period, determined that the weapons used in the debacle "were, in all probability, not those supplied by the CIA to the conspirators."
{{See also|Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)}}
In the first months after the ''coup d'état,'' the military killed thousands of Chilean leftists, both real and suspected, or forced their "]". The military imprisoned 40,000 political enemies in the ]; among the tortured and killed '']'' (disappeared) were the U.S. citizens ] and ].<ref name = nsaebb33/> In October 1973, the Chilean songwriter ] was murdered, along with 70 other people in a series of killings perpetrated by the death squad ] (''Caravana de la Muerte'').


The government arrested some 130,000 people in a three-year period;<ref name=torture/><ref>{{cite web |title=Chile Issues Report on Pinochet Torture &#124; Article from AP Online &#124; HighBeam Research |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-102284469.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512100125/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-102284469.html |archive-date=12 May 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=11 April 2009 }}</ref> the dead and disappeared numbered thousands in the first months of the military government. In Valparaiso, it is estimated that there were 6,918 victims of political capturing and torture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Faúndez Abarca |first1=Ximena |last2=Bravo Vidal |first2=Diego |last3=Gamboa Morales |first3=Dahiana |date=2023-09-01 |title=Women's Memories of the Day of the Chilean Coup in the City of Valparaíso |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08862605231168815 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |language=en |volume=38 |issue=17–18 |pages=9613–9640 |doi=10.1177/08862605231168815 |pmid=37162191 |issn=0886-2605}}</ref>] Those include the British physician ], who survived to publicize in the UK the human rights violations in Chile.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/03/pinochet.chile13|work=] |location=London |title=Right rejoices as general's foes vow to keep up fight|first=Ewen|last=MacAskill|date=3 March 2000|access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref> Among those detained was ] (father of future Chilean President ]), an ] official; he was tortured and died on 12 March 1974,<ref name="pbs_president_elect">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june06/chile_1-25.html |title=Chile's President-Elect |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=19 November 2011 |archive-date=23 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223075259/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june06/chile_1-25.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="alertnet_Bachelet">{{cite web |url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14386234.htm |title=Chile's Bachelet visits site of her own torture |publisher=Alertnet.org |date=6 November 2011 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13131 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070807073814/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13131 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 August 2007 |title=Chile: The Good Democracy? |publisher=Zmag.org |access-date=19 November 2011 }}</ref> the right-wing newspaper, '']'',<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news |last=Pérez de Arce |first=Hermógenes |title=Michelle Bachelet, ¿quién es realmente usted? |work=] |date=15 January 2006}}</ref> reported that Mr Bachelet died after a basketball game, citing his poor cardiac health. Michelle Bachelet and her mother were imprisoned and tortured in the ] detention and torture centre on 10 January 1975.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6052364.stm |title=Chile head revisits torture site |work=BBC News |date=15 October 2006 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2006/1027chargedgold.htm |title=Chile's Pinochet Charged for Torture, Probed over Gold |publisher=Globalpolicy.org |date=27 October 2006 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/14/AR2006101401393.html |title=Chile Leader Visits Site of Her Torture |newspaper=] |date=14 October 2006 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-01-20-pinochet_x.htm |title=Pinochet stripped of immunity in torture, kidnapping cases |work=USA Today |date=20 January 2006 |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref>
There is no evidence that the U.S. directly backed Pinochet's successful coup in 1973, but the Nixon administration was undoubtedly pleased with the outcome; Nixon had spoken with disappointment about the failed coup earlier that year. Had Allende managed to complete his six-year term, the CIA would likely have simply provided funds and propaganda support to a non-Marxist opponent, as it had done in 1964 and 1970.


The newspaper '']'' published on its front page a photograph showing prisoners at ] Camp who had been captured during the fighting in ]. The photograph's caption stated that some of the detained were "local bosses" of ]" while others were "extremists who had attacked the armed forces with firearms". The photo was reproduced 2013 in ],<ref name="wordpress1">{{cite web |last=Diario La Tercera |first=Chile |date=6 October 1973 |title=Los presos en la Quiriquina |url=https://theindicter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Los-presos-en-la-quiriquina.-Translated-caption-1536x1479.png |access-date=5 September 2023 |website=The Indicter |publication-place=Stockholm, Sweden |publication-date=13 October 2018}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> identifying among the 'local bosses' Fernando Alvarez, then Concepción Province's head authority appointed by Allende (executed one month thereafter); and among the fighting 'extremists', ], one founder of ] and then professor at the ].<ref name="personal-testimony"/>
The U.S. did provide material support to the military regime after the coup, although it criticized them in public.
A document released by the U.S. ] (CIA) in 2000 titled "CIA Activities in Chile" revealed that the CIA actively supported the military junta after the overthrow of Allende and that it made many of Pinochet's officers into paid contacts of the CIA or U.S. military, even though some were known to be involved in human rights abuses . The CIA's publicly announced policies on paid informants have since been modified to exclude those involved in such abuses, but at the time they were evaluated on a case-by-case basis and measured with the value of the information they provided.


This is consistent with reports in newspapers and broadcasts in Concepción about the activities of the Armed Forces, which mentioned clashes with "extremists" on several occasions from 11 to 14 September. Nocturnal skirmishes took place around the Hotel Alonso de Ercilla in Colo Colo and San Martín Street, one block away from the Army and military police administrative headquarters. A recently published testimony about the clashes in Concepción offers several plausible explanations for the reticence of witnesses to these actions.<ref>Ferrada de Noli Marcello (2021), Fighting Pinochet. Libertarian Books Europe, Stockholm / Bergamo. ISBN 978-91-88747-00-6. https://libertarianbooks.eu/2021/05/20/fighting-pinochet/ / https://archive.org/details/fighting-pinochet/Fighting%20Pinochet%20/</ref><ref name="personal-testimony">{{cite news |last=Romelsjö |first= Anders |date=13 October 2018 |title=Personal testimony by a revolutionary professor on the military coup in Chile |work=] |location=Stockholm |url=https://theindicter.com/personal-testimony-by-a-revolutionary-professor-on-the-military-coup-in-chile-by-prof-anders-romelsjo/ |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>
The documents produced by various U.S. agencies were provided by the ] in October 1999. The collection of 1,100 documents dealt with the years leading up to the military coup. One of these documents establishes that U.S. military aid was raised dramatically between the coming to power of Allende in 1970, when it amounted to ] $800,000 annually, to $10.9 million in 1972. The U.S. government supported Pinochet's government after he came to power.


Besides political leaders and participants, the coup also affected many everyday Chilean citizens. Pinochet and the military junta proclaimed that they were going to get rid of “the cancerous tumor,” in reference to Chile’s left.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Simalchik |first=Joan |date=2006-12-01 |title=The Material Culture of Chilean Exile: A Transnational Dialogue |url=https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/21358 |journal=Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=95–105 |doi=10.25071/1920-7336.21358 |issn=1920-7336|doi-access=free }}</ref> Thousands were killed, went missing, and were injured. Thousands more emigrated or were exiled because of the political instability in their country, many relocated elsewhere. Canada, among other countries, became a main point of refuge for many Chilean citizens. Through an operation known as "Special Movement Chile", more than 7,000 Chileans were relocated to Canada in the months following 11 September 1973.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Foster|first1=John |last2=Carty|first2=Bob|title=Chile's 1973 Coup, 40 Years Later: Observances, Part 2 |url=http://opencanada.org/branch-news/chiles-1973-coup-40-years-later-observances-part-two/ |website=Opencanada.org|publisher=Canadian International Council|access-date=18 June 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627071325/http://opencanada.org/branch-news/chiles-1973-coup-40-years-later-observances-part-two/ |archive-date=27 June 2014}}</ref> These refugees are now known as ] people and have a population of over 38,000.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 May 2013|title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0|access-date=2017-02-05 |website=Statistics Canada |language=en}}</ref> Chileans would find asylum in over 40 countries around the world.<ref name=":9" /> While the exact number is unknown it is estimated that at least 200,000 Chileans left Chile between 1973-1990, the largest flow of emigration in Chile’s history.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Doña-Reveco |first=Cristián |date=September 2020 |title=Memories of Exile and Temporary Return: Chilean Exiles Remember Chile |journal=Latin Americanist |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=334–355|doi=10.1353/tla.2020.0024 }}</ref>  
The CIA also had provided funding and propaganda support to political opponents of Allende in the ] and ]s, as well as during the Allende administration.


After Gen. Pinochet lost the election in the 1988 plebiscite, the ], a multi-partisan truth commission, in 1991 reported the location of ] and ] centers, among others, ], the tall ship ] and Víctor Jara Stadium. Later, in November 2004, the ] confirmed the number as fewer than 3,000 killed and reduced the number of cases of forced disappearance; but some 28,000 people were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. Sixty individuals died as a direct result of fighting on 11 September, although the ] and GAP continued to fight the following day. It has been put forward that, in all, 46 of Allende's guard (the GAP, ''Grupo de Amigos Personales'') were killed, some of them in combat with the soldiers that took the Moneda.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/165/29585.html |title=Pinochet Stripped of Legal Immunity |agency=] |date=11 January 2006 |publisher=Globalpolicy.org |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> However, a report of 1999 published by an organization of ex-GAP which survived the events around the coup d'état, says that no one among the GAP members were killed in La Moneda combat. The source affirms that there were only 50 members of the GAP at that time, totally.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carvallo |first=Mauricio |date=September 1999 |title=El Regreso de los GAP – La Vida por Salvador Allende |url=https://www.gap-chile.org/nuestros-martires/ |access-date=7 September 2023}}</ref> The same information about the number of GAP members was later confirmed in an academic publication.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pérez |first=Cristián |date=2000 |title=Salvador Allende – Apuntes sobre su dispositivo de seguridad: El Grupo de Amigos Personales (GAP). |url=https://www.estudiospublicos.cl/index.php/cep/article/view/888/1581 |access-date=7 September 2023 |journal=Estudios Públicos |issue=79 |language=Spanish}}</ref>
On ], ], a suit was filed by the family of constitutionalist General ], once head of the Chilean general staff, accusing former ] ] of arranging Schneider's 1970 murder because he would have opposed a military coup . However, CIA documents indicate that while the CIA had discussed potential plans for his kidnapping, his killing, which was committed by a rebel military group with CIA contacts, was never intended. Furthermore, Nixon and Kissinger had decided a week before the killing that General Viaux, who was the chief plotter in the Schneider incident, was not a good bet for the coup.


