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In Pictures

Gallery|History

Fifty years ago, Chile’s army ousted a president and everything changed

Augusto Pinochet is remembered as the dictator whose regime tortured, killed and disappeared thousands of people.

Chile Coup Anniversary
In this September 11, 1973 photo, a boy pushes a bicycle across a deserted street as an army tank moves towards La Moneda presidential palace during the coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende's government. [AP Photo]
Published On 11 Sep 202311 Sep 2023
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Fifty years ago, Chile began the darkest period in its modern history.

On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup that included the bombing of La Moneda, the presidential palace in the capital of Santiago, where President Salvador Allende had taken refuge.

Allende, a socialist who had won the presidency in 1970, died by suicide during the assault that ended his three-year administration, which was marked by economic turmoil and conflict with Washington over fears he would install a communist government.

A military regime, led by Pinochet, proceeded to pursue free-market reforms and it severely limited political freedoms and repressed opposition to the military government. Street protests were brutally broken up, and opponents were sent to detention centres where they were tortured.

Thousands were killed and forcibly disappeared, and at least 200,000 Chileans went into exile.

Ivonne Saz, 75, Jose Adan Illesca, 74, and Sergio Naranjo, 69, were expelled from their homeland after enduring months-long detentions as members of Chile’s Revolutionary Left Movement, a guerrilla group that no longer exists.

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All three went to Mexico, where they began a new life and where they continue to live. Being exiles had made them question who they were. “This idea of exile, you feel devastated, you feel like your identity is being stolen,” Naranjo recalled. “It’s a loss of your identity.”

During the dictatorship, relatives of the disappeared took to the streets holding photos of missing loved ones and demanding answers.

Late last month, left-wing President Gabriel Boric unveiled what will effectively be the first state-sponsored plan to try to locate the approximately 1,162 dictatorship victims still unaccounted for.

As the years went by, opposition to the military regime grew and numerous unsuccessful assassination attempts targeted Pinochet. In 1988, Chileans voted against extending his presidency and he stepped down in 1990. After that, Allende’s remains were taken from an unmarked grave and given a dignified burial.

Pinochet remained the army’s commander-in-chief until 1998 and later became a lifelong senator, a position he created for himself. He resigned from that post in 2002 and died in 2006 without ever facing trial, although he was detained for 17 months in London on the order of a Spanish judge. He did not receive a state funeral.

Chile Coup Anniversary
Soldiers supporting the coup led by General Augusto Pinochet take cover as bombs are dropped on the presidential palace, known as La Moneda, on September 11, 1973. [Enrique Aracena/AP Photo]
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Chile Coup Anniversary
Employees leave the presidential palace after surrendering to the Chilean military. [File: Alberto Bravo/AP Photo]
Chile Coup Anniversary
La Moneda employees are forced to lay down on the sidewalk next to the building after being arrested by the military who took over the building on September 11, 1973. [El Mercurio/AP Photo]
Chile Coup Anniversary
An unidentified member of Chilean President Salvador Allende's bodyguard detail mounts a machine gun on a balcony of the presidential palace in an attempt to protect Allende during the 1973 coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. [File: Alberto Bravo/AP Photo]
Chile Coup Anniversary
La Moneda is bombed during the coup. [File: AP Photo]
chile coup
The body of Allende, wrapped in a Bolivian poncho, is carried by soldiers and firefighters from the destroyed presidential palace. [File: AP Photo]
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Chilean army soldiers
Chilean army soldiers take cover behind a tank from fire by President Salvador Allende's bodyguards during the ground attack against the presidential palace. [File: Alberto Bravo/AP Photo]
Chilean army soldiers
Helmeted members of Chile's national police march two men suspected of being snipers out of Santiago's municipal hall, on September 13, 1973. Snipers and armed workers had protested the military junta's overthrow of Allende and police threatened to blow up buildings in which snipers were barricaded and warned that any armed men taken prisoner would be shot on the spot. [AP Photo]
Chilean army soldiers
A reinforced platoon of soldiers ready for battle moves out in search of 'suicide squads' in Santiago that were allegedly formed by government sympathizers, on September 13, 1973. [AP Photo]
Chilean army soldiers
General Augusto Pinochet, centre, presides over a meeting with his military staff in Santiago, on September 20, 1973, less than two weeks after seizing power. [AP Photo]


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