View source for Biography:Augusto Pinochet

{{Short description|Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = Captain General<br />Supreme Leader of the Nation
| name                = Augusto Pinochet
| honorific-suffix    = OMCh
| image               = Augusto Pinochet foto oficial.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, {{c.|1974}}
| signature           = Signature of Augusto Pinochet.svg
| office1             = 29th President of Chile
| term_start1         = 17 December 1974
| term_end1           = 11 March 1990
| predecessor1        = Salvador Allende
| successor1          = Patricio Aylwin
| status1           = 
| office2             = {{longitem|President of the Government Junta of Chile}}
| term_start2         = 11 September 1973
| term_end2           = 11 March 1981
| predecessor2        = ''Position established''
| successor2          = José Toribio Merino
| office3             = Senator-for-life of Chile
| term_start3         = 11 March 1998
| term_end3           = 4 July 2002
| office4             = {{longitem|Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army}}
| president4          = {{ubl|Salvador Allende|''Himself''|Patricio Aylwin|Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle}}
| term_start4         = 23 August 1973
| term_end4           = 11 March 1998
| predecessor4        = Carlos Prats
| successor4          = Ricardo Izurieta
| birthname           = Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1915|11|25|df=y}}
| birth_place         = Valparaíso, Chile
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2006|12|10|1915|11|25|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Place:Santiago|Santiago]], Chile
| resting_place       = Los Boldos, Santo Domingo<br />Valparaíso, Chile
| party               = [[Social:Independent politician|Independent]]
| nationality         = Chilean
| spouse              = {{marriage|Lucía Hiriart|1943}}
| children            = 5, including Inés Lucía Pinochet
| alma_mater          = Chilean War Academy
| occupation          = {{hlist|Military officer}}
| profession          = Military
| website             = 
| nickname            = El Tata, Mi General
| footnotes           = 
| allegiance          = {{flag|Chile}}
| branch              = {{army|Chile}}
| serviceyears        = 1931–1998
| rank                = [[File:CAPITAL GENERAL EJERCITO DE CHILE 2.png|20px|Insignia of a Captain General of the Chilean Army]] Captain General
| unit                = {{unbulleted list |"Chacabuco" Regiment |"Maipo" Regiment |"Carampangue" Regiment |"Rancagua" Regiment |1st Army Division}}
| commands            = {{unbulleted list |"Esmeralda" Regiment |2nd Army Division |6th Army Division |Santiago Army Garrison |Chilean Army}}
| battles             = [[History:Cold War|Cold War]]
* El Tanquetazo
* 1973 Chilean coup d'état
* Armed resistance in Chile
* [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]]
| module              = '''Criminal information'''{{Infobox criminal
| child             = yes
| conviction_status = Deceased
| charge            = {{plainlist|
* Caravan of Death
* Assassination of Carlos Prats
* [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]]
* Operation Colombo
* Villa Grimaldi
* Carmelo Soria
* Calle Conferencia
* Antonio Llidó
* Eugenio Berrios
* [[Finance:Tax evasion|Tax evasion]]
* Passport forgery}}
}}
}}
'''Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte'''{{efn-ua|{{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|p|iː|n|ə|ʃ|eɪ}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pinochet|title=Pinochet|work=Collins English Dictionary|publisher=HarperCollins|access-date=14 June 2019|archive-date=4 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104051924/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pinochet|url-status=live}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|ˌ|p|iː|n|oʊ|ˈ|ʃ|ɛ|t}};<ref>[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pinochet "Pinochet"]. ''Free Dictionary''.</ref> {{IPA-es|awˈɣusto pinoˈʃe(t)|lang}};<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/12/augusto_pinoqu.html|title=Augusto Pino-qué?|publisher=Salonc.com|website=slate.com|date=12 December 2006|access-date=8 December 2015|author=Daniel Engber|archive-date=25 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925191214/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/12/augusto_pinoqu.html|url-status=live}}</ref> evidence suggests Chileans, possibly including Pinochet, pronounced his surname both with and without the final {{IPA|/t/}}. Recordings with the t-dropping, and more common with-t pronunciation can be found at {{cite web |url=https://forvo.com/word/es/augusto_pinochet/ |title=Augusto Pinochet |publisher=Forvo|date=27 August 2014 |access-date=27 August 2014}}}} (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who served as Chile's head of state under various titles [[Social:Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|from 1973 to 1990]], first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of the Republic by the junta in 1974 and thus becoming the ''de facto'' dictator of Chile,<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 165745|title = Military Dictatorship and Political Opposition in Chile, 1973–1986|last1 = Loveman|first1 = Brian|journal = Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs|year = 1986|volume = 28|issue = 4|pages = 1–38|doi = 10.2307/165745}}</ref><ref>Kornbluh, Peter. 2013. ''[[The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability]]''. The New Press. {{ISBN|1-59558-912-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 p. ix] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628235455/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PR9 |date=28 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>Reel, Monte, and J. Y. Smith. 11 December 2006. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000302.html A Chilean Dictator's Dark Legacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117092313/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000302.html |date=17 January 2013 }}. ''{{wipe|The Washington Post}}.'' Retrieved 20 March 2015.</ref> and from 1981 to 1990 as ''de jure'' president after a new constitution which confirmed him in the office was approved by a referendum in 1980.<ref name="CBS"/> His rule remains the longest of any Chilean leader.<ref name=Huneeus>Huneeus, Carlos (2007). [http://www.archivochile.com/Dictadura_militar/pinochet/sobre/DMsobrepino80004.pdf Las consecuencias del caso Pinochet en la política chilena]. Centro de. Estudios de la Realidad Contemporánea.</ref>{{efn-ua|Pinochet's rule also surpasses in length that of each colonial governor of the Kingdom of Chile.<ref name=Huneeus/>}}
	
Augusto Pinochet rose through the ranks of the Chilean Army to become General Chief of Staff in early 1972 before being appointed its Commander-in-Chief on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende.<ref name="CBS"/> On 11 September 1973, 
Pinochet seized power in Chile in a military coup, with the support of the United States,<ref name="Winn 2010">Winn, Peter. 2010. "[http://read.dukeupress.edu/content/a-century-of-revolution Furies of the Andes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107055759/http://read.dukeupress.edu/content/a-century-of-revolution |date=7 January 2016 }}." pp. 239–275 in ''A Century of Revolution'', edited by G. M. Joseph and G. Grandin. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. {{doi|10.1215/9780822392859}}. Retrieved 14 January 2014.</ref><ref name="Kornbluh">Kornbluh, Peter. 2013. ''[[The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability]]''. The New Press. {{ISBN|1-59558-912-0}}.</ref><ref name="Lubna">Qureshi, Lubna Z. 2009. ''Nixon, Kissinger, and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile.'' Lexington Books. {{ISBN|0-7391-2656-3}}.</ref>{{efn-ua|Authors who consider the role of the United States crucial for the coup include Peter Winn, Peter Kornbluh and Tim Weiner.<ref name="Winn 2010"/><ref name=Kornbluh/><ref name=Lubna/>}} that toppled Allende's democratically elected left-wing Unidad Popular government and ended civilian rule. In December 1974, the ruling [[Social:Military junta|military junta]] appointed Pinochet Supreme Head of the nation by joint decree, although without the support of one of the coup's instigators, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh.<ref>Cavallo, Ascanio, et al. 1997. ''La Historia Oculta del Régimen Militar'', Grijalbo, Santiago.</ref> After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, and political critics, resulting in the executions of 1,200 to 3,200 people,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/15/pinochet.chile1|title=Chile under Pinochet – a chronology|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 March 1999|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London|archive-date=23 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823220105/http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/15/pinochet.chile1|url-status=live}}</ref> the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands.<ref>"[http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-chile-90 National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916215306/http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-chile-90 |date=16 September 2013 }}" (aka the "Rettig Report"). 1 May 1990. – via United States Institute of Peace.</ref><ref>[http://www.comisiontortura.cl/inicio/index.php 2004 Commission on Torture] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060505023146/http://www.comisiontortura.cl/inicio/index.php|date=5 May 2006}}</ref><ref name="latinamericanstudies.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/human-rights/false-reports.htm|title=Chile to sue over false reports of Pinochet-era missing|publisher=Latin American Studies|date=30 December 2008|access-date=10 March 2010|archive-date=11 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111004020/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/human-rights/false-reports.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Chilean government, the number of executions and [[Social:Forced disappearance|forced disappearance]]s was at least 3,095.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/former-chilean-army-chief-juan-emilio-cheyre-charged-1973-activists-killing Former Chilean army chief charged over 1973 killing of activists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505233818/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/former-chilean-army-chief-juan-emilio-cheyre-charged-1973-activists-killing |date=5 May 2021 }}. ''The Guardian''. 8 July 2016.</ref> [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]], a U.S.-supported terror operation focusing on South America, was founded at the behest of the Pinochet regime in late November 1975, his 60th birthday.<ref name=bbc2005>{{Cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3720724.stm | title=Condor legacy haunts South America | access-date=3 January 2020 | work=BBC | first=Robert | last=Plummer | date=8 June 2005 | archive-date=24 January 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124081233/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3720724.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>