The U.S. view of the coup continues to spark controversy. Beginning in late 2014 in response to a request by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair ], ] (USSOUTHCOM) ] (CHDS), located at the ] in Washington, D.C., has been under investigation by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. Insider national security whistleblower complaints included that the Center knowingly protected a CHDS professor from Chile who was a former top advisor to Pinochet after belonging to the ] / ] state terrorist organization (whose attack against a former Chilean foreign minister in 1976 in Washington, D.C., resulted in two deaths, including that of an American). "Reports that NDU hired foreign military officers with histories of involvement in human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings of civilians, are stunning, and they are repulsive", said ], D-Vermont, the author of the "Leahy Law" prohibiting U.S. assistance to military units and members of foreign security forces that violate human rights.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Martin Edwin |last=Andersen |url=https://www.academia.edu/25856284 |title=Unpunished U.S. Southern Command role in '09 Honduran military coup |date=24 May 2016 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first1=Marisa |last1=Taylor |first2=Kevin G. |last2=Hall |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article16508918.html |title=For years, Pentagon paid professor despite revoked visa and accusations of torture in Chile |date=27 March 2015 |work=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first1=Julia |last1=Hart |first2=R. Jeffrey |last2=Smith |date=March 31, 2015 |url=https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/03/11/16872/flagship-military-university-hired-foreign-officers-linked-human-rights-abuses|title= Flagship military university hired foreign officers linked to human rights abuses in Latin America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |publisher=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJeYfOtMqw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/EVJeYfOtMqw |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Chilean 70's torture survivor seeks justice |date=12 March 2015 |via=]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
The U.S. government under ] never hid its dislike of the Allende regime, so they could hardly have been expected to render Allende active support. Whether the United States' economic policy towards Chile caused the economic crisis or merely aggravated what was already an intractable situation for Allende is unclear. It is realistic to remark that these policies did adversely affect Allende's chances of alleviating the crisis.


], the military leader of ], who was imprisoned on 11 September was shocked to hear about the degree of violence the coup was carried out with. Despite being an arduous opponent of Unidad Popular he had expected a cleaner coup.<ref>González 2013, p. 385.</ref>
The coup, regardless of the degree of U.S. involvement, achieved the U.S. government objective of eradicating the perceived threat of socialism in Chile and brought about a regime sympathetic to their own interests. In her evaluation of United States foreign policy around the time of the coup in Chile, ], later U.S. Ambassador to the ], highlighted her country's lack of overt aggressiveness in the developing world while events were transpiring in Chile. "In the last decade especially we have practiced remarkable forbearance everywhere." While this is the case for overt U.S. policy, severely constrained by the movement that had grown up in opposition to the ], nonetheless, as discussed above, at the very least United States policy regarding aid helped lead to Allende's downfall and the U.S. at some times actively supported coup planning, although possibly not that of the coup that actually occurred.


===International reaction===
In a ] interview on the U.S. ] network, U.S. ] ] was asked about why the United States saw itself as the "moral superior" in the ], citing the Chilean coup as an example of U.S. intervention that went against the wishes of the local population. Powell responded: "With respect to your earlier comments about Chile in the 1970s and what happened with Mr. Allende, it is not a part of American history that we're proud of." Chilean newspapers hailed the news as the first time the U.S. government had conceded a role in the affair.
President of Argentina ] condemned the coup calling it a "fatality for the continent". Before the coup Perón had warned ] to stay calm and "not do as Allende".<ref name=Ortega2014>{{cite journal |first=José|last=Ortega |url=http://www.encrucijadaamericana.cl/articulos/a6_n2/4_peron_y_chile.pdf|title=Perón y Chile |journal=Encucijada Americana |year=2014|volume=6 |issue=2 |page=67 |doi=10.53689/ea.v6i2.67 |s2cid=211276031 }}</ref> Argentine students protested the coup at the Chilean embassy in ], where part of them chanted that they were "ready to cross the Andes" (''dispuestos a cruzar la cordillera'').<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl9n3X5AqIQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211102/Gl9n3X5AqIQ |archive-date=2021-11-02 |url-status=live |title=DiFilm – Protesta de estudiantes en la Embajada de Chile 1973|last=]|date=10 March 2014|publisher=]|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>


== Debate == ===Legal impact===
A number of cargo shipments involving trade with Cuba were affected by government policy decisions, and subsequently performance of the trade contracts underlying the shipping deliveries was made illegal under ].<ref>Law No. 1256 of the Republic of Cuba</ref><ref name=todd>Todd, P. N., , n.d., archived 4 May 2014, accessed 27 May 2021</ref> The Chilean company ] had purchased sugar from the Cuban business entity, Cubazukar, and several shipments were at different stages of the shipping and delivery process. The ships involved included:
]
*''Playa Larga'' (delivery in Chile was underway but was not completed before the ship left)
Over the years, both the perpetrators of the ] themselves and their supporters have justified the coup by arguing that it was essential for preserving democracy and prosperity in Chile. They claim that ] wanted to establish a ]-style dictatorship, which in their view would have destroyed ] as well as economic prosperity, and therefore they insist that the forcible removal of the elected president was a necessary and justified course of action. Although they acknowledge an initial decline in the economy, supporters contend that subsequent economic growth in the late 1980s and 1990s was a direct result of Pinochet's economic policy.
*The ''Marble Island'' (the ship was ''en route'' for Chile but was diverted elsewhere)
]
*''Aegis Fame'' (hire was cancelled before the cargo had been loaded).
Those opposed to the coup characterize the notion of preserving democracy by instituting a dictatorship as ridiculous and hypocritical. They further argue that Allende won the presidency in a free and fair election. As Chile had been a democracy since ], the coup represented an unprecedented and inexcusable outrage against democracy, critics have argued. Among the evidence against the coup being an attempt to safeguard democracy and prosperity in Chile are the several thousand documented cases of ] as well as "]ances". Among the more famous cases are ], a US citizen who was "disappeared", then tortured and killed during the coup itself and Chilean songwriter ], murdered while held prisoner in the Chile Stadium immediately after the coup. Critics also argue that the coup failed in any goal of preserving prosperity for any except a small elite. In the early Pinochet years, unemployment rose, real wages fell, the divide between rich and poor grew, decreasing the economic prosperity of the average Chilean. (''See ]'')


The shipping contracts used ] trade terms. Iansa sued Cubazukar for non-delivery. The ] (in England) ruled that IANSA was entitled to damages in respect of the undelivered balance of the ''Playa Larga'' cargo and to restitution of the price paid for the ''Marble Island'' cargo. Subsequent appeals by both parties were dismissed.<ref>] (Civil Division), , 2 Lloyd's Rep. 171, accessed 27 November 2022</ref> In regard to the ''Aegis Fame'' shipping, the contract was ] and therefore Cubazukar were not in breach.<ref name=todd />
A number of people and organisations who supported the coup when it took place were later very critical of Pinochet's regime. They considered the activities of Allende's regime illegal, in a way that justified a coup, but Pinochet did not restore democracy as they had hoped for. Thus, these people and organisations are supporting that a coup was carried out but not the rule carried out by the Pinochet government.


== Quotes == ==Commemoration==
The commemoration of the coup is associated to competing narratives on its cause and effects.<ref name=Waldman2014/> The coup has been commemorated by detractors and supporters in various ways.
*''"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves."'' &mdash; ]


On 11 September 1975 Pinochet lit the ] (lit. Flame of Liberty) to commemorate the coup. This flame was extinguished in 2004.<ref name=EMOLbachelet>{{cite web |url=http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2003/10/08/125557/ministerio-de-defensa-pagara-el-gas-de-la-llama-de-la-libertad.html |title=Ministerio de Defensa pagará el gas de la llama de la libertad |website=Emol |date=8 October 2003 |publisher=] |access-date=3 February 2016|language=es}}</ref><ref name=abc>{{Cite web |url=http://archivo.abc.com.py/2004-10-19/articulos/140158/apagan-la-llama-eterna-de-la-libertad-encendida-por-pinochet |website=] |title=Apagan la "Llama Eterna de la Libertad" encendida por Pinochet |date=19 October 2004 |access-date=22 February 2013 |language=es |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208050215/http://archivo.abc.com.py/2004-10-19/articulos/140158/apagan-la-llama-eterna-de-la-libertad-encendida-por-pinochet |url-status=dead }}</ref> ] in ], Santiago, was renamed Avenida 11 de Septiembre in 1980.<ref name=24hrsMUNI>{{cite web|url = http://www.24horas.cl/nacional/comienza-cambio-de-senaletica-por-nueva-providencia-744252|title = Municipio cambia de señalética de avenida por "Nueva Providencia"|date = 14 July 2013|access-date=15 July 2013|website=24 Horas |language=es}}</ref> In the 30th anniversary of the coup President ] inaugurated the Morandé 80 entrance to ]. This entrance to the presidential palace had been erased during the repairs the dictatorship did to the building after the bombing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lanacion.cl/2003/09/11/la-moneda-abrio-su-puerta-a-la-memoria/ |title=La Moneda abrió su puerta a la memoria|last=Historico|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043812/http://lanacion.cl/2003/09/11/la-moneda-abrio-su-puerta-a-la-memoria/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*''"Make the economy scream prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him"'' &mdash; ], to CIA director ] on ], ]


