In Pictures

History Illustrated: Pinochet and Chile’s dark legacy

President Gabriel Boric’s search for those who disappeared under Augusto Pinochet lauded but also seen as falling short.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy

By Danylo Hawaleshka

History Illustrated is a weekly series of insightful perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — For the first time, the government in Chile has promised to look for the 1,500 people who disappeared under the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

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Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — Their saga, and that of their surviving families, began on September 11, 1973, when Pinochet seized power in a violent military coup.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — His target was Salvador Allende, the first elected Socialist president in Latin America. It was the Cold War, and US President Richard Nixon wanted him gone.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — In 1970, a week before the Chilean Congress ratified Allende’s presidency, the CIA sent a secret cable to its offices in Chile to underscore Nixon’s plan.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — Over the next three years, the CIA tried everything — the agency funded the opposition, created anti-Allende propaganda and instigated labour unrest to destabilise the economy.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — By 1973, with the economy in crisis, Pinochet saw an opportunity to seize power.

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Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — The presidential palace came under heavy fire from the air force. It is where Allende died under mysterious circumstances. In 2011, an autopsy report concluded he had committed suicide.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — Under Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship, thousands of people were forcibly disappeared, tortured and killed. He was never held to account.

Pinochet & Chile’s dark legacy — Today, Chile’s left-wing president, Gabriel Boric, promises answers but has been criticised because his plan fails to force the military to divulge what it knows.