Under the influence of the [[Social:Free market|free market]]–oriented "Chicago Boys", Pinochet's military government implemented economic liberalization following [[Social:Neoliberalism|neoliberalism]], including currency stabilization, removed [[Finance:Protectionism|tariff protections]] for local industry, banned trade unions, and [[Finance:Privatization|privatized]] social security and hundreds of state-owned enterprises. Some of the government properties were sold below market price to politically connected buyers, including Pinochet's son-in-law Julio Ponce Lerou.<ref name=":0" /> The regime used censorship of entertainment as a way to reward supporters of the regime and punish opponents.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Esberg|first=Jane|date=2020|title=Censorship as Reward: Evidence from Pop Culture Censorship in Chile|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=114|issue=3|pages=821–836|doi=10.1017/S000305542000026X|s2cid=219930591 |issn=0003-0554|doi-access=}}</ref> These policies dramatically increased [[Social:Economic inequality|economic inequality]] and produced high economic growth. They caused the [[Finance:Crisis of 1982|1982 monetary crisis]], and thus produced its devastating effects on the Chilean economy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Angell|first=Alan|title=The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. VI, 1930 to the Present. Ed. Leslie Bethell|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1991|location=Cambridge; New York|page=318|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbhOISlOv3MC|isbn=978-0-521-26652-9|access-date=7 June 2020|archive-date=1 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201033616/https://books.google.com/books?id=cbhOISlOv3MC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Leight|first=Jessica|title=Chile: No todo es como parece|publisher=COHA|date=3 January 2005|url=http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.100%20the%20one%20in%20Spanish.htm|access-date=5 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081127214558/http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.100%20the%20one%20in%20Spanish.htm|archive-date=27 November 2008}}</ref> Pinochet's wealth grew considerably during his years in power through dozens of bank accounts secretly held abroad and holdings in real estate. He was later prosecuted for embezzlement, tax [[Finance:Fraud|fraud]], and [[Social:Bribery|kickbacks]] on arms deals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2004/07/21/pinochet-charged-corruption|title=Pinochet charged with corruption|access-date=3 July 2017|archive-date=2 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802010428/http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2004/07/21/pinochet-charged-corruption|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Ecuador>Andrea Chaparro Solís, [http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20060604/pags/20060604192749.html Consejo de Defensa del Estado se hace querellante en caso armas a Ecuador] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130116031600/http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20060604/pags/20060604192749.html |date=16 January 2013 }}, ''La Nación'', 5 June 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Pinochet's 17-year rule was given a legal framework through a controversial 1980 plebiscite, which approved a new constitution drafted by a government-appointed commission. In a 1988 plebiscite, 56% voted against Pinochet's continuing as president, which led to democratic elections for the presidency and Congress. After stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 10 March 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life in accordance with his 1980 Constitution. However, while in London in 1998 Pinochet was arrested under an international arrest warrant in connection with numerous human rights violations. Following a legal battle, he was released on grounds of ill-health and returned to Chile on 3 March 2000. In 2004, Chilean Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia ruled that Pinochet was medically fit to stand trial and placed him under house arrest.<ref name="CBS"/> By the time of his death on 10 December 2006, about 300 criminal charges were still pending against him in Chile for numerous human rights violations during his 17-year rule, as well as [[Finance:Tax evasion|tax evasion]] and embezzlement during and after his rule.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chang|first=Jack|author2=Yulkowski, Lisa|title=Vocal minority praises Pinochet at his funeral|newspaper=Bradenton Herald|date=13 December 2006|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28896708_ITM|access-date=13 April 2009}}</ref> He was also accused of having corruptly amassed at least US$28 million.<ref>Larry Rohter, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html?ex=1308369600en=964a159db7c0d614ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss Colonel's Death Gives Clues to Pinochet Arms Deals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808081901/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html?ex=1308369600en=964a159db7c0d614ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss |date=8 August 2018 }}, ''The New York Times'', 19 June 2006 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Padres de Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.jpg|thumb|The parents of Pinochet : Augusto Pinochet Vera and Avelina Ugarte Martínez]]
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was born in Valparaíso on 25 November 1915. He was the son and namesake of Augusto Pinochet Vera (1891–1944), a descendant of an 18th century French Breton immigrant from Lamballe,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Guillaume-Pinochet/6000000002454729141 | title=Guillaume de Pinochet | year=1695 | access-date=14 February 2018 | archive-date=18 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118122605/https://www.geni.com/people/Guillaume-Pinochet/6000000002454729141 | url-status=live }}</ref> and Avelina Ugarte Martínez (1895–1986), a woman of Basque heritage whose family had been in Chile since the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lahoradelpueblo.blogspot.com/2006/12/augusto-pinochet-el-insulso-hijo-del.html |title=Augusto Pinochet, el insulso hijo del aduanero |publisher=Lahoradelpueblo.blogspot.com |access-date=11 October 2013 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213912/http://lahoradelpueblo.blogspot.com/2006/12/augusto-pinochet-el-insulso-hijo-del.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Avelina-Ugarte-Mart%C3%ADnez/6000000006829754387 | title=Avelina del Carmen Ugarte Martínez | date=25 November 1895 | access-date=14 February 2018 | archive-date=18 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118122603/https://www.geni.com/people/Avelina-Ugarte-Mart%C3%ADnez/6000000006829754387 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://lahoradelpueblo.blogspot.com/2006/12/augusto-pinochet-el-insulso-hijo-del.html Augusto Pinochet Ugarte] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708045758/http://lahoradelpueblo.blogspot.com/2006/12/augusto-pinochet-el-insulso-hijo-del.html |date=8 July 2011 }}.</ref>

Pinochet went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaíso, the Rafael Ariztía Institute (Marist Brothers) in Quillota, the French Fathers' School of Valparaíso, and then to the Military School in Santiago, which he entered in 1931. In 1935, after four years studying [[Earth:Military geography|military geography]], he graduated with the rank of ''alférez'' (Second Lieutenant) in the infantry.

==Military career==
In September 1937, Pinochet was assigned to the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepción. Two years later, in 1939, then with the rank of Sub-lieutenant, he moved to the "Maipo" Regiment, garrisoned in Valparaíso. He returned to Infantry School in 1940. On 30 January 1943, Pinochet married Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, with whom he had five children: Inés Lucía, María Verónica, Jacqueline Marie, Augusto Osvaldo and Marco Antonio.

By late 1945, Pinochet had been assigned to the "Carampangue" Regiment in the northern city of Iquique. Three years later, he entered the Chilean War Academy but had to postpone his studies because, being the youngest officer, he had to carry out a service mission in the coal zone of Lota. In 1948, Pinochet was initiated in the regular Masonic Lodge ''Victoria n°15'' of San Bernardo, affiliated to the Grand Lodge of Chile.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://357.hautetfort.com/archive/2016/12/28/alberto-bachelet-martinez-ou-le-desir-de-liberte-et-de-justice.html|language=fr|title=Alberto Bachelet Martinez and his desire of freedom and justice|date=December 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230000111/http://357.hautetfort.com/archive/2016/12/28/alberto-bachelet-martinez-ou-le-desir-de-liberte-et-de-justice.html|archive-date=30 December 2016}}</ref> He received the Scottish Rite degree of companion, but he is thought not to have ever become a Grand Master.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.grandeoriente.it/pinochet-non-fu-mai-maestro-massone-lo-rivela-lo-storico-spagnolo-mario-amoros/ |title=Pinochet non fu mai un maestro massone |trans-title=Pinochet wasn't never a Grand Master of Freemasonry |language=it |website=Grand Orient of Italy |date=27 October 2019 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930151142/https://www.grandeoriente.it/pinochet-non-fu-mai-maestro-massone-lo-rivela-lo-storico-spagnolo-mario-amoros/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The following year he returned to his studies in the academy, and after obtaining the title of Officer Chief of Staff, in 1951, he returned to teach at the Military School. At the same time, he worked as a teachers' aide at the War Academy, giving military geography and geopolitics classes. He was also the editor of the institutional magazine ''Cien Águilas'' ('One Hundred Eagles'). At the beginning of 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to the "Rancagua" Regiment in Arica. While there, he was appointed professor of the Chilean War Academy, and returned to [[Place:Santiago|Santiago]] to take up his new position.<ref name="CBS">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/chile/pinochet.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104162648/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/chile/pinochet.html|archive-date=4 January 2007|title=Augusto Pinochet: Timeline|work=CBS News|date=11 December 2006}}</ref>

In 1956, Pinochet and a group of young officers were chosen to form a military mission to collaborate in the organization of the War Academy of Ecuador in Quito. He remained with the Quito mission for four-and-a-half years, during which time he studied [[Earth:Geopolitics|geopolitics]], [[Earth:Military geography|military geography]] and military intelligence. At the end of 1959 he returned to Chile and was sent to General Headquarters of the 1st Army Division, based in Antofagasta. The following year, he was appointed commander of the "Esmeralda" Regiment. Due to his success in this position, he was appointed Sub-director of the War Academy in 1963. In 1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army Division, based in [[Place:Santiago|Santiago]], and at the end of that year, he was promoted to brigadier general and Commander in Chief of the 6th Division, garrisoned in Iquique. In his new function, he was also appointed Intendent of the [[Place:Tarapacá Region|Tarapacá]] Province.

In January 1971, Pinochet was promoted to division general and was named General Commander of the Santiago Army Garrison. On 8 June 1971, following the assassination of Edmundo Perez Zujovic by left-wing radicals, Allende appointed Pinochet a supreme authority of Santiago province, imposing a military curfew in the process,<ref>{{cite news|title=Ex Chile Official Assassinated|newspaper=The Press Democrat|date=8 June 1971}}</ref> which was later lifted. However, on 2 December 1971, following a series of peaceful protests against economic policies of Allende, the curfew was re-installed, all protests prohibited, with Pinochet leading the crackdown on anti-Allende protests.<ref>{{cite news|title=Emergency Decreed After Riots in Chile|newspaper=Tucson Citizen|date=2 December 1971}}</ref> At the beginning of 1972, he was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Army. With rising domestic strife in Chile, after General Prats resigned his position, Pinochet was appointed [[Social:Commander-in-chief|commander-in-chief]] of the Army on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende just one day after the Chamber of Deputies of Chile approved a resolution asserting that the government was not respecting the Constitution. Less than a month later, the Chilean military deposed Allende.