===40th anniversary===
*''"It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October but efforts in this regard will continue vigorously beyond this date. We are to continue to generate maximum pressure toward this end, utilizing every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American hand be well hidden..."'' &mdash; to the CIA base in Chile, issued on ], ]
The 40th anniversary of the coup in 2013 was particularly intense.<ref name=Waldman2014>{{cite journal |last1=Waldman |first1=Gilda |date=2014 |title=A cuarenta años del golpe militar en Chile. Reflexiones en torno a conmemoraciones y memorias |journal=Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales |volume=59 |issue=221 |pages=243–265 |doi=10.1016/S0185-1918(14)70823-2 |language=es|doi-access=free }}</ref> That year the name of Avenida 11 de Septiembre was reversed to the original Avenida Nueva Providencia.<ref name=24hrsMUNI/> The Association of Chilean Magistrates issued a public statement in early September 2013 recognizing the past unwillingness of judges to protect those persecuted by dictatorship.<ref name=Waldman2014/> On 11 September 2013 hundreds of Chileans posed as dead in the streets of Santiago in remembrance of the ones "disappeared" by the dictatorship.<ref name=Elpaisuy40/>


The centre-left opposition refused to attend the commemoration event organized by ]'s right-wing government organizing instead a separate event.<ref name=Elpaisuy40/> ] of the ] explained that attendance was not viable as Piñera's government was "packed with passive accomplices" of the dictatorship.<ref>{{cite news |date=1 September 2013 |title=Chile: oposición no asistirá al acto del Gobierno de conmemoración del golpe militar |url=https://www.americaeconomia.com/politica-sociedad/politica/chile-oposicion-no-asistira-al-acto-del-gobierno-de-conmemoracion-del-gol |work=América Economía |access-date=2 December 2017 |archive-date=December 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210232053/https://www.americaeconomia.com/politica-sociedad/politica/chile-oposicion-no-asistira-al-acto-del-gobierno-de-conmemoracion-del-gol |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some right-wing politicians also declined the invitation.<ref name=planton>{{cite news |last=Barreno |first=Jorge |date=9 September 2013 |title=Plantón a Piñera en el acto de conmemoración del golpe militar |url=http://www.elmundo.es/america/2013/09/09/noticias/1378742753.html|access-date=3 December 2017 |work=El Mundo |language=es}}</ref> Presidential candidate ] planned to spend the day visiting ].<ref name=planton/> President Piñera held an unusual speech in which he denounced "passive accomplices" like news reporters who deliberately changed or omitted the truth and judges who rejected ] that could have saved lives. People who knew things or could have known things but decided to stay quiet were also criticized as passive accomplices in Piñera's speech.<ref name=Waldman2014/>
*''"Not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty."'' &mdash; ], U.S. Ambassador to Chile, upon hearing of Allende's election.


A number of new films, theatre plays, and photography expositions were held to cast light on the abuses and censorship of the dictatorship.<ref name=Elpaisuy40>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elpais.com.uy/mundo/protesta-aniversario-golpe-chile.html|title=Protesta a 40 años del golpe en Chile}}</ref> The number of new books published on the subject in 2013 was such that it constituted an editorial boom.<ref name=Waldman2014/><ref name=Elpaisuy40/> The Museum of Memory and Human Rights also displayed a collection of declassified CIA, FBI, Defense Department, and White House records illustrating the U.S. role in the dictatorship and the coup.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chile: Secrets of State|editor=Peter Kornbluh|publisher=]|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2017-09-11/chile-secrets-state|access-date=6 August 2018|date=11 September 2017}}</ref> Conferences and seminars on the subject of coup were also held. Various series and interviews with politicians on the subject of the coup and the dictatorship were aired on Chilean TV in 2013.<ref name=Waldman2014/>
== See also ==


===50th anniversary===
]
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the coup in 2023, the United States under the ] finally declassified President Nixon's daily briefs related to Chile from 8 to 11 September 1973. The document for 8 September read: "A number of reports have been received... indicating the possibility of an early military coup. Navy men plotting to overthrow the government now claim army and air force support." It further noted that the far-right paramilitary group, Fatherland and Freedom "has been blocking roads and provoking clashes with the national police, adding to the tension caused by continuing strikes and opposition political moves. President Allende earlier this week said he believed the armed forces will ask for his resignation if he does not change his economic and political policies."<ref>{{cite news |date=11 September 2023 |title=50 Years After the Coup in Chile, the U.S. Has Finally Declassified Documents Relating to Its Role |last=Johnson |first=Jake |url=https://inthesetimes.com/article/chile-coup-1973-pinochet-allende-documents-declassified |access-date=11 September 2023 |website=In These Times |language=en}}</ref>

The week before the anniversary, Chilean President ], along with all four living former presidents—], ], ], and ]—signed an declaration titled "Commitment: For Democracy, Forever", stating that it should "confront the challenges of democracy with more democracy" and it should defend and promote human rights.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 9, 2023 |title=Gabriel Boric y cuatro ex presidentes firmaron un "compromiso por la democracia" a 50 años del golpe en Chile |url=https://www.clarin.com/mundo/gabriel-boric-ex-presidentes-firmaron-compromiso-democracia-50-anos-golpe-chile_0_cQANRxgNxF.html |access-date=September 9, 2023 |website=Clarín}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=September 9, 2023 |title=Boric y cuatro expresidentes chilenos firman una carta conjunta por los 50 años del golpe de Pinochet |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/boric-y-cuatro-expresidentes-chilenos-firman-una-carta-conjunta-por-los-50-anos-del-golpe-de-nid07092023/ |access-date=September 7, 2023 |website=La Nacíon (Argentina)}}</ref> The right-wing opposition called it "biased" and refused to sign it.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/09/08/politically-divided-chile-commemorates-50th-anniversary-of-military-coup_6130027_4.html|title=Politically divided Chile commemorates 50th anniversary of military coup|first=Flora|last=Genoux|location=Buenos Aires|date=8 September 2023|work=Le Monde}}</ref>

On the day of the anniversary, Boric, Bachelet, and many world leaders, including Mexico's ], Portugal's ], Colombia's ], Bolivia's ], and Uruguay's ] attended an commemoration in La Moneda presidential palace to commemorate the coup and its aftermath. Others who attended were former Uruguayan president ] and lead ] guitarist ], who said that the United States "shares responsibility" for the coup.<ref>{{cite news |date=11 September 2023 |title=A 50 años del golpe de Estado en Chile, mandatarios y personalidades de todo el mundo se reúnen en La Moneda para los actos de homenaje |url=https://www.clarin.com/mundo/50-anos-golpe-chile-mandatarios-personalidades-mundo-reunen-moneda-actos-homenaje_0_e7Xc593j3x.html |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=Clarín}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mango |first=Agustín |date=11 September 2023 |title=Tom Morello goes to Chile for 50th anniversary of Pinochet coup |url=https://buenosairesherald.com/world/latin-america/tom-morello-goes-to-chile-for-50th-anniversary-of-pinochet-coup |access-date=13 September 2023 |website=Buenos Aires Herald |language=en-US}}</ref>

At the commemoration, Boric said:<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vergara |first1=Eva |last2=Politi |first2=Daniel |publisher=Associated Press |date=11 September 2023 |title=Chile president defends democracy 50 years after coup ushered in brutal dictatorship |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/chile-president-defends-democracy-50-years-after-coup-ushered-in-brutal-dictatorship |access-date=13 September 2023 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}}</ref>

<blockquote>A coup d'état or the violation of the human rights of those who think differently is never justifiable. It is crucial to clearly state that the coup d'état cannot be separated from what came afterward. Human-rights violations of Chilean men and women began right from the moment of the coup It was a dictatorship until the end Reconciliation is not achieved through neutrality or distance but by unequivocally standing with those who were victims of the horror. Reconciliation, dear compatriots, does not involve attempting to equate the responsibilities between victims and perpetrators.</blockquote>

Surveys showed that 60% of Chileans surveyed were not interested in the commemoration,<ref>{{cite web |date=September 11, 2023 |title=Chile president defends democracy 50 years after coup ushered in brutal military dictatorship |url=https://apnews.com/article/chile-coup-anniversary-pinochet-allende-boric-c00adad8026a5dc54f2834ef9c31fb8a |access-date=September 12, 2023 |website=Associated Press}}</ref> while another poll claimed that nearly 40% believed Pinochet "modernised" the country. Other data found that more than a third of Chileans believed the coup was justified.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 11, 2023 |title=A half-century after Gen. Augusto Pinochet's coup, some in Chile remember the dictatorship fondly |url=https://apnews.com/article/chile-pinochet-dictatorship-5d500715f016804990d0898ff6d89907 |access-date=September 12, 2023 |website=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=September 11, 2023 |title=A divided Chile marks 50 years since Pinochet's bloody military coup |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/divided-chile-marks-50-years-since-pinochets-bloody-military-coup-2023-09-11/ |access-date=September 12, 2023 |website=Reuters}}</ref>

==See also==
*] *]
*'']''
*] - took power in 1973 coup
*] – arms smuggling from Cuba
*]
*] *]
*] – secret KGB operations in Chile
*]
*]
*] - deposed by 1973 coup
*] - secret CIA operations documents: US government spent millions of dollars to unseat Allende. *] secret CIA operations to unseat Allende.
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

=== Films and documentaries ===


*'']''
== Media ==
*]
*'']''
*'']''
*]
*]
*]
*'']''
*]
*'']''
*'']''
*'']''
*'']''
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*'']''


{{clear}}
* ''Chile'' - ]
* ''The Ballad of Victor Jara'' - ]
*'']''


==Notes==
== External links ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{wikisourcepar|Salvador Allende: First speech to the Chilean parliament after his election}}
* (in Spanish)
* , includes news of different newspaper of days previous to the coup (in Spanish)
* (in Spanish)
* This is clearly a partisan, pro-Allende source, but the research and detail are enormous.
* (Wikisource)
* of the Resolution of August 22, 1973 (In English, German, Spanish, French, Polish)
*
* by ], a former Minister of Pinochet (examination of events leading up to, and implications regarding, the Resolution of August 22, 1973. (In English, Italian, Spanish) ()
* which provides documents obtained from FOIA requests regarding U.S. involvement in Chile, beginning with attempts to promote a coup in 1970 and continuing through U.S. support for Pinochet


== References == ==References==
* {{Cite book |last=Bawden |first=John R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELScDAAAQBAJ |title=The Pinochet generation: the Chilean military in the twentieth century |date=2016 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-8173-1928-1 |location=Tuscaloosa}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Collier |first1=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx8iIxafDVYC |title=A history of Chile, 1808-1994 |last2=Sater |first2=William F. |date=1996 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-56827-2 |series=Cambridge Latin American studies |location=Cambridge ; New York ; Melbourne}}
* {{Cite book |last=Faúndez |first=Julio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZ4_EAAAQBAJ |title=Marxism and democracy in Chile: from 1932 to the fall of Allende |date=1988 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-300-04024-1 |location=New Haven, Conn.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Camus |first=Ignacio González |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3doDwAAQBAJ |title=El día en que murió Allende |publisher=] |year=1988 |isbn=978-9-563-24196-9 |location=Santiago |language=es |trans-title=The day that Allende Died}}
* {{Cite book |last=González |first=Mónica |author-link=Mónica González (journalist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gZNDwAAQBAJ |title=La conjura: los mil y un dias del golpe |date=2012 |publisher=] |isbn=978-956-324-134-1 |series=Periodismo de Investigación |location=Santiago de Chile |language=es |trans-title=The conspiracy: the thousand and one days of the coup}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hoogvelt |first=Ankie M. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WCFHEAAAQBAJ |title=Globalization and the Postcolonial World: The New Political Economy of Development |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-137-06331-1 |location=London |orig-date=1997}}
* {{Cite web |last=Karamessines |first=Thomas |date=1970 |title=Operating guidance cable on coup plotting in Chile |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch05-01.htm |website=] |publication-place=Washington}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Kirkpatrick |first=Jeane |author-link=Jeane Kirkpatrick |date=November 1979 |title=Dictatorships and Double Standards |title-link=Dictatorships and Double Standards |magazine=] |pages=34–45 |volume=68 |issue=5}}
* {{Cite web |last=Kissinger |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Kissinger |date=November 9, 1970 |title=National Security Decision 93: Policy Towards Chile |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch09-01.htm |website=] |publication-place=Washington}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kornbluh |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Kornbluh |title=The Pinochet file: a declassified dossier on atrocity and accountability |title-link=The Pinochet File |date=2003 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-56584-586-2 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite web |last=Norton-Taylor |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Norton-Taylor |date=July 8, 1999 |title=Truth will out: Unearthing the declassified documents in America which give the lie to Lady Thatcher's outburst |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,289701,00.html |website=] |publication-place=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nove |first=Alec |author-link=Alexander Nove |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWn4BbCEH6gC |title=Socialism, Economics and Development |publisher=] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-136-58266-0 |series=Routledge Revivals |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Petras |first1=James F. |author-link=James Petras |title=How Allende fell: a study in U.S.-Chilean relations |last2=Morley |first2=Morris H. |date=1974 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-85124-090-9 |location=Nottingham}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sigmund |first=Paul E. |title=Development and cultural change: cross-cultural perspectives |date=1986 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-89226-041-6 |editor-last=Kim |editor-first=Ilpyong J. |edition=2. |series=An Icus Book Science and values series |location=New York, NY |pages=159–178 |chapter=Chapter 6: Development Strategies in Chile, 1964–1983: The Lessons of Failure}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Valenzuela |first1=J. Samuel |title=Development and underdevelopment: the political economy of inequality |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Arturo |date=1993 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-55587-400-1 |editor-last=Seligson |editor-first=Mitchell A. |location=Boulder, Colo |pages=203–216 |chapter=Modernisation and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin-American Underdervelopment |editor-last2=Passé-Smith |editor-first2=John T.}}


==External links==
*Simon Collier & William F. Sater (1996). ''A History of Chile: 1808-1994''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
{{wikisource|Intelligence Memorandum: Allende's Chile: The Widening Supply-Demand Gap}}
*Julio Faundez (1988). ''Marxism and democracy in Chile: From 1932 to the fall of Allende'', New Haven: Yale University Press.
{{wikiquote}}
* Ignacio González Camus, ed. (1988). ''El día en que murió Allende'' (''The day that Allende Died''), Chilean Institute of Humanistic Studies (ICHEH) / CESOC.
*, Salvador-Allende.cl, originally published in ''Archivo Salvador Allende'', number 14. An extensive Spanish-language site providing a day-by-day chronology of the Allende era. This is clearly a partisan, pro-Allende source, but the research and detail are enormous. {{in lang|es}}
*Anke Hoogvelt (1997). ''Globalisation and the postcolonial world'', London: Macmillan.
* which provides documents obtained from FOIA requests regarding U.S. involvement in Chile, beginning with attempts to promote a coup in 1970 and continuing through U.S. support for Pinochet
*Thomas Karamessines (1970). , Washington: ].
*
*] (1979). "Dictatorships and Double Standards", '']'', November, pp&nbsp;34-45.
* – video report by '']''
*] (1970). , Washington: National Security Council.
* Miliband, Ralph (11 September 2015). . '']''.
*Richard Norton-Taylor (1999). "Truth will out: Unearthing the declassified documents in America which give the lie to Lady Thatcher's outburst", '']'', 8 July 1999, London:
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|En-1973ChileanCoup-article.ogg|date=2017-11-27}}
*Alec Nove (1986). ''Socialism, Economics and Development'', London: Allen & Unwin.
*James F. Petras & Morris H. Morley (1974). ''How Allende fell: A study in U.S.&ndash;Chilean relations'', Nottingham: Spokesman Books.
*Sigmund, P.E. (1986). "Development Strategies in Chile, 1964-1983: The Lessons of Failure", Chapter 6 in I.J. Kim (Ed.), ''Development and Cultural Change: Cross-Cultural Perspectives'', New York: Paragon House Publishers, pp. 159-178.
*Valenzuela, J.S., & Valenzuela, A. (1993). "Modernisation and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin-American Underdervelopment", in M.A. Seligson & J.T. Pass-Smith (Eds.), ''Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Inequality'', Boulder: Lynnes Rienner, pp. 203-216.


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Latest revision as of 16:18, 18 December 2024

Overthrow of President Salvador Allende by the military "11 de Septiembre" redirects here. For the date, see September 11.

1973 Chilean coup d'état
Part of the Cold War in South America and Operation Condor
From top to bottom: the bombing of La Moneda on September 11, 1973, by the Chilean Armed Forces; a journalist and policemen during the coup; and detainees and torture victims being detained at the National Stadium
Date11 September 1973
LocationChile
ActionArmed forces put the country under military control. Little and unorganized civil resistance.
Result

Coup successful

Belligerents

Chile Chilean Government

Revolutionary Left Movement
Other working-class militants


Supported by:
 Cuba

Chilean Armed Forces


Supported by:
United States
Brazil Brazil
Canada Canada
Australia Australia
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Nationals
Christian Democrats (parts)
Radical Democrats
Commanders and leaders
Salvador Allende 
Max Marambio
Miguel Enríquez
Augusto Pinochet
José Merino
Gustavo Leigh
César Mendoza
Casualties and losses
46 GAP
60 in total during the coup
Operation Condor
Background histories
Events
Government leaders
Targeted militias
Principal operatives
Organizations responsible
Locations
Laws
Archives and reports
Reactions
United States involvement in
regime change
20th century
21st century
This article is part of
a series aboutRichard Nixon

Pre-vice presidency
36th Vice President of the United States
Post-vice presidency
37th President of the United States
Judicial appointments
Policies
First term
Second term
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Post-presidency
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Richard Nixon's signature Seal of the President of the United States

The 1973 Chilean coup d'état (Spanish: Golpe de Estado en Chile de 1973) was a military overthrow of the democratic socialist president of Chile Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity coalition government. Allende, who has been described as the first Marxist to be democratically elected president in a Latin American liberal democracy, faced significant social unrest, political tension with the opposition-controlled National Congress of Chile. On 11 September 1973, a group of military officers, led by General Augusto Pinochet, seized power in a coup, ending civilian rule.

Following the coup, a military junta was established, and suspended all political activities in Chile and suppressed left-wing movements, particularly communist and socialist parties, such as the Communist Party of Chile and the Socialist Party of Chile, as well as the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Pinochet swiftly consolidated power and was officially declared president of Chile in late 1974. The Nixon administration, which had played a role in creating favorable conditions for the coup, promptly recognized the junta government and supported its efforts to consolidate power. During the air raids and ground attacks preceding the coup, Allende delivered his final speech, expressing his determination to remain at Palacio de La Moneda and rejecting offers of safe passage for exile. Although he died in the palace, the exact circumstances of Allende's death are still disputed, but it is generally accepted as a suicide.

In 2023, declassified documents showed that Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the United States government, which had described Allende as a dangerous communist, were aware of the military's plans to overthrow Allende in the days before the coup d'état.