==Military coup of 1973==

On 11 September 1973, the combined Chilean Armed Forces (the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros) overthrew Allende's government in a coup, during which the presidential palace, La Moneda, was shelled. That is where Allende was said to have committed suicide.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/20/salvador-allende-committed-suicide-autopsy|location=London|work=The Guardian|title=Chilean president Salvador Allende committed suicide, autopsy confirms|date=20 July 2011|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016083124/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/20/salvador-allende-committed-suicide-autopsy|url-status=live}}</ref> While the military claimed that he had committed suicide, controversy surrounded [[Unsolved:Death of Salvador Allende|Allende's death]], with many commentators claiming that he had been assassinated, a theory contradicted by the Chilean Supreme Court in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://expansion.mx/mundo/2014/01/07/la-corte-chilena-confirma-el-suicidio-de-allende-y-cierra-la-investigacion |title=La Corte chilena confirma el suicidio de Allende y cierra la investigación &#124; Expansión |publisher=Expansion.mx |date=7 January 2014 |access-date=28 May 2017 |archive-date=20 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020033041/http://expansion.mx/mundo/2014/01/07/la-corte-chilena-confirma-el-suicidio-de-allende-y-cierra-la-investigacion |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his book about the coup, ''The Decisive Day'' (''El día decisivo, 11 de septiembre de 1973''), Pinochet said that he was the leading plotter of the coup and had used his position as commander-in-chief of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme with the other two branches of the military and the national police.<ref name="ConstableValenzuela1993">{{cite book |last1=Constable |first1=Pamela |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Arturo |title=Nation of Enemies Chile Under Pinochet |year=1993 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-30985-0 |pages=50–54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OypfoLO_6WgC&pg=PA50}}</ref> In later years, however, high military officials from the time, such as Gustavo Leigh, commander-in-chief of the air force, have said that Pinochet reluctantly became involved only a few days before the coup was scheduled to occur, and followed the lead of the other branches (especially the Navy, under Admiral Merino) as they executed the coup.<ref name="O'Shaughnessy2000">{{cite book |last1=O'Shaughnessy |first1=Hugh |title=Pinochet: The Politics of Torture |year=2000 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-6201-1 |pages=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU2U_7ur46kC&pg=PA52}}</ref>

The new government rounded up thousands of people and held them in the national stadium, where many were killed. This was followed by brutal repression during Pinochet's rule, during which approximately 3,000 people were killed, while more than 1,000 are still missing.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/807599.stm|work=BBC News|title=Soldier confirms Chile stadium killings|date=27 June 2000|access-date=24 July 2011|archive-date=3 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103164930/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/807599.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the months that followed the coup, the ''[[Social:Junta (governing body)|junta]]'' published a book with text written  by historian Gonzalo Vial and admiral Patricio Carvajal, titled ''El Libro Blanco del cambio de gobierno en Chile'' ('The White Book on the Change of Government in Chile'), commonly known as ''El Libro Blanco'', in which they said 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. United States intelligence agencies believed the plan to be untrue propaganda.<ref>[http://www.clarin.com/diario/1999/07/05/i-02501d.htm El fin de un mito en Chile: el Plan Zeta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018094148/http://www.clarin.com/diario/1999/07/05/i-02501d.htm |date=18 October 2007 }}, ''Clarín'', 5 July 1999 {{in lang|es}}</ref> Although later discredited and officially recognized as the product of political propaganda,<ref name="Valech1">[http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/comision_valech/pdf/Capitulo3.pdf Comisión Nacional sobre Prisión Política y Tortura CAPÍTULO III Contexto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050520040544/http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/comision_valech/pdf/Capitulo3.pdf |date=20 May 2005 }}.</ref> Gonzalo Vial Correa insists in 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> Pinochet was also trained by the School of the Americas (SOA) where it is likely he first encountered the ideals of the coup.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Meade|first=Teresa|title=A History of Modern Latin America 1800 to the present|publisher=Wiley|year=2016|isbn=978-1-118-77248-5|location=USA|pages=269–271}}</ref>

Canadian reporter Jean Charpentier of Télévision de Radio-Canada was the first foreign journalist to interview General Pinochet following the coup.<ref name=gandm>{{Cite news|first=Philip|last=Fine|title=Cool and mannerly, he was Trudeau's press secretary at a difficult time|url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20100123.OBCHARPENTIER23ART2043/BDAStory/BDA/deaths|work=The Globe and Mail|date=23 January 2010|access-date=7 February 2010|location=Toronto|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021170146/http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20100123.OBCHARPENTIER23ART2043/BDAStory/BDA/deaths|archive-date=21 October 2018}}</ref> After Allende's final radio address, he shot himself rather than becoming a prisoner.<ref>{{cite web|last=Read|first=Peter|date=24 August 2021|title=Pinochet's Chile|url=https://historyguild.org/pinochets-chile/|url-status=live|website=History Guild|access-date=18 October 2021|archive-date=18 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018050045/https://historyguild.org/pinochets-chile/}}</ref>

===U.S. backing of the coup===
[[File:Reunión Pinochet - Kissinger.jpg|thumb|U.S. Secretary of State [[Biography:Henry Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] with Pinochet in 1976]]
The Church Report investigating the fallout of the Watergate scandal stated that while the U.S. tacitly supported the Pinochet government after the 1973 coup, there was "no evidence" that the US was directly involved in it.<ref name="Church Report 1">{{cite web|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp#A.%20Overview:%20Cover%20Action%20in%20Chile|title=Covert Action in Chile 1963–1973|publisher=US Government Printing Office|date=18 December 1975|author=Frank Church|quote=Was the United States DIRECTLY involved, covertly, in the 1973 coup in Chile? The Committee has found no evidence that it was.|access-date=20 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722060530/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp#A.%20Overview:%20Cover%20Action%20in%20Chile|archive-date=22 July 2010|display-authors=0}}</ref> This view has been contradicted by several academics, such as Peter Winn, who writes that the role of the CIA was crucial to the consolidation of power after the coup; the CIA helped fabricate a conspiracy against the Allende government, which Pinochet was then portrayed as preventing. He stated that the coup itself was possible only through a three-year covert operation mounted by the United States. Winn also points out that the US imposed an "invisible blockade" that was designed to disrupt the economy under Allende, and contributed to the destabilization of the regime.<ref name="Winn 2010"/> Author Peter Kornbluh argues in ''The Pinochet File'' that the US was extensively involved and actively "fomented" the 1973 coup.<ref name="The Pinochet File">{{cite book|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|url=https://archive.org/details/pinochetfiledecl0000korn|title=The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability|publisher=The New Press|year=2003|isbn=1-56584-936-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/pinochetfiledecl0000korn/page/171 171]|url-access=registration}}</ref> Authors Tim Weiner (''Legacy of Ashes'')<ref name="Legacy of Ashes">{{cite book|last=Weiner|first=Tim|title=Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA|year=2007|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=978-0-307-38900-8|page=361}}</ref> and [[Biography:Christopher Hitchens|Christopher Hitchens]] (''The Trial of Henry Kissinger'')<ref name="The Trial of Henry Kissinger">{{cite book|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|title=The Trial of Henry Kissinger|year=2001|publisher=Verso|isbn=1-85984-631-9|url=https://archive.org/details/trialofhenrykiss00hitc}}</ref> similarly argue the case that US covert actions actively destabilized Allende's government and set the stage for the 1973 coup. Despite denial of countless American agencies, current declassified documentation has proven the American involvement. Nixon and Kissinger, along with both private and public intelligence agencies were "apprised of, and even enmeshed in, the planning and executing of the military takeover."<ref name=":1" /> Along with this, CIA operatives directly involved, such as Jack Devine, have also come out and declared their involvement in the coup. Devine stating, "I sent CIA headquarters a special type of top-secret cable known as a CRITIC, which ... goes directly to the highest levels of government."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Devine |first1=Jack |title=What Really Happened in Chile: The CIA, the Coup against Allende, and the Rise of Pinochet. |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=July 2014 |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=26–35 |jstor=24483554}}</ref>

The US provided material support to the military government after the coup, although criticizing it in public. A document released by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (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.<ref name="NSA-2000-9-19">{{cite web|author=Peter Kornbluh|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/|title=CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression: Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile|work=Chile Documentation Project|publisher=National Security Archive|date=19 September 2000|access-date=26 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128142216/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/|archive-date=28 November 2006 |url-status = live}}</ref> The CIA also maintained contacts in the Chilean [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]] intelligence service. DINA led the multinational campaign known as [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]], which amongst other activities carried out assassinations of prominent politicians in various Latin American countries, in Washington, D.C., and in Europe, and kidnapped, tortured and executed activists holding left-wing views, which culminated in the deaths of roughly 60,000 people.<ref>McSherry, J. Patrice. 2005. ''[https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742536876 Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926094345/https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742536876 |date=26 September 2015 }}.'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. {{ISBN|0-7425-3687-4}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tSDg6xa4z2YC&pg=PA1 p. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629132913/https://books.google.com/books?id=tSDg6xa4z2YC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA1 |date=29 June 2016 }}.</ref><ref>Rohter, Larry. 24 January 2014. "[http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/exposing-the-legacy-of-operation-condor/ Exposing the Legacy of Operation Condor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001112328/http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/exposing-the-legacy-of-operation-condor/ |date=1 October 2019 }}." ''The New York Times.'' Retrieved 26 August 2015.</ref> The United States provided key organizational, financial and technical assistance to the operation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McSherry|first1=J. Patrice|editor1=Esparza, Marcia|editor2=Henry R. Huttenbach|editor3=Daniel Feierstein|title=State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Critical Terrorism Studies)|chapter=Chapter 5: "Industrial repression" and Operation Condor in Latin America|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=acGNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 107]|publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|year=2011|isbn=978-0-415-66457-8|chapter-url=https://www.routledge.com/State-Violence-and-Genocide-in-Latin-America-The-Cold-War-Years/Esparza-Huttenbach-Feierstein/p/book/9780415496377|access-date=30 January 2017|archive-date=19 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719232658/https://www.routledge.com/State-Violence-and-Genocide-in-Latin-America-The-Cold-War-Years/Esparza-Huttenbach-Feierstein/p/book/9780415496377|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Greg Grandin (2011). ''[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo11643711.html The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729004206/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo11643711.html |date=29 July 2019 }}.'' [[Organization:University of Chicago Press|University of Chicago Press]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6FivSpNY2fkC&pg=PA75 p. 75] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031145308/https://books.google.com/books?id=6FivSpNY2fkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA75 |date=31 October 2019 }}. {{ISBN|978-0-226-30690-2}}</ref><ref>Walter L. Hixson (2009). ''[http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300119121 The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124224407/http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300119121 |date=24 January 2016 }}.'' Yale University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DNId6HxkzQwC&pg=PA223 p. 223] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108192146/https://books.google.com/books?id=DNId6HxkzQwC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA223 |date=8 November 2019 }}. {{ISBN|0-300-15131-4}}</ref> CIA contact with DINA head Manuel Contreras was established in 1974 soon after the coup, during the Junta period prior to official transfer of Presidential powers to Pinochet; in 1975, the CIA reviewed a warning that keeping Contreras as an asset might threaten human rights in the region. The CIA chose to keep him as an asset, and at one point even paid him. In addition to the CIA's maintaining of assets in DINA beginning soon after the coup, several CIA assets, such as CORU Cuban exile militants Orlando Bosch and Guillermo Novo, collaborated in DINA operations under the Condor Plan in the early years of Pinochet's presidency.