Chile had previously been regarded as a symbol of democracy and political stability in South America, while other countries in the region suffered under military juntas and caudillismo; the Chilean period prior to the coup is known as the Presidential Republic (1925–1973) era. At the time, Chile was a middle-class country, with about 30% or 9 million Chileans being middle class. The collapse of Chilean democracy marked the end of a series of democratic governments that had held elections since 1932. Historian Peter Winn described the 1973 coup as one of the most violent events in Chilean history. The coup led to a series of human rights abuses in Chile under Pinochet, who initiated a brutal and long-lasting campaign of political suppression through torture, murder, and exile, which significantly weakened leftist opposition to the military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990). The internationally supported 1989 Chilean constitutional referendum held under the military junta led to the peaceful Chilean transition to democracy. Due to the coup's coincidental occurrence on the same date as the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, it has sometimes been referred to as "the other 9/11".

Political background

Part of a series on the
History of Chile
Chili, from Atlas Van der Hagen
TimelineYears in Chile
Early history
Colonial times
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Parliamentary period
Presidential period
Military dictatorship
Contemporary
Related topics
Main article: Presidency of Salvador Allende See also: Chile truckers' strike

Allende contested the 1970 Chilean presidential election with Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez of the National Party and Radomiro Tomic of the Christian Democratic Party. Allende received 36.6% of the vote, while Alessandri was a very close second with 35.3%, and Tomic third with 28.1%, in what was a close three-way election. Although Allende received the highest number of votes, according to the Chilean constitution and since none of the candidates won by an absolute majority, the National Congress had to decide among the candidates.

The Chilean Constitution of 1925 did not allow a person to be president for consecutive terms. The incumbent president, Eduardo Frei Montalva, was therefore ineligible as a candidate. The CIA's "Track I" operation was a plan to influence the Congress to choose Alessandri, who would resign after a short time in office, forcing a second election. Frei would then be eligible to run. Alessandri announced on 9 September that if Congress chose him, he would resign. Allende signed a Statute of Constitutional Guarantees, which stated that he would follow the constitution during his presidency trying to shore up support for his candidacy. Congress then decided on Allende. The U.S. feared the example of a "well-functioning socialist experiment" in the region and exerted diplomatic, economic, and covert pressure upon Chile's elected socialist government. At the end of 1971, the Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro made a four-week state visit to Chile, alarming American observers worried about the "Chilean Way to Socialism".

Allende presided over an increasingly unstable economy. A fiscal deficit of 3.5% in 1970 grew to 24% by 1973. In 1972, Economics Minister Pedro Vuskovic adopted monetary policies that increased the amount of circulating currency and devalued the escudo. That year, inflation increased by 225% and reached 606% by 1973. The high inflation in 1973 decreased wages by 38%. To combat this, Allende created the Committees of Supplies and Prices (Juntas de Abastecimiento y Precios (JAP)). JAP reopened private shops and requisitioned goods which had been slowly disappearing due to drops in production.

In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. The Trucker’s Strike that began on 1 October in the Ayse providence was a response to economic problems and rumors that transportation would be nationalized. Eight days later, the Confederation of Truckers, led by Leon Vilarín with the support of the guilds and possibly the CIA, called for an indefinite national strike, which inhibited the movement and distribution of goods that had already been struggling. Truckers then blocked all main roads on 12 October, creating a shortage of essential goods. Allende declared a state of emergency in response and the strike leaders were arrested. This would only provoke the Chilean population further and more strikes and protests ensued. The state of emergency also failed to reverse the strike or the economic crisis.

Among the participants were small-scale businessmen, some professional unions, and student groups. Its leaders – Vilarín, Jaime Guzmán, Rafael Cumsille, Guillermo Elton, Eduardo Arriagada – expected to depose the elected government. Other than damaging the national economy, the principal effect of the 24-day strike was drawing Army head, General Carlos Prats, into the government as Interior Minister, an appeasement to the right wing. This replaced General René Schneider, who had been assassinated (Schneider had been shot on 22 October 1970 by a group led by General Roberto Viaux, whom the Central Intelligence Agency had not attempted to discourage, and died three days later.) General Prats supported the legalist Schneider Doctrine and refused military involvement in a coup d'état against President Allende.

Despite the declining economy, President Allende's Popular Unity coalition increased its vote to 43.2% in the March 1973 parliamentary elections; but, by then, the informal alliance between Popular Unity and the Christian Democrats ended. The Christian Democrats allied with the right-wing National Party, who were opposed to Allende's government; the two right-wing parties formed the Confederation of Democracy (CODE). The internecine parliamentary conflict between the legislature and the executive branch paralyzed the activities of government.

Allende began to fear his opponents, convinced they were plotting his assassination. Using his daughter Beatriz as a messenger, he explained the situation to Fidel Castro. Castro gave four pieces of advice: convince technicians to stay in Chile, sell only copper for US dollars, do not engage in extreme revolutionary acts which would give opponents an excuse to wreck or seize control of the economy, and maintain a proper relationship with the Chilean military until local militias could be established and consolidated. Allende attempted to follow Castro's advice, but the latter two recommendations proved difficult.

Chilean military prior to the coup

Prior to the coup, the Chilean military had undergone a process of de-politicization since the 1920s, when military officers had held cabinet positions. Subsequently, most military officers remained under-funded, having only subsistence salaries. Because of the low salaries, the military spent much time in military leisure-time facilities (e.g., country clubs) where they met other officers and their families. The military remained apart from society and was to some degree an endogamous group as officers frequently married the sisters of their comrades or the daughters of high-ranked older officers. Many officers also had relatives in the military. In 1969, elements of the military made their first act of rebellion in 40 years when they participated in the Tacnazo insurrection. The Tacnazo was not a proper coup, but a protest against under-funding. In retrospect General Carlos Prats considered that Christian Democrats who were in power in 1969 committed the error of not taking the military's grievances seriously.

Throughout the 1960s, the governments of Ecuador (1963), Brazil (1964), Argentina (1966), Peru (1968), and Bolivia (1969) were overthrown and replaced by military governments. In June 1973, Uruguay joined the coup d'état wave that swept through the region. The poor conditions of the Chilean military contrasted with the change of fortune the military of neighboring countries experienced as they came to power in coups.

During the decades prior to the coup, the military became influenced by the United States' anti-communist ideology in the context of various cooperation programs, including the U.S. Army School of the Americas.

Crisis

See also: Tanquetazo

On 29 June 1973, Colonel Roberto Souper surrounded La Moneda presidential palace with his tank regiment and failed to depose the Allende Government. That failed coup d'état – known as the Tanquetazo tank putsch – had been organized by the nationalist "Fatherland and Liberty" paramilitary group.

In August 1973, a constitutional crisis occurred; the Supreme Court publicly complained about the government's inability to enforce the law of the land. On 22 August, the Christian Democrats united with the National Party of the Chamber of Deputies accused the government of unconstitutional acts and called upon the military to enforce constitutional order.

For months, the government had feared calling upon the Carabineros national police, suspecting them of disloyalty. On 9 August, Allende appointed General Carlos Prats as Minister of Defense. He was forced to resign both as defense minister and as the Army commander-in-chief on 24 August 1973, embarrassed by the Alejandrina Cox incident and a public protest of the wives of his generals at his house. General Augusto Pinochet replaced him as Army commander-in-chief the same day. In late August 1973, 100,000 Chilean women congregated at Plaza de la Constitución to protest against the government for the rising cost and increasing shortages of food and fuels, but they were dispersed with tear gas.

Resolution by the Chamber of Deputies

On 23 August 1973, with the support of the Christian Democrats and National Party members, the Chamber of Deputies passed 81–47 a resolution that asked "the President of the Republic, Ministers of State, and members of the Armed and Police Forces" to "put an immediate end" to "breach the Constitution . . . with the goal of redirecting government activity toward the path of Law and ensuring the Constitutional order of our Nation, and the essential underpinnings of democratic co-existence among Chileans".

The resolution declared that the Allende government sought "to conquer absolute power with the obvious purpose of subjecting all citizens to the strictest political and economic control by the state ... the goal of establishing a totalitarian system", claiming it had made "violations of the Constitution ... a permanent system of conduct". Essentially, most of the accusations were about the government disregarding the separation of powers, and arrogating legislative and judicial prerogatives to the executive branch of government. Finally, the resolution condemned the "creation and development of government-protected armed groups, which ... are headed towards a confrontation with the armed forces". President Allende's efforts to re-organize the military and the police forces were characterised as "notorious attempts to use the armed and police forces for partisan ends, destroy their institutional hierarchy, and politically infiltrate their ranks".

It can be argued that the resolution called upon the armed forces to overthrow the government if it did not comply, as follows: "To present the President of the Republic, Ministers of State, and members of the Armed and Police Forces with the grave breakdown of the legal and constitutional order ... it is their duty to put an immediate end to all situations herein referred to that breach the Constitution and the laws of the land with the aim of redirecting government activity toward the path of Law". The resolution was later used by Pinochet a way to justify the coup, which occurred two weeks later.

Salvador Allende's response

On 24 August 1973, two days after the resolution, Allende responded. He accused the opposition of trying to incite a military coup by encouraging the armed forces to disobey civilian authorities. He described the Congress's declaration as "destined to damage the country's prestige abroad and create internal confusion", and predicted: "It will facilitate the seditious intention of certain sectors." He observed that the declaration (passed 81–47 in the Chamber of Deputies) had not obtained the two-thirds Senate majority "constitutionally required" to convict the president of abuse of power, thus the Congress was "invoking the intervention of the armed forces and of Order against a democratically elected government" and "subordinat political representation of national sovereignty to the armed institutions, which neither can nor ought to assume either political functions or the representation of the popular will."

Allende argued that he had obeyed constitutional means for including military men to the cabinet at the service of civic peace and national security, defending republican institutions against insurrection and terrorism. In contrast, he said that Congress was promoting a coup d'état or a civil war with a declaration full of affirmations that had already been refuted beforehand and which in substance and process (directly handing it to the ministers rather than directly handing it to the president) violated a dozen articles of the then-current constitution. He further argued that the legislature was usurping the government's executive function.