==Military junta==
[[File:Pinochet junta1.gif|thumb|Junta session one week after the 1973 coup]]
A [[Social:Military junta|military junta]] was established immediately following the coup, made up of General Pinochet representing the Army, Admiral José Toribio Merino representing the Navy, General Gustavo Leigh representing the {{wipe|Chilean Air Force}}, and General César Mendoza representing the ''Carabineros'' (national police). As established, the junta exercised both executive and legislative functions of the government, [[Social:State of emergency|suspended the Constitution]] and the Congress, imposed strict censorship and [[Social:Curfew|curfew]], banned all parties and halted all political and perceived subversive activities. This military junta held the executive role until 17 December 1974, after which it remained strictly as a legislative body, the executive powers being transferred to Pinochet with the title of President.

==Military dictatorship (1973–1990)==
{{Main|Social:Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)}}
[[File:Pinochet 11-09-1982.JPG|thumb|Pinochet in 1982]]

[[File:Nlc02585cs.jpg|thumb|Pinochet meeting with U.S. President [[Biography:Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter]] in Washington, D.C., September 6, 1977]]
The junta members originally planned that the presidency would be held for a year by the commanders-in-chief of each of the four military branches in turn. However, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the military junta, and then was proclaimed "Supreme Chief of the Nation" ("Jefe Supremo de la Nación"),  the ''de facto'' provisional president, on 17 June 1974 by Decree Law No. 527.<ref>[https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=6164&idParte= Decreta Ley No. 527, "Aprueba Estatuto de la Junta de Gobierno"]</ref> He was officially titled "President of the Republic" on 17 December 1974.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://revistahistoria.uc.cl/estudios/1816/ |title="¡Estamos en guerra, señores!". El régimen militar de Pinochet y el "pueblo", 1973–1980 « Revista Historia |publisher=Revistahistoria.uc.cl |date=2010 |access-date=28 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910014100/http://revistahistoria.uc.cl/estudios/1816/ |archive-date=10 September 2016 }}</ref>  General Leigh, head of the Air Force, became increasingly opposed to Pinochet's policies and was forced into retirement on 24 July 1978, after contradicting Pinochet on that year's plebiscite (officially called Consulta Nacional, or National Consultation, in response to a UN resolution condemning Pinochet's government). He was replaced by General Fernando Matthei.

Pinochet organized a plebiscite on 11 September 1980 to ratify a new constitution, replacing the 1925 Constitution drafted during Arturo Alessandri's presidency. The new Constitution, partly drafted by Jaime Guzmán, a close adviser to Pinochet who later founded the right-wing party Independent Democratic Union (UDI), gave a lot of power to the President of the Republic—Pinochet. It created some new institutions, such as the Constitutional Tribunal and the controversial National Security Council (COSENA). It also prescribed an 8-year presidential period, and a single-candidate presidential [[Social:Referendum|referendum]] in 1988, where a candidate nominated by the Junta would be approved or rejected for another 8-year period. The new constitution was approved by a margin of 67.04% to 30.19% according to official figures;<ref name=Hudson>{{citation |editor-last=Hudson |editor-first=Rex A. |title=Chile: A Country Study |journal=GPO for the Library of Congress |date=1995 |access-date=20 March 2005 |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cltoc.html |archive-date=25 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625213643/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cltoc.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the opposition, headed by ex-president Eduardo Frei Montalva (who had supported Pinochet's coup), denounced extensive irregularities such as the lack of an electoral register, which facilitated multiple voting, and said that the total number of votes reported to have been cast was very much larger than would be expected from the size of the electorate and turnout in previous elections. Interviews after Pinochet's departure with people involved with the referendum confirmed that fraud had, indeed, been widespread.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cambio21.cl/cambio21/site/artic/20120622/pags/20120622183350.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715001721/http://www.cambio21.cl/cambio21/site/artic/20120622/pags/20120622183350.html|title=Cambio22: The great historical fraud - the constitutional plebiscite of 1980. Witnesses confirm that it was all manipulated and arranged, including the final result, Pilar Guevara, 24 June 2012|archive-date=15 July 2014|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref> The Constitution was promulgated on 21 October 1980, taking effect on 11 March 1981. Pinochet was replaced as President of the Junta that day by Admiral Merino. During Pinochet's reign it is estimated that some one million people had been forced to flee the country.<ref name=":1" />

Armed opposition to the Pinochet rule continued in remote parts of the country. In a massive operation spearheaded by Chilean Army para-commandos, some 2,000 security forces troops<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzrwMb3UppYC&q=black+berets+neltume&pg=PA146 |title=Chile under Pinochet: recovering the truth. By Mark Ensalaco. Page 146. Cloth 1999 |access-date=10 March 2010 |isbn=978-0-8122-3520-3 |year=2000 |last1=Ensalaco |first1=Mark |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203137/https://books.google.com/books?id=hzrwMb3UppYC&q=black+berets+neltume&pg=PA146 |url-status=live }}</ref> were deployed in the mountains of Neltume from June to November 1981,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.faqs.org/cia/docs/33/0000451376/LATIN-AMERICA-REVIEW---CHILE:--TERRORISM-STILL-COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.html |title=Chile: Terrorism still counterproductive. CIA document |publisher=Faqs.org |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160510/http://www.faqs.org/cia/docs/33/0000451376/LATIN-AMERICA-REVIEW---CHILE%3A--TERRORISM-STILL-COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 }}</ref> where they destroyed two MIR bases, seizing large caches of munitions and killing a number of guerrillas.

According to author Ozren Agnic Krstulovic, weapons including C-4 plastic explosives, [[Engineering:RPG-7|RPG-7]] and [[Engineering:M72 LAW|M72 LAW]] rocket launchers, as well as more than 3,000 M-16 rifles, were smuggled into the country by opponents of the government.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itzzT3or3noC&q=Carrizal+Bajo+m+16+fpmr&pg=PA147 |title=Pinochet S.A.: la base de la fortuna. Ozren Agnic Krstulovic. Page 147. RiL Editores 2006 |access-date=11 October 2013 |isbn=978-956-284-521-2 |last1=Krstulovi |first1=Ozren Agnic |year=2006 |publisher=RIL Editores |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203207/https://books.google.com/books?id=itzzT3or3noC&q=Carrizal+Bajo+m+16+fpmr&pg=PA147 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 1986, weapons from the same source were used in an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Pinochet by the FPMR. His military bodyguard was taken by surprise, and five members were killed. Pinochet's bulletproof Mercedes Benz vehicle was struck by a rocket, but it failed to explode and Pinochet suffered only minor injuries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emol.com/especiales/infografias/atentadopinochet/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029124042/http://www.emol.com/especiales/infografias/atentadopinochet/index.htm|title=Atentado de Pinochet - Especiales EMOL|archive-date=29 October 2006|website=www.emol.com|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref>

===Suppression of opposition===

[[File:Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos de Chile (de Kena Lorenzini).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Women of the Association of Families of the Detained-Disappeared demonstrate in front of La Moneda Palace during the Pinochet military regime]]

{{blockquote|He shut down parliament, suffocated political life, banned trade unions, and made Chile his sultanate. His government disappeared 3,000 opponents, arrested 30,000 (torturing thousands of them)&nbsp;... Pinochet's name will forever be linked to the [[Social:Forced disappearance|''Desaparecidos'']], the Caravan of Death, and the institutionalized torture that took place in the Villa Grimaldi complex.| Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation, ''National Review''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2006/12/pinochet-history-nro-symposium/|title=Pinochet Is History: But how will it remember him?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930005031/https://www.nationalreview.com/2006/12/pinochet-history-nro-symposium/|archive-date=30 September 2020 |work=National Review |author=National Review Symposium |date=11 December 2006}}</ref>}}

[[File:Orlando Letelier, Washingron DC, 1976 (de Marcelo Montecino).jpg|thumb|Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister, was assassinated in Washington, D.C. in 1976.]]
Almost immediately after the military's seizure of power, the junta banned all the leftist parties that had constituted Allende's UP coalition.<ref name="Stern">{{Cite book|last=Stern|first=Steve J.|title=Remembering Pinochet's Chile|date=8 September 2004|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-3354-6 |pages=32, 90, 101, 180–81}}. Retrieved 24 October 2006.</ref>
All other parties were placed in "indefinite recess" and were later banned outright. The government's violence was directed not only against dissidents but also against their families and other civilians.<ref name="Stern" />

The Rettig Report concluded that 2,279 people who disappeared during the military government were killed for political reasons or as a result of political violence. According to the later Valech Report  approximately 31,947 were tortured and 1,312 exiled. The exiles were pursued all over the world by the intelligence agencies. In Latin America, this was carried out under [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]], a cooperation plan between the various intelligence agencies of South American countries, assisted by a United States CIA communication base in Panama. Pinochet believed these operations were necessary in order to "save the country from communism".<ref>Gallardo, Eduardo. 11 December 2006. "[https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2714962 Pinochet Was Unrepentant to the End] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628202612/http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2714962 |date=28 June 2011 }}." ''ABC News''. Associated Press.</ref> In 2011, the commission identified an additional 9,800 victims of political repression during Pinochet's rule, increasing the total number of victims to approximately 40,018, including 3,065 killed.<ref name="more victims">{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14584095 | work=BBC News | title=Chile recognises 9,800 more victims of Pinochet's rule | date=18 August 2011 | access-date=21 July 2018 | archive-date=6 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806113131/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14584095 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Some political scientists have ascribed the relative bloodiness of the coup to the stability of the existing democratic system, which required extreme action to overturn. Some of the worst cases of human rights violation occurred during the early period: in October 1973, at least 70 people were killed throughout the country by the Caravan of Death. Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, both U.S. journalists, "[[Social:Forced disappearance|disappeared]]",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–11, Part 2, Documents on South America, 1973–1976 - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve11p2/d243 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref><ref>Bonnefoy, Pascale. 28 January 2015. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/world/americas/2-sentenced-in-murders-in-chile-coup.html?_r=0 2 Sentenced in Murders in Chile Coup] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719000859/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/world/americas/2-sentenced-in-murders-in-chile-coup.html?_r=0 |date=19 July 2016 }}." ''The New York Times.'' Retrieved 20 June 2015.</ref> as did Víctor Olea Alegría, a member of the Socialist Party, and many others, in 1973. British priest Michael Woodward, who vanished within 10 days of the coup, was tortured and beaten to death aboard the Chilean naval ship, [[Engineering:Esmeralda (BE-43)|''Esmeralda'']].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/09/pinochet-chile-michael-woodward-valpara-so My 35-year fight to find Pinochet torturers who killed my brother] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819044323/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/09/pinochet-chile-michael-woodward-valpara-so |date=19 August 2016 }}. ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}.'' 8 November 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2016.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/09/chilean-officers-reyes-lopez-guilty-murder-priest Chilean ex-navy officers found guilty of murdering priest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819051345/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/09/chilean-officers-reyes-lopez-guilty-murder-priest |date=19 August 2016 }}. ''The Guardian.'' 9 May 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2016.</ref>
[[File:Memorial DDHH Chile 59 Plaza Ictinos.jpg|thumb|Memorial to victims of Pinochet's regime]]

Many other important officials of Allende's government were tracked down by the [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional]] (DINA) under the auspices of Operation Condor. General Carlos Prats, Pinochet's predecessor and army commander under Allende, who had resigned rather than support the moves against Allende's government, was assassinated in [[Place:Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires]], {{wipe|Argentina}}, in 1974. A year later, the murder of 119 opponents abroad was disguised as an internal conflict, the DINA setting up a propaganda campaign to support this idea (Operation Colombo), a campaign publicised by the leading newspaper in Chile, El Mercurio.

Other victims included Carmelo Soria, a UN diplomat working for the CEPAL, assassinated in July 1976; and Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador to the United States and minister in Allende's cabinet, assassinated after his release from internment and exile in Washington, D.C. by a car bomb on 21 September 1976. Documents which were released in 2015 which alleged Pinochet ordered Letelier's assassination,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/pinochet-directly-ordered-washington-killing-diplomat-documents-orlando-letelier-declassified Pinochet directly ordered killing on US soil of Chilean diplomat, papers reveal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112174646/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/pinochet-directly-ordered-washington-killing-diplomat-documents-orlando-letelier-declassified |date=12 November 2020 }}. ''The Guardian.'' 8 October 2015.</ref> though Michael Townley, who directly carried out the assassination, implied otherwise in letters.<ref name="townleyconfesses" /><ref name=townleymissionsstill /> This led to strained relations with the US and to the extradition of Michael Townley, a US citizen who worked for the DINA and had organized Letelier's assassination. Other targeted victims, who escaped assassination, included Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton, who escaped an assassination attempt in [[Place:Rome|Rome]] in 1975 by the Italian terrorist Stefano delle Chiaie; Carlos Altamirano, the leader of the Chilean Socialist Party, targeted for murder in 1975 by Pinochet, along with Volodia Teitelboim, member of the Communist Party; Pascal Allende, the nephew of Salvador Allende and president of the MIR, who escaped an assassination attempt in Costa Rica in March 1976; and US Congressman Edward Koch, who became aware in 2001 of relations between death threats and his denunciation of Operation Condor. Furthermore, according to later investigations, Eduardo Frei Montalva, the Christian Democrat President of Chile from 1964 to 1970, may have been poisoned in 1982 with toxins produced by DINA biochemist Eugenio Berrios.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6289209.stm Ex-Chilean leader 'was murdered'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820174929/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6289209.stm |date=20 August 2007 }}, BBC, 23 January 2007</ref> Though this accusation would eventually result in convictions, it was determined by 2021 that Montalva was in fact not a homicide victim.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |date=2021-01-25 |title=Chile court overturns convictions for 1982 murder of former president Frei |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/25/chile-court-murder-pinochet-era-president-frei |access-date=2023-11-24 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.barrons.com/news/chile-ex-president-frei-was-not-murdered-appeals-court-01611594905|title=Chile Court Overturns Murder Verdict In Ex-president Frei's Death|first=Paula|last=Bustamante|publisher=Barron's|date=25 January 2021|accessdate=24 November 2023}}</ref>

Despite having Pinochet as its highest commander, a "confession" which Michael Townley made in 1978 described Gen. Manuel Contreras as the one who oversaw and ordered DINA's missions, even noting that he carried out numerous Operation Condor missions in Europe and the Letelier-Moffitt assassination "following orders from Gen. Contreas".<ref name=townleyconfesses>{{cite news|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/30797-document-1-townley-papers-confesion-y-acusacion-confession-and-accusation-march-13|title=Townley Papers, "Confesión y Acusación [Confession and Accusation]," March 13, 1978|first=Michael|last=Townley|date=March 13, 1978|publisher=National Security|accessdate=November 24, 2023}}</ref><ref name=townleymissionsstill>{{cite news|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2023-11-22/pinochet-dictatorship-declassified-confessions-dina-hit-man|title=The Pinochet Dictatorship Declassified: Confessions of a DINA Hit Man|publisher=National Security Archive|date=November 22, 2023|accessdate=November 24, 2023}}</ref> In a letter which Townley personally sent to Contreas after he was implicated in the U.S. and Chilean press as the lead suspect in the Letelier-Montiff assassination, Townley, using the alias J. Andreas Wilson, indicated his belief that Contreras had not “let his Excellency [Pinochet] know the truth about this case.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/30801-document-5-townley-papers-dear-don-manuel-letter-townley-dina-chief-general-manuel|title=Townley Papers, "Dear Don Manuel" [letter from Townley to DINA chief General Manuel Contreras], Undated [Spanish original and English translation]|first=J. Andreas|last=Wilson|publisher=National Security Archives|date=March 1, 1978|accessdate=November 25, 2023}}</ref><ref name=townleymissionsstill /> Nevertheless, it was also acknowledged that the Pinochet regime made a major push cover up its role in the assassination.<ref name=coveruprevelations /> The extensive cover-up efforts were codenamed “Operación Mascarada.”<ref name=coveruprevelations>{{cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/30802-document-6-department-justice-draft-marcyletelieraffidavit-august-23-1991-original|title=Department of Justice, "Draft; Marcy/Letelier/Affidavit," August 23, 1991 [Original in English and Spanish translation]|first=Eric B.|last=Marcy|publisher=National Security Archive|date=August 23, 1991|access-date=November 25, 2023}}</ref> It was also revealed that Townley, who was expelled from Chile to the United States in April 1978,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/08/archives/chile-expelling-an-american-wanted-by-us-in-assassination-case-he.html|title=Chile Expelling an American Wanted by U.S. in Assassination Case|work={{wipe|The New York Times}}|date=April 8, 1978|accessdate=November 25, 2023}}</ref> believed that Contreas and Pedro Espinoza were actually more likely to make an attempt on his life than Pinochet.<ref name=coveruprevelations />

Protests continued, however, during the 1980s, leading to several scandals. In March 1985, the murder of three Communist Party members led to the resignation of César Mendoza, head of the Carabineros and member of the ''junta'' since its formation. During a 1986 protest against Pinochet, 21-year-old American photographer Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri and 18-year-old student Carmen Gloria Quintana were burnt alive, with only Carmen surviving.