Allende wrote: "Chilean democracy is a conquest by all of the people. It is neither the work nor the gift of the exploiting classes, and it will be defended by those who, with sacrifices accumulated over generations, have imposed it ... With a tranquil conscience ... I sustain that never before has Chile had a more democratic government than that over which I have the honor to preside ... I solemnly reiterate my decision to develop democracy and a state of law to their ultimate consequences...Congress has made itself a bastion against the transformations ... and has done everything it can to perturb the functioning of the finances and of the institutions, sterilizing all creative initiatives." Adding that economic and political means would be needed to relieve the country's current crisis, and that the Congress was obstructing said means; having already paralyzed the state, they sought to destroy it. He concluded by calling upon the workers and all democrats and patriots to join him in defending the Chilean constitution and the revolutionary process.

Preparations

In mid-July, a month before the resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, there was general agreement in the heart of the Army's high command on the desirability of terminating the Unidad Popular "experiment." How to do it was still nebulous. The constitutional generals, gathered around Army Commander-in-Chief General Carlos Prats, were facing pressure from an increasingly hardline anti-Allende faction within the Army. Prats had coined the idea of an Allende–Armed Forces government, including a "political peace treaty" with the Christian Democrats and restricted participation of the Chilean Communist party and a group of Socialists. Prats argued that "only thus will we prevent the extremist workers from rebelling." This idea had the support of Generals Joaquin Lagos Osorio, Herman Brady Roche, Washington Carrasco Fernandez, Hector Bravo Munoz, Mario Sepulveda Squella, Guillermo Pickering, and Orlando Urbina Herrera, but with variations. While Lagos Osorio and Urbina Herrera did not object to the Prats plan, the other five generals thought the Allende–Armed Forces government ought to be "transitional" and of "short duration," to prepare conditions for a "purely military government including the military police." The hardline faction, consisting of Generals Oscar Bonilla, Sergio Arellano Stark, and Javier Palacios formed another group, joined by Augusto Pinochet, which posited that the Allende–Armed Forces phase was not necessary.

American involvement

See also: U.S. intervention in Chile § 1973 coup

"Like Caesar peering into the colonies from distant Rome, Nixon said the choice of government by the Chileans was unacceptable to the president of the United States. The attitude in the White House seemed to be, "If in the wake of Vietnam I can no longer send in the Marines, then I will send in the CIA."—Senator Frank Church, 1976

Many people in different parts of the world immediately suspected the U.S. of foul play. In early newspaper reports, the U.S. denied any involvement or previous knowledge of the coup. Prompted by an incriminating New York Times article, the U.S. Senate opened an investigation into U.S. interference in Chile. A report prepared by the United States Intelligence Community in 2000, at the direction of the National Intelligence Council, that echoed the Church committee, states that:

Although CIA did not instigate the coup that ended Allende's government on 11 September 1973, it was aware of coup-plotting by the military, had ongoing intelligence collection relationships with some plotters, and—because CIA did not discourage the takeover and had sought to instigate a coup in 1970—probably appeared to condone it.

The report stated that the CIA "actively supported the military Junta after the overthrow of Allende but did not assist Pinochet to assume the Presidency." After a review of recordings of telephone conversations between Nixon and Henry Kissinger, Robert Dallek concluded that both of them used the CIA to actively destabilize the Allende government. In one particular conversation about the news of Allende's overthrow, Kissinger complained about the lack of recognition of the American role in the overthrow of a "communist" government, upon which Nixon remarked, "Well, we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one." A later CIA report contended that US agents maintained close ties with the Chilean military to collect intelligence but no effort was made to assist them and "under no circumstances attempted to influence them."

Since Allende’s inauguration, U.S. policy has been to maintain maximum covert pressure to prevent the Allende regime’s consolidation. — William Colby, September 16, 1973, in a memorandum to Henry Kissinger

Historian Peter Winn found "extensive evidence" of United States complicity in the coup. He states that its covert support was crucial to engineering the coup, as well as for the consolidation of power by the Pinochet regime following the takeover. Winn documents an extensive CIA operation to fabricate reports of a coup against Allende, as justification for the imposition of military rule. Peter Kornbluh asserts that the CIA destabilized Chile and helped create the conditions for the coup, citing documents declassified by the Clinton administration. Other authors point to the involvement of the Defense Intelligence Agency, agents of which allegedly secured the missiles used to bombard the La Moneda Palace.

The U.S. Government's hostility to the election of Allende in 1970 in Chile was substantiated in documents declassified during the Clinton administration, which show that CIA covert operatives were inserted in Chile in order to prevent a Marxist government from arising and for the purpose of spreading anti-Allende propaganda. As described in the Church Committee report, the CIA was involved in multiple plots designed to remove Allende and then let the Chileans vote in a new election where he would not be a candidate. The first, non-military, approach involved attempting a constitutional coup. This was known as the Track I approach, in which the CIA, with the approval of the 40 Committee, attempted to bribe the Chilean legislature, tried to influence public opinion against Allende, and provided funding to strikes designed to coerce him into resigning. It also attempted to get congress to confirm Jorge Alessandri as the winner of the presidential election. Alessandri, who was an accessory to the conspiracy, was ready to then resign and call for fresh elections. This approach completely failed in 1970 and was not attempted again.

The other approach of the CIA in 1970 (but not later), also known as the Track II approach, was an attempt to encourage a military coup by creating a climate of crisis across the country. A CIA telegram sent to the Chile station on 16 October 1970 stated:

It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October but efforts in this regard will continue vigorously beyond this date. We are to continue to generate maximum pressure toward this end utilizing every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American hand be well hidden."

False flag operatives contacted senior Chilean military officers and informed them that the U.S. would actively support a coup, but would revoke all military aid if such a coup did not happen. In addition, the CIA gave extensive support for black propaganda against Allende, channeled mostly through El Mercurio. Financial assistance was also given to Allende's political opponents, and for organizing strikes and unrest to destabilize the government. By 1970, the U.S. manufacturing company ITT Corporation owned 70% of Chitelco (the Chilean Telephone Company), and also funded El Mercurio. The CIA used ITT as a means of disguising the source of the illegitimate funding Allende's opponents received. On 28 September 1973, the Weather Underground bombed ITT's headquarters in New York City in retaliation.

According to an article written by lifelong CIA operative Jack Devine, although it was widely reported that the CIA was directly involved in orchestrating and carrying out the coup, subsequently released sources suggest a much reduced role of the US government.

Military action

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By 6:00 am on 11 September 1973, a date chosen to match a historical 1924 coup, the Navy captured Valparaíso, strategically stationing ships and marine infantry in the central coast and closed radio and television networks. The Province Prefect informed President Allende of the Navy's actions; immediately, the president went to the presidential palace (La Moneda) with his bodyguards, the "Group of Personal Friends" (GAP). By 8:00 am, the Army had closed most radio and television stations in Santiago city, one of the first acts of the coup. By 8.30 a.m. both the carabineros and military broadcast their first edict, which would present a unified front that wanted Allende disposed. This edict declared that Allende would surrender his office to them and the carabineros and armed forces were a unified front that have tasked themselves with protecting Chile “from falling beneath the Marxist yoke.” By 9 a.m. the only loyalist broadcast still in control of its station was Radio Magallens, operated by the Chilean Communist Party. The Air Force bombed the remaining active stations and the President received incomplete information that convinced him that only a sector of the Navy conspired against him and his government.

President Allende and Defense Minister Orlando Letelier were unable to communicate with military leaders. Orlando Letelier would be arrested by the military when he reached the Defense Ministry. Following this, he would be imprisoned, then exiled and assassinated in Washington D.C. on 21 September 1976. There is evidence that his assassination was ordered by Pinochet. Admiral Montero, the Navy's commander and an Allende loyalist, was rendered incommunicado; his telephone service was cut, and his cars were sabotaged before the coup d'état, to ensure he could not thwart the opposition. Leadership of the Navy was transferred to José Toribio Merino, planner of the coup d'état and executive officer to Adm. Montero. Augusto Pinochet, General of the Army, and Gustavo Leigh, General of the Air Force, did not answer Allende's telephone calls to them. The General Director of the Carabineros (uniformed police), José María Sepúlveda, and the head of the Investigations Police (plain clothes detectives), Alfredo Joignant answered Allende's calls and immediately went to the La Moneda presidential palace. Despite evidence that all branches of the Chilean armed forces were involved in the coup, Allende hoped that some units remained loyal to the government. Allende was convinced of Pinochet's loyalty, telling a reporter that the coup d'état leaders must have imprisoned the general. Only at 8:30 am, when the armed forces declared their control of Chile and that Allende was deposed, did the president grasp the magnitude of the military's rebellion. Despite the lack of any military support, Allende refused to resign his office.

At approx. 9:00 the carabineros of the La Moneda left the building. By 9:00 am, the armed forces controlled Chile, except for the city centre of the capital, Santiago. Originally, the military had planned to arrest Allende at his residence but he had made it to La Moneda, the presidential palace. There, Allende refused to surrender, despite the military's declaring they would bomb the La Moneda if he resisted being deposed. The military would turn to negotiating with Allende where they would offer to fly him and his family out of Chile, which Allende would refuse. The Socialist Party along with his Cuban advisors proposed to Allende that he escape to the San Joaquín industrial zone in southern Santiago, to later re-group and lead a counter-coup d'état; the president rejected the proposition. According to Tanya Harmer, Allende's refusal to lead an insurgency against the coup is evidence of his unrelenting desire to bring about change through non-violent methods. The military attempted more negotiations with Allende, but the President refused to resign, citing his constitutional duty to remain in office. Finally, at 9:10  am, Allende gave a farewell speech, telling the nation of the coup d'état and his refusal to resign his elected office under threat.