In August 1989, Marcelo Barrios Andres, a 21-year-old member of the FPMR (the armed wing of the PCC, created in 1983, which had attempted to assassinate Pinochet on 7 September 1986), was murdered by a group of military personnel who were supposed to arrest him on orders of Valparaíso's public prosecutor. This case was included in the Rettig Report.<ref name="Nacion">[http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050924/pags/20050924155052.html Capítulos desconocidos de los mercenarios chilenos en Honduras camino de Iraq] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527110256/http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050924/pags/20050924155052.html |date=27 May 2011 }}, ''La Nación'', 25 September 2005 – URL accessed on 14 February 2007 {{in lang|es}}</ref> Among the killed and disappeared during the military junta were 440 MIR guerrillas.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efkdTQof5z0C&q=muertos%20del%20MIR%20chile&pg=PA179 |title=Su revolución contra nuestra revolución: izquierdas y derechas en el Chile |author=Verónica Valdivia Ortiz de Zárate |page=179 |publisher=LOM Ediciones |access-date=10 March 2010 |isbn=978-956-282-853-6 |year=2006 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203210/https://books.google.com/books?id=efkdTQof5z0C&q=muertos+del+MIR+chile&pg=PA179 |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 2015, three former DINA agents were sentenced to ten years in prison for the murder of a 29-year-old theology student and activist, German Rodriguez Cortes, in 1978.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} The same month, 62-year-old Guillermo Reyes Rammsy, a former Chilean soldier during the Pinochet years, was arrested and charged with murder for boasting of participating in 18 executions during a live phone-in to the Chilean radio show "Chacotero Sentimental".<ref>Jonathan Franklin (11 December 2015). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/11/former-chilean-soldier-charged-murder-radio-confession Former Chilean soldier charged with murder after stunning radio confession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215095518/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/11/former-chilean-soldier-charged-murder-radio-confession |date=15 December 2016 }}. ''The Guardian.'' Retrieved 20 December 2015.</ref>

On 2 June 2017, Chilean judge Hernan Cristoso sentenced 106 former Chilean intelligence officials to between 541 days and 20 years in prison for their role in the kidnapping and murder of 16 left-wing activists in 1974 and 1975.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2 June 2017 |title=Chilean judge sends 106 former secret agents to prison |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40141123 |work=BBC |access-date=3 June 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602233306/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40141123 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Economic policy===
{{blockquote|The first country in the world to make that momentous break with the past—away from socialism and extreme state capitalism toward more market-oriented structures and policies—was not Deng Xiaoping's China or Margaret Thatcher's Britain in the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan's United States in 1981, or any other country in Latin America or elsewhere. It was Pinochet's Chile in 1975.| Robert Packenham & William Ratliff, Hoover Institution<ref>{{cite periodical | periodical = Hoover Digest | last1 = Packenham | first1 = Robert A. | last2 = Ratliff | first2 = William | title = What Pinochet Did for Chile? | volume = 1 | url = http://www.hoover.org/research/what-pinochet-did-chile | publisher = Hoover Institution | date = 30 January 2007 | access-date = 16 June 2015 | archive-date = 25 June 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150625063824/http://www.hoover.org/research/what-pinochet-did-chile | url-status = live }}</ref>}}

In 1973, the Chilean economy was deeply depressed for several reasons. Allende's government had expropriated many Chilean and foreign businesses, including all copper mines, and had controlled prices. Inflation had reached 606%,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2 November 2013|title=Cómo cambió la economía de Chile en los últimos 40 años|url=https://www.asociaciondemutuales.cl/?p=2201|journal=Asociación de Mutuales|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711081323/https://www.asociaciondemutuales.cl/?p=2201|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Niño|first=José|date=27 November 2016|title=El legado de Friedman en Chile, 40 años después|url=https://es.panampost.com/jose-nino/2015/04/22/el-legado-de-friedman-en-chile-40-anos-despues/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=b2bea1ac99012b3c55565c7dda6d7392dd8e7221-1587482318-0-AbmaNbHfEhuXOxt3faC7VEhs1OLkaAzCWxJSz9kS-_-Tan76Y1ZbNp-BCCyxharEGKORTGUqwsdGeafB5lVnpbmkyNNhMcf-xQkz-nDIBnali4mYPex_Z25CJVKswMSuTXk4M5k652dh8FZOTOQIWUnz9tjct-KOhdTIuR7CZkcf48PXBERimv0Y0QLU_MtOK6sInBDiQP24tzk6PAwac5O4CKdZ2D_BkkbfAngc5pUe8pw-yKszhwln2o0GGGA5z7LaUEp9HxCnjseKZ-KGH4C5HA0CG7CovnTgfJfqQMJ4_CgHt69Dhk_7euAuc1jvI23VY8i8D2JgCSgOKNNmi4dy8PovqlYCjaBv-ZQuf7xnYM3_KKFiav73d0piE2S8BQX5Pn86XNYIgaxakAA1PPXGXJ0umCr0C6AVX0XQv3K9|journal=PanAm Post|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711130258/https://es.panampost.com/jose-nino/2015/04/22/el-legado-de-friedman-en-chile-40-anos-despues/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=b2bea1ac99012b3c55565c7dda6d7392dd8e7221-1587482318-0-AbmaNbHfEhuXOxt3faC7VEhs1OLkaAzCWxJSz9kS-_-Tan76Y1ZbNp-BCCyxharEGKORTGUqwsdGeafB5lVnpbmkyNNhMcf-xQkz-nDIBnali4mYPex_Z25CJVKswMSuTXk4M5k652dh8FZOTOQIWUnz9tjct-KOhdTIuR7CZkcf48PXBERimv0Y0QLU_MtOK6sInBDiQP24tzk6PAwac5O4CKdZ2D_BkkbfAngc5pUe8pw-yKszhwln2o0GGGA5z7LaUEp9HxCnjseKZ-KGH4C5HA0CG7CovnTgfJfqQMJ4_CgHt69Dhk_7euAuc1jvI23VY8i8D2JgCSgOKNNmi4dy8PovqlYCjaBv-ZQuf7xnYM3_KKFiav73d0piE2S8BQX5Pn86XNYIgaxakAA1PPXGXJ0umCr0C6AVX0XQv3K9|url-status=live}}</ref> income per capita had contracted by 7.14% in 1973 alone<ref name=":2" /> and 30% compared to 1970,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Moreno León|first=José Ignacio|date=21 November 2019|title=La crisis en Chile y el fantasma de Allende|url=https://www.opinionglobal.cl/la-crisis-en-chile-y-el-fantasma-de-allende/|journal=OpinionGlobal|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711062406/https://www.opinionglobal.cl/la-crisis-en-chile-y-el-fantasma-de-allende/|url-status=live}}</ref> GDP had contracted by 5% in 1973,<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=https://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=CL|title=Economic growth of Chile|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=29 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329103549/https://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=CL|url-status=live}}</ref> and public spending rose from 22.6% to 44.9% of GDP between 1970 and 1973, creating a deficit equal to 25% of GDP.<ref name=":3" /> While some authors like Peter Kornbluh also argue that economic sanctions by the Nixon administration helped to create the economic crisis,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kornblu|first=Peter|date=24 October 1999|title=Still Hidden: A Full Record Of What the U.S. Did in Chile|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/42a/127.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=9 May 2009|archive-date=24 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324025848/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/42a/127.html|url-status=live}}</ref> others like Paul Sigmund and Mark Falcoff argue there was no blockade<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sigmund|first=Paul|title=The Invisible Blockade and the Overthrow of Allende|year=1974}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Falcoff|first=Mark|title=Modern Chile, 1970–1989: A Critical History|publisher=1989}}</ref> because aid and credit still existed (albeit in smaller quantities), and no formal trade embargo had been declared.

By mid-1975, after two years of Keynesianism, the government set forth an economic policy of free-market reforms that attempted to stop inflation and collapse. Pinochet declared that he wanted "to make Chile not a nation of proletarians, but a nation of proprietors".<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> | title = Augusto Pinochet biography data. Chilean coup d'etat. Pinochet human rights violations | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080908222718/http://www.mundoandino.com/Chile/History-pinochet | archive-date = 8 September 2008 | url = http://www.mundoandino.com/Chile/History-pinochet | website = mundoandino.com |publisher= Mundo Andino / Andean World | date = 2006 |access-date=10 March 2010}}</ref> To formulate the economic rescue, the government relied on the so-called Chicago Boys and a text called ''El ladrillo,'' and although Chile grew very quickly between 1976 and 1981, at an average of 7,2%,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Délano |first1=Manuel |last2=Traslaviña |first2=Hugo |date=July 4, 2021 |title=El boom económico de los años 80: un "milagro" muy especial de la dictadura |url=https://interferencia.cl/articulos/el-boom-economico-de-los-anos-80-un-milagro-muy-especial-de-la-dictadura |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=Interferencia}}</ref> it had a large amount of debt which made Chile the most affected nation by the [[Finance:Latin American debt crisis|Latin American debt crisis]].

In sharp contrast to the privatization done in other areas, Chile's nationalized main copper mines remained in government hands, with the 1980 Constitution later declaring the mines "inalienable".<ref name="NLR">{{Cite journal | last = Riesco | first = Manuel | title = Is Pinochet dead? | journal = New Left Review | volume = II | issue = 47 | date = September–October 2007 | url = http://newleftreview.org/II/47/manuel-riesco-is-pinochet-dead | access-date = 2 January 2016 | archive-date = 24 January 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160124224407/http://newleftreview.org/II/47/manuel-riesco-is-pinochet-dead | url-status = live }} [http://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?language=es&id=2685 Spanish pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308150245/https://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?language=es&id=2685 |date=8 March 2017 }} [http://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?language=it&id=2685 Italian pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308142849/https://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?language=it&id=2685 |date=8 March 2017 }}</ref> In 1976 the State-owned enterprise Codelco was established to exploit them; a new law in 1982 opened new mineral deposits to private investment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ministerio de Minería |date=January 21, 1982 |title=Ley 18.097, Orgánica constitucional sobre concesiones mineras |url=https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=29522 |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional}}</ref> In November 1980, the pension system was restructured from a PAYGO-system to a fully funded capitalization system run by private sector pension funds.<ref name="Joaquin Vial Ruiz-Tagle 1998, page 6">Joaquin Vial Ruiz-Tagle, Francisca Castro, The Chilean Pension System, [[Organization:OECD|OECD]] Ageing Working Papers, 1998, page 6</ref> Healthcare and education were likewise privatized, and private hospitals and private schools existed alongside free State-run hospitals and schools.