Leigh ordered the presidential palace bombed but was told the Air Force's Hawker Hunter jet aircraft would take forty minutes to arrive from their base at Concepcion. Pinochet ordered an armoured and infantry force under General Sergio Arellano to advance upon the La Moneda presidential palace. When the troops moved forward, they were forced to retreat after coming under fire from GAP snipers perched on rooftops. General Arellano called for helicopter gunship support from the commander of the Chilean Army Puma helicopter squadron and the troops were able to advance again. Chilean Air Force aircraft soon arrived to provide close air support for the assault (by bombing the Palace), but the defenders did not surrender until nearly 2:30 pm. Allende's Cuban-trained guard would have had about 300 elite commando-trained GAP fighters at the time of the coup, according to a book of 2005 by Jonathan Haslam, but the use of brute military force, especially the use of Hawker Hunters, may have handicapped many GAP fighters from further action. Which was the case of some GAP members during the Hawker Hunters attack against Allende's residence in Tomás Moro.

Allende would be found in his inner office dead, from a self inflicted bullet wound done between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. Prior to Allende's suicide, he addressed the nation one final time and stated hope for Chile in the future and wishing for the people to stay strong willed and overcome the darkness. In his own words he said: "Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened through which will pass free men to construct a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!"

Pinochet's rule would officially begin at 2:30 p.m. 11 September 1973.

Casualties

The facilities of the National Stadium were used as a detention and torture center after the coup.

According to official reports prepared after the return of democracy, at La Moneda only two people died: President Allende and the journalist Augusto Olivares (both by suicide). Two more were injured, Antonio Aguirre and Osvaldo Ramos, both members of President Allende's entourage; they would later be allegedly kidnapped from the hospital and disappeared. In November 2006, the Associated Press noted that more than 15 bodyguards and aides were taken from the palace during the coup and are still unaccounted for; in 2006 Augusto Pinochet was indicted for two of their deaths.

On the military side, there were 34 deaths: two army sergeants, three army corporals, four army privates, two navy lieutenants, one navy corporal, four naval cadets, three navy conscripts and fifteen carabineros. In mid-September, the Chilean military junta claimed its troops suffered another 16 dead and 100 injured by gunfire in mopping-up operations against Allende supporters, and Pinochet said: "sadly there are still some armed groups who insist on attacking, which means that the military rules of wartime apply to them." A press photographer also died in the crossfire while attempting to cover the event. On 23 October 1973, 23-year-old army corporal Benjamín Alfredo Jaramillo Ruz, who was serving with the Cazadores, became the first fatal casualty of the counterinsurgency operations in the mountainous area of Alquihue in Valdivia after being shot by a sniper. The Chilean Army suffered 12 killed in various clashes with MIR guerrillas and GAP fighters in October 1973.

While fatalities in the battle during the coup might have been relatively small, the Chilean security forces sustained 162 dead in the three following months as a result of continued resistance, and tens of thousands of people were arrested during the coup and held in the National Stadium. An estimated 40,000 Chileans were tortured under the Pinochet regime in the years following the coup.

Allende's death

Main article: Death of Salvador Allende

President Allende died in La Moneda during the coup. The junta officially declared that he committed suicide with a rifle given to him by Fidel Castro, two doctors from the infirmary of La Moneda stated that they witnessed the suicide, and an autopsy labelled Allende's death a suicide. Vice Admiral Patricio Carvajal, one of the primary instigators of the coup, claimed that "Allende committed suicide and is dead now." Patricio Guijon, one of the president's doctors, had testified to witnessing Allende shoot himself under the chin with the rifle while seated on a sofa.

At the time, few of Allende's supporters believed the explanation that Allende had killed himself. Allende's body was exhumed in May 2011. The exhumation was requested by members of the Allende family, including his daughter Isabel who viewed the question of her father's death as "an insult to scientific intelligence." A scientific autopsy was performed, and the autopsy team delivered a unanimous finding on 19 July 2011 that Allende committed suicide using an AK-47 rifle. The team was composed of international forensic experts to assure an independent evaluation.

However, on 31 May 2011, Chile's state television station reported that a top-secret military account of Allende's death had been discovered in the home of a former military justice official. The 300-page document was found only when the house was destroyed in the 2010 Chilean earthquake. After reviewing the report, two forensic experts told Televisión Nacional de Chile "that they are inclined to conclude that Allende was assassinated." Two forensics experts said they believed he was shot with a small-calibre weapon prior to the AK-47. One expert, Luis Ravanal, noted the lack of blood on his collar, sweater and throat suggested someone else fired the AK-47 when he was already dead.

Allende's widow and family escaped the military government and were accepted for exile in Mexico, where they remained for 17 years.

Aftermath

Installing a new regime

Main article: Government Junta of Chile (1973)
Original members of the Government Junta of Chile (1973)

On 13 September, the Junta dissolved Congress, outlawed the parties that had been part of the Popular Unity coalition, and all political activity was declared "in recess". The military government took control of all media, including the radio broadcasting that Allende attempted to use to give his final speech to the nation. It is not known how many Chileans actually heard the last words of Allende as he spoke them, but a transcript and audio of the speech survived the military government. Chilean scholar Lidia M. Baltra details how the military took control of the media platforms and turned them into their own "propaganda machine". The only two newspapers that were allowed to continue publishing after the military takeover were El Mercurio and La Tercera de la Hora, both of which were anti-Allende under his leadership. The dictatorship's silencing of the leftist point of view extended past the media and into "every discourse that expressed any resistance to the regime". An example of this is the torturing and death of folk singer Victor Jara. The military government detained Jara in the days following the coup. He, along with many other leftists, were held in Estadio Nacional, or the National Stadium of Chile in the capital of Santiago. Initially, the Junta tried to silence him by crushing his hands, but ultimately, he was murdered. Immediately after the coup the military sought television host Don Francisco to have him report on the events. Don Francisco declined the offer, encouraging the captain that had approached him to take the role of reporter himself.

Initially, there were four leaders of the junta: In addition to General Augusto Pinochet, from the Army, there were General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán, of the Air Force; Admiral José Toribio Merino Castro, of the Navy (who replaced Constitutionalist Admiral Raúl Montero); and General Director César Mendoza Durán, of the National Police (Carabineros de Chile) (who replaced Constitutionalist General Director José María Sepúlveda). Coup leaders soon decided against a rotating presidency and named General Pinochet permanent head of the junta which would establish a seventeen year long civil-military dictatorship.

In the months that followed the coup, the junta, with authoring work by historian Gonzalo Vial and Admiral Patricio Carvajal, published a book titled El Libro Blanco del cambio de gobierno en Chile (commonly known as El Libro Blanco, "The White Book of the Change of Government in Chile"), where they attempted to justify the coup by claiming that they were in fact anticipating a self-coup (the alleged Plan Zeta, or Plan Z) that Allende's government or its associates were purportedly preparing. Historian Peter Winn states that the Central Intelligence Agency had an extensive part to play in fabricating the conspiracy and in selling it to the press, both in Chile and internationally. Although later discredited and officially recognized as the product of political propaganda, Gonzalo Vial has pointed to the similarities between the alleged Plan Z and other existing paramilitary plans of the Popular Unity parties in support of its legitimacy.

A document from September 13 shows that Jaime Guzmán was by then already tasked to study the creation of a new constitution. One of the first measures of the dictatorship was to set up a Secretaría Nacional de la Juventud (SNJ, National Youth Office). This was done on 28 October 1973, even before the Declaration of Principles of the junta made in March 1974. This was a way of mobilizing sympathetic elements of the civil society in support for the dictatorship.

Continued violence

See also: Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)

In the first months after the coup d'état, the military killed thousands of Chilean leftists, both real and suspected, or forced their "disappearance". The military imprisoned 40,000 political enemies in the National Stadium of Chile; among the tortured and killed desaparecidos (disappeared) were the U.S. citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi. In October 1973, the Chilean songwriter Víctor Jara was murdered, along with 70 other people in a series of killings perpetrated by the death squad Caravan of Death (Caravana de la Muerte).

The government arrested some 130,000 people in a three-year period; the dead and disappeared numbered thousands in the first months of the military government. In Valparaiso, it is estimated that there were 6,918 victims of political capturing and torture.

Pictures of persons missing after the 1973 Chilean coup

Those include the British physician Sheila Cassidy, who survived to publicize in the UK the human rights violations in Chile. Among those detained was Alberto Bachelet (father of future Chilean President Michelle Bachelet), an Air Force official; he was tortured and died on 12 March 1974, the right-wing newspaper, El Mercurio, reported that Mr Bachelet died after a basketball game, citing his poor cardiac health. Michelle Bachelet and her mother were imprisoned and tortured in the Villa Grimaldi detention and torture centre on 10 January 1975.

The newspaper La Tercera published on its front page a photograph showing prisoners at Quiriquina Island Camp who had been captured during the fighting in Concepción. The photograph's caption stated that some of the detained were "local bosses" of Unidad Popular" while others were "extremists who had attacked the armed forces with firearms". The photo was reproduced 2013 in The Indicter, identifying among the 'local bosses' Fernando Alvarez, then Concepción Province's head authority appointed by Allende (executed one month thereafter); and among the fighting 'extremists', Marcello Ferrada de Noli, one founder of MIR and then professor at the University of Concepción.

This is consistent with reports in newspapers and broadcasts in Concepción about the activities of the Armed Forces, which mentioned clashes with "extremists" on several occasions from 11 to 14 September. Nocturnal skirmishes took place around the Hotel Alonso de Ercilla in Colo Colo and San Martín Street, one block away from the Army and military police administrative headquarters. A recently published testimony about the clashes in Concepción offers several plausible explanations for the reticence of witnesses to these actions.