This "dual system" also extended to insurance and social security services, as State-owned FONASA (National Healthcare Fund) was created in 1979<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ministerio de Salud Pública |date=August 3, 1979 |title=Decreto Ley 2763, Reorganiza el Ministerio de Salud y crea los Servicios de Salud, el Fondo Nacional de Salud, el Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile y la Central de Abastecimiento del Sistema Nacional de Servicios de Salud |url=https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=6999&idParte= |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional}}</ref> and the private and paid ISAPRES (Institutions of Previsional Health) were created in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ministerio de Salud |date=May 19, 1981 |title=Decreto con Fuerza de Ley 3, Fija normas para el otorgamiento de prestaciones y beenficios de salud, por Instituciones de Salud Previsional |url=https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=3570 |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional}}</ref>

Wages decreased by 8%.<ref name="Petras and Vieux 1998 57-72">{{Cite journal | last1 = Petras | first1 = James | last2 = Vieux | first2 = Steve | title = The Chilean "economic miracle": an empirical critique | journal = Critical Sociology | volume = 17 | issue = 2 | pages = 57–72 | doi = 10.1177/089692059001700203 | date = July 1990 | s2cid = 143590493 }}</ref> Due to neoliberal opposition to the [[Social:Welfare state|Welfare State]] family allowances in 1989 were 28% of what they had been in 1970 and the budgets for education, health and housing had dropped by over 20% on average.<ref name="Petras and Vieux 1998 57-72" /> The junta relied on the middle class, the oligarchy, foreign corporations, and foreign loans to maintain itself.<ref name=":5">{{cite book | last = Ensalaco | first = Mark | title = Chile under Pinochet: recovering the truth | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | location = Philadelphia | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0-8122-3520-3 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=hzrwMb3UppYC&q=Chile+under+pinochet Preview.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513070601/https://books.google.com/books?id=hzrwMb3UppYC&dq=Chile+under+pinochet&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=-66tt8rEmg&sig=nSBX05IdsHb6lVMw141M4G7vYD0&hl=en&ei=he_tSYCpDJCgtgOD4YTjAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5 |date=13 May 2016 }}</ref> Businesses recovered most of their lost industrial and agricultural holdings, for the junta returned properties to original owners who had lost them during expropriations, and sold other industries expropriated by Allende's Popular Unity government to private buyers. This period saw the expansion of business and widespread speculation.

Financial conglomerates became major beneficiaries of the liberalized economy and the flood of foreign bank loans. Large foreign banks reinstated the credit cycle, as debt obligations, such as resuming payment of principal and interest installments, were honored. International lending organizations such as the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]], the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]], and the Inter-American Development Bank lent vast sums anew.<ref name="Petras and Vieux 1998 57-72" /> Many foreign multinational corporations such as International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), Dow Chemical, and Firestone, all expropriated by Allende, returned to Chile.<ref name="Petras and Vieux 1998 57-72" /> Pinochet's policies eventually led to substantial GDP growth, in contrast to the negative growth seen in the early years of his administration,<ref name=":4" /> while public debt also was kept high mostly to finance public spending which even after the privatization of services was kept at high rates (though far less than before privatization), for example, in 1991 after one year of post-Pinochet democracy debt was still at 37.4% of the GDP.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hacienda.cl/oficina-de-la-deuda-publica/estadisticas/evolucion-de-la-deuda.html|title=Evolución de la deuda pública de Chile|website=Ministerio de Hacienda|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711071222/https://www.hacienda.cl/oficina-de-la-deuda-publica/estadisticas/evolucion-de-la-deuda.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Pinochet government implemented an economic model that had three main objectives: economic liberalization, privatization of state-owned companies, and stabilization of inflation. In 1985, the government initiated a second round of privatization, revising previously introduced tariff increases and creating a greater supervisory role for the Central Bank. Pinochet's market liberalizations have continued after his death, led by Patricio Aylwin.<ref name="Thomas M. Leonard p. 322">Leonard, Thomas M. ''Encyclopedia Of The Developing World.'' Routledge. {{ISBN|1-57958-388-1}}. p. 322</ref> According to a 2020 study in the ''Journal of Economic History'', Pinochet sold firms at below-market prices to politically connected buyers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=González|first1=Felipe|last2=Prem|first2=Mounu|last3=I|first3=Francisco Urzúa|date=2020|title=The Privatization Origins of Political Corporations: Evidence from the Pinochet Regime|journal=The Journal of Economic History|language=en|volume=80|issue=2|pages=417–456|doi=10.1017/S0022050719000780|issn=0022-0507|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Critics argue the [[Social:Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] economic policies of the Pinochet regime resulted in widening [[Social:Economic inequality|inequality]] and deepening poverty as they negatively impacted the wages, benefits and working conditions of Chile's working class.<ref>{{citation | last1 = Constable | first1 = Pamela | last2 = Valenzuela | first2 = Arturo | contribution = The rich | editor-last1 = Constable | editor-first1 = Pamela | editor-last2 = Valenzuela | editor-first2 = Arturo | title = A nation of enemies: Chile under Pinochet | page = [https://archive.org/details/nationofenemiesc00cons/page/219 219] | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | location = New York | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-0-393-30985-0 | postscript = . | url = https://archive.org/details/nationofenemiesc00cons/page/219 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Winn | editor-first = Peter |  title = Victims of the Chilean miracle: workers and neoliberalism in the Pinochet era, 1973–2002 | publisher = Duke University Press | location = Durham | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-8223-3321-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/victimsofchilean01unse }} [https://www.dukeupress.edu/Victims-of-the-Chilean-Miracle/ Preview.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813121448/https://www.dukeupress.edu/victims-of-the-chilean-miracle |date=13 August 2021 }}</ref> According to Chilean economist Alejandro Foxley, by the end of Pinochet's reign around 44% of Chilean families were living below the poverty line.<ref>{{cite AV media |people= Alejandro Foxley (guest) |date= 26 March 2001 |title= PBS interview |medium= TV program |url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_alejandrofoxley.html#2 |access-date=28 September 2015 |publisher= PBS }} Conducted for ''The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy'' series.</ref> According to ''The Shock Doctrine'' by [[Biography:Naomi Klein|Naomi Klein]], by the late 1980s, the economy had stabilized and was growing, but around 45% of the population had fallen into poverty while the wealthiest 10% saw their incomes rise by 83%.<ref>{{cite book | last = Klein | first = Naomi |  contribution = Cleaning the slate: terror does its work | editor-last = Klein | editor-first = Naomi | editor-link = Naomi Klein | title = The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism | page = [https://archive.org/details/shockdoctrineris00klei/page/105 105] | publisher = Picador | isbn = 978-0-8050-7983-8 | year = 2008 | title-link = The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=PwHUAq5LPOQC&pg=PA105 Preview.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319071518/http://books.google.com/books?id=PwHUAq5LPOQC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA105 |date=19 March 2015 }}</ref> But others disagree, Chilean economist José Piñera argues that 2 years after Pinochet took power, poverty was still at 50% and the liberal reforms reduced it to 7.8% in 2013<ref name=":6">{{cite web|url=https://mobile.twitter.com/josepinera/status/1044202709069557760|title=El Cohete y el Ascensor|last=Piñera|first=José|website=Twitter|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803193024/https://mobile.twitter.com/josepinera/status/1044202709069557760|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as income per capita rising from US$4.000 in 1975 to US$25.000 in 2015,<ref name=":6" /> supporters of the reforms also argue that when Pinochet left power in 1990 poverty had fallen to 38%<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Duffe|first=Macarena|date=2009|title=Pobreza en 1990|url=https://www.latercera.com/noticia/pobreza-en-1990/|journal=La Tercera|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=11 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711071409/https://www.latercera.com/noticia/pobreza-en-1990/|url-status=live}}</ref> and some claim that since the consolidation of the neoliberal system inequality has been reducing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.df.cl/noticias/economia-y-politica/actualidad/ocde-destaca-reduccion-de-la-pobreza-y-la-desigualdad-en-chile-pero/2019-11-21/130656.html|title=OCDE destaca reducción de la pobreza y la desigualdad en Chile, pero asegura que aún hay desequilibrios|last=Suárez|first=Rocío Vargas|website=Diario Financiero|language=es|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=12 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712235549/https://www.df.cl/noticias/economia-y-politica/actualidad/ocde-destaca-reduccion-de-la-pobreza-y-la-desigualdad-en-chile-pero/2019-11-21/130656.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aravena |first=Sofía |date=July 27, 2023 |title=Desigualdad a la baja: índice Gini llega a su menor nivel desde que hay registro |url=https://www.latercera.com/pulso/noticia/desigualdad-a-la-baja-indice-gini-llega-a-su-menor-nivel-desde-que-hay-registro/TKGNIOYOBZG6PJ3IKP5E2W5HWI/ |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=La Tercera}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=E. López |first1=Ramón |last2=Sturla |first2=Gino |date=July 19, 2020 |title=Desigualdad en el Chile democrático, ¿quiénes son más iguales en ingreso? |url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/opinion/columnas/2020/07/19/desigualdad-en-el-chile-democratico-quienes-son-mas-iguales-en-ingreso/ |access-date=October 9, 2023 |website=El Mostrador}}</ref> Others disagree, as protests erupted in late 2019 in response to growing inequality in the country which can be traced back to the neoliberal policies of the Pinochet dictatorship.<ref>{{cite news |date=21 October 2019 |title='We are at war': 8 dead in Chile's violent protests over social inequality |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/21/chile-protests-santiago-dead-state-emergency/ |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |access-date=21 April 2020 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024130721/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/21/chile-protests-santiago-dead-state-emergency/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=3 November 2019 |title='Chile Woke Up': Dictatorship's Legacy of Inequality Triggers Mass Protests |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/americas/chile-protests.html |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |access-date=21 April 2020 |archive-date=24 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424020516/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/americas/chile-protests.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