Besides political leaders and participants, the coup also affected many everyday Chilean citizens. Pinochet and the military junta proclaimed that they were going to get rid of “the cancerous tumor,” in reference to Chile’s left. Thousands were killed, went missing, and were injured. Thousands more emigrated or were exiled because of the political instability in their country, many relocated elsewhere. Canada, among other countries, became a main point of refuge for many Chilean citizens. Through an operation known as "Special Movement Chile", more than 7,000 Chileans were relocated to Canada in the months following 11 September 1973. These refugees are now known as Chilean Canadian people and have a population of over 38,000. Chileans would find asylum in over 40 countries around the world. While the exact number is unknown it is estimated that at least 200,000 Chileans left Chile between 1973-1990, the largest flow of emigration in Chile’s history.  

After Gen. Pinochet lost the election in the 1988 plebiscite, the Rettig Commission, a multi-partisan truth commission, in 1991 reported the location of torture and detention centers, among others, Colonia Dignidad, the tall ship Esmeralda and Víctor Jara Stadium. Later, in November 2004, the Valech Report confirmed the number as fewer than 3,000 killed and reduced the number of cases of forced disappearance; but some 28,000 people were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. Sixty individuals died as a direct result of fighting on 11 September, although the MIR and GAP continued to fight the following day. It has been put forward that, in all, 46 of Allende's guard (the GAP, Grupo de Amigos Personales) were killed, some of them in combat with the soldiers that took the Moneda. However, a report of 1999 published by an organization of ex-GAP which survived the events around the coup d'état, says that no one among the GAP members were killed in La Moneda combat. The source affirms that there were only 50 members of the GAP at that time, totally. The same information about the number of GAP members was later confirmed in an academic publication.

The U.S. view of the coup continues to spark controversy. Beginning in late 2014 in response to a request by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin, United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS), located at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., has been under investigation by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. Insider national security whistleblower complaints included that the Center knowingly protected a CHDS professor from Chile who was a former top advisor to Pinochet after belonging to the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional / DINA state terrorist organization (whose attack against a former Chilean foreign minister in 1976 in Washington, D.C., resulted in two deaths, including that of an American). "Reports that NDU hired foreign military officers with histories of involvement in human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings of civilians, are stunning, and they are repulsive", said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the author of the "Leahy Law" prohibiting U.S. assistance to military units and members of foreign security forces that violate human rights.

Roberto Thieme, the military leader of Fatherland and Liberty, who was imprisoned on 11 September was shocked to hear about the degree of violence the coup was carried out with. Despite being an arduous opponent of Unidad Popular he had expected a cleaner coup.

International reaction

President of Argentina Juan Domingo Perón condemned the coup calling it a "fatality for the continent". Before the coup Perón had warned the more radical of his followers to stay calm and "not do as Allende". Argentine students protested the coup at the Chilean embassy in Buenos Aires, where part of them chanted that they were "ready to cross the Andes" (dispuestos a cruzar la cordillera).

Legal impact

A number of cargo shipments involving trade with Cuba were affected by government policy decisions, and subsequently performance of the trade contracts underlying the shipping deliveries was made illegal under Cuban law. The Chilean company Iansa had purchased sugar from the Cuban business entity, Cubazukar, and several shipments were at different stages of the shipping and delivery process. The ships involved included:

  • Playa Larga (delivery in Chile was underway but was not completed before the ship left)
  • The Marble Island (the ship was en route for Chile but was diverted elsewhere)
  • Aegis Fame (hire was cancelled before the cargo had been loaded).

The shipping contracts used c.i.f. trade terms. Iansa sued Cubazukar for non-delivery. The High Court (in England) ruled that IANSA was entitled to damages in respect of the undelivered balance of the Playa Larga cargo and to restitution of the price paid for the Marble Island cargo. Subsequent appeals by both parties were dismissed. In regard to the Aegis Fame shipping, the contract was frustrated and therefore Cubazukar were not in breach.

Commemoration

The commemoration of the coup is associated to competing narratives on its cause and effects. The coup has been commemorated by detractors and supporters in various ways.

On 11 September 1975 Pinochet lit the Llama de la Libertad (lit. Flame of Liberty) to commemorate the coup. This flame was extinguished in 2004. Avenida Nueva Providencia in Providencia, Santiago, was renamed Avenida 11 de Septiembre in 1980. In the 30th anniversary of the coup President Ricardo Lagos inaugurated the Morandé 80 entrance to La Moneda. This entrance to the presidential palace had been erased during the repairs the dictatorship did to the building after the bombing.

40th anniversary

The 40th anniversary of the coup in 2013 was particularly intense. That year the name of Avenida 11 de Septiembre was reversed to the original Avenida Nueva Providencia. The Association of Chilean Magistrates issued a public statement in early September 2013 recognizing the past unwillingness of judges to protect those persecuted by dictatorship. On 11 September 2013 hundreds of Chileans posed as dead in the streets of Santiago in remembrance of the ones "disappeared" by the dictatorship.

The centre-left opposition refused to attend the commemoration event organized by Sebastián Piñera's right-wing government organizing instead a separate event. Osvaldo Andrade of the Socialist Party explained that attendance was not viable as Piñera's government was "packed with passive accomplices" of the dictatorship. Some right-wing politicians also declined the invitation. Presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet planned to spend the day visiting Museum of Memory and Human Rights. President Piñera held an unusual speech in which he denounced "passive accomplices" like news reporters who deliberately changed or omitted the truth and judges who rejected recursos de amparos that could have saved lives. People who knew things or could have known things but decided to stay quiet were also criticized as passive accomplices in Piñera's speech.

A number of new films, theatre plays, and photography expositions were held to cast light on the abuses and censorship of the dictatorship. The number of new books published on the subject in 2013 was such that it constituted an editorial boom. The Museum of Memory and Human Rights also displayed a collection of declassified CIA, FBI, Defense Department, and White House records illustrating the U.S. role in the dictatorship and the coup. Conferences and seminars on the subject of coup were also held. Various series and interviews with politicians on the subject of the coup and the dictatorship were aired on Chilean TV in 2013.

50th anniversary

Pro–Pinochet protester holding a sign with Pinochet's face that says "We want order" in May 2023. In the background, there is another sign with Allende's face.

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the coup in 2023, the United States under the Biden administration finally declassified President Nixon's daily briefs related to Chile from 8 to 11 September 1973. The document for 8 September read: "A number of reports have been received... indicating the possibility of an early military coup. Navy men plotting to overthrow the government now claim army and air force support." It further noted that the far-right paramilitary group, Fatherland and Freedom "has been blocking roads and provoking clashes with the national police, adding to the tension caused by continuing strikes and opposition political moves. President Allende earlier this week said he believed the armed forces will ask for his resignation if he does not change his economic and political policies."

The week before the anniversary, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, along with all four living former presidents—Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Ricardo Lagos, Michelle Bachelet, and Sebastian Piñera—signed an declaration titled "Commitment: For Democracy, Forever", stating that it should "confront the challenges of democracy with more democracy" and it should defend and promote human rights. The right-wing opposition called it "biased" and refused to sign it.

On the day of the anniversary, Boric, Bachelet, and many world leaders, including Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Portugal's António Costa, Colombia's Gustavo Petro, Bolivia's Luis Arce, and Uruguay's Luis Lacalle Pou attended an commemoration in La Moneda presidential palace to commemorate the coup and its aftermath. Others who attended were former Uruguayan president José Mujica and lead Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who said that the United States "shares responsibility" for the coup.

At the commemoration, Boric said:

A coup d'état or the violation of the human rights of those who think differently is never justifiable. It is crucial to clearly state that the coup d'état cannot be separated from what came afterward. Human-rights violations of Chilean men and women began right from the moment of the coup It was a dictatorship until the end Reconciliation is not achieved through neutrality or distance but by unequivocally standing with those who were victims of the horror. Reconciliation, dear compatriots, does not involve attempting to equate the responsibilities between victims and perpetrators.

Surveys showed that 60% of Chileans surveyed were not interested in the commemoration, while another poll claimed that nearly 40% believed Pinochet "modernised" the country. Other data found that more than a third of Chileans believed the coup was justified.

See also

Films and documentaries

Notes

  1. Lawson, George (2005). Negotiated revolutions: the Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile. ESRC, economic & social research council. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-7546-4327-2. The only armed resistance came in a handful of factories, the La Legua poblacion in Santiago and in isolated gunfights with MIR activists.
  2. McSherry, J. Patrice (2011). "Chapter 5: "Industrial repression" and Operation Condor in Latin America". In Esparza, Marcia; Huttenbach, Henry R.; Feierstein, Daniel (eds.). State violence and genocide in Latin America: the Cold War years. Critical terrorism studies. London: Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-415-66457-8.
  3. Hixson, Walter L. (2008). The myth of American diplomacy: national identity and U.S. foreign policy. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-300-11912-1.
  4. Kornbluh, Peter. "Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende". National Security Archive. George Washington University. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  5. Engler, Yves (11 September 2018). "Remembering Canada's support for the right-wing coup in Chile". rabble.ca. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  6. Engler, Yves; Schalk, Owen (10 September 2023). "Unmasking Canada's Role in the Chilean Coup". Jacobin. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  7. Daley, Paul (10 September 2021). "Declassified documents show Australia assisted CIA in coup against Chile's Salvador Allende". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  8. McEvoy, John (22 September 2020). "Exclusive: Secret cables reveal Britain interfered with elections in Chile". Declassified UK. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
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  33. Osborn, Catherine (10 September 2021). "The Other 9/11". Foreign Policy. In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States this month, a leading Chilean university, the University of Concepción, held a series of panel discussions on their legacy. The program referred to the events as 'the other Sept. 11.'
    'Other' because, in Chile, Sept. 11 is best known as the date of the country's own national tragedy: the 1973 U.S.-backed coup against leftist President Salvador Allende that ushered in over 16 years of military rule.
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