American scholar Nancy MacLean wrote that the concentration of money in the hands of the very rich and the perversion of democracy through the privatization of government was always the goal. She contends this was the effective meaning of the theoretical model known as [[Social:Public choice|public choice]], whose architect, [[Biography:James M. Buchanan|James M. Buchanan]], traveled to Chile and worked closely with the Pinochet regime.<ref>MacLean, Nancy (2017) "Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America." New York. Random House, Penguin Books. pages 154-168. {{ISBN|978-1-101-98096-5}}</ref> MacLean's account, however, has come under scrutiny. Economist Andrew Farrant examined the Chilean constitutional clauses that MacLean attributes to Buchanan and discovered that they pre-dated his visit. He concludes that "evidence suggests that Buchanan's May 1980 visit did not particularly influence the subsequent drafting of the Chilean Constitution" and "there is no evidence to suggest that Buchanan had any kind of audience with Pinochet or corresponded with the Chilean dictator."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/soej.12323|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227161003/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/soej.12323|title=What Should (Knightian) Economists Do? James M. Buchanan's 1980 Visit to Chile: What Should (Knightian) Economists Do?|first=Andrew|last=Farrant|date=13 January 2019|archive-date=27 December 2019|journal=Southern Economic Journal|volume=85|issue=3|pages=691–714|access-date=13 May 2023|doi=10.1002/soej.12323|s2cid=158277778 }}</ref>

===1988 referendum, attempt to stay in power and transition to democracy===
According to the transitional provisions of the 1980 Constitution, a referendum was scheduled for 5 October 1988, to vote on a new eight-year presidential term for Pinochet. Confronted with increasing opposition, notably at the international level, Pinochet legalized political parties in 1987 and called for a vote to determine whether or not he would remain in power until 1997. If the "YES" won, Pinochet would have to implement the dispositions of the 1980 Constitution, mainly the call for general elections, while he would himself remain in power as president. If the "NO" won, Pinochet would remain President for another year, and a joint Presidential and legislative election would be held.

Another reason for Pinochet's decision to call for elections was the April 1987 visit of [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] to Chile. According to the US Catholic author George Weigel, he held a meeting with Pinochet during which they discussed a return to democracy. John Paul II allegedly pushed Pinochet to accept a democratic opening of his government, and even called for his resignation.<ref>George Weigel, ''Biografía de Juan Pablo II – Testigo de Esperanza'', Editorial Plaza & Janés (2003), {{ISBN|84-01-01304-6}}</ref>

[[File:Pinochet Aylwin Bush.png|thumb|Pinochet as Commander-in-Chief and President Aylwin meeting with U.S. President George H. W. Bush in 1990]]
Political advertising was legalized on 5 September 1987, as a necessary element for the campaign for the "NO" to the referendum, which countered the official campaign, which presaged a return to a Popular Unity government in case of a defeat of Pinochet. The Opposition, gathered into the ''Concertación de Partidos por el NO'' ("Coalition of Parties for NO"), organized a colorful and cheerful campaign under the slogan ''La alegría ya viene'' ("Joy is coming"). It was formed by the Christian Democracy, the Socialist Party and the Radical Party, gathered in the ''Alianza Democrática'' (Democratic Alliance). In 1988, several more parties, including the Humanist Party, the Ecologist Party, the Social Democrats, and several Socialist Party splinter groups added their support.

On 5 October 1988, the "NO" option won with 55.99%<ref name="Elections">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060117085107/http://www.tribunalcalificador.cl/resultado.php Tribunal Calificador], Chilean governmental website {{in lang|es}}</ref> of the votes, against 44.01% of "YES" votes. In the wake of his electoral defeat, Pinochet attempted to implement a plan for an auto-coup. He attempted to implement efforts to orchestrate chaos and violence in the streets to justify his power grab, however, the Carabinero police refused an order to lift the cordon against street demonstrations in the capital, according to a CIA informant. In his final move, Pinochet convened a meeting of his junta at La Moneda, in which he requested that they give him extraordinary powers to have the military seize the capital. Air Force General Fernando Matthei refused, saying that he would not agree to such a thing under any circumstances, and the rest of the junta followed this stance, on grounds that Pinochet already had his turn and lost.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB413/docs/nodiajuntameeting.pdf |title=IIR 6 817 0058 89/Chilean Junta Meeting the Night of the Plebiscite (U) |publisher=Department of Defense |access-date=28 July 2021 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609075946/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB413/docs/nodiajuntameeting.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Matthei would later become the first member of the junta to publicly admit that Pinochet had lost the plebiscite. Without any support from the junta, Pinochet was forced to accept the result. The ensuing Constitutional process led to presidential and legislative elections the following year.

The Coalition changed its name to ''Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia'' (Coalition of Parties for Democracy) and put forward Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat who had opposed Allende, as presidential candidate, and also proposed a list of candidates for the parliamentary elections. The opposition and the Pinochet government made several negotiations to amend the Constitution and agreed to 54 modifications. These amendments changed the way the Constitution would be modified in the future, added restrictions to state of emergency dispositions, the affirmation of [[Philosophy:Pluralism (political philosophy)|political pluralism]], and enhanced constitutional rights as well as the democratic principle and participation to political life. In July 1989, a referendum on the proposed changes took place, supported by all the parties except the right-wing Southern Party and the Chilean Socialist Party.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0041490 |title=El plebiscito incomprendido |work=Apsi |date=17 July 1989 |access-date=13 February 2016 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203056/http://www.memoriachilena.gob.cl/602/w3-article-82016.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Constitutional changes were approved by 91.25% of the voters.

[[File:Transmision_de_mando_Aylwin-Pinochet.png | thumb| right | Pinochet congratulates new President Patricio Aylwin after handing over the presidential sash, marking the transfer of power from military dictatorship to democratic leadership, 11 March 1990.]]
Thereafter, Aylwin won the December 1989 presidential election with 55% of the votes,<ref name=Elections/> against less than 30% for the right-wing candidate, Hernán Büchi, who had been Pinochet's Minister of Finances since 1985 (there was also a third-party candidate, Francisco Javier Errázuriz, a wealthy aristocrat representing the extreme economic right, who garnered the remaining 15%<ref name=Elections/>). Pinochet thus left the presidency on 11 March 1990 and transferred power to the new democratically elected president.

The ''Concertación'' also won the majority of votes for the Parliament. However, due to the "binomial" representation system included in the constitution, the elected senators did not achieve a complete majority in Parliament, a situation that would last for over 15 years. This forced them to negotiate all law projects with the Alliance for Chile (originally called "Democracy and Progress" and then "Union for Chile"), a center-right coalition involving the ''Unión Demócrata Independiente'' (UDI) and ''Renovación Nacional'' (RN), parties composed mainly of Pinochet's supporters.

Due to the transitional provisions of the constitution, Pinochet remained as Commander-in-Chief of the Army until March 1998. He was then sworn in as a senator-for-life, a privilege granted by the 1980 constitution to former presidents with at least six years in office. His senatorship and consequent immunity from prosecution protected him from legal action. These were possible in Chile only after Pinochet was arrested in 1998 in the United Kingdom, on an extradition request issued by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. Allegations of abuses had been made numerous times before his arrest, but never acted upon.<ref>See Juan Guzmán Tapia's autobiography</ref> The extradition attempt was dramatised in the 2006 BBC television docudrama ''Pinochet in Suburbia'', with Pinochet played by Derek Jacobi. Shortly before giving up power, on September 15, 1989, Pinochet prohibited all forms of abortion, previously authorized in case of rape or risk to the life of the mother.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2016/03/17/le-chili-met-fin-a-l-interdiction-stricte-d-avorter_4885281_3222.html |title=Le Chili met fin à l'interdiction stricte d'avorter |publisher=Lemonde.fr |date=16 March 2016 |access-date=28 May 2017 |newspaper=Le Monde.fr |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809042444/http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2016/03/17/le-chili-met-fin-a-l-interdiction-stricte-d-avorter_4885281_3222.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Pinochet argued that due to advances in medicine, abortion was "no longer justifiable".<ref name="PuntoFinal">{{cite web|url=http://www.puntofinal.cl/541/mujeres.htm|title=Aborto terapéutico: Demanda de las mujeres|work=Revista Punto Final|access-date=2009-03-17|date=2003-04-11|language=es| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090410034704/http://www.puntofinal.cl/541/mujeres.htm| archive-date= 10 April 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

===Relationship with the United Kingdom===
Chile was officially neutral during the Falklands War, but Chile's Westinghouse long-range radar that was deployed in the south of the country gave the British task force early warning of Argentinian air attacks. This allowed British ships and troops in the war zone to take defensive action.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108383 |title=Margaret Thatcher Foundation. Speech on Pinochet at the Conservative Party Conference. 6 October 1999 |publisher=Margaretthatcher.org |date=6 October 1999 |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=25 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225225857/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108383 |url-status=live }}</ref> Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister at the time of the war, said that the day the radar was taken out of service for overdue maintenance was the day Argentinian fighter-bombers bombed the troopships ''Sir Galahad'' and ''Sir Tristram'', leaving 53 dead and many injured. According to Chilean Junta member and former Air Force commander, General Fernando Matthei, Chilean support included military intelligence gathering, radar surveillance, allowing British aircraft to operate with Chilean colours, and facilitating the safe return of British special forces, among other forms of assistance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.mercopress.com/2005/09/03/us-support-to-uk-in-falklands-war-was-decisive |title=Mercopress. September 3rd 2005 |publisher=En.mercopress.com |date=3 September 2005 |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=25 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225225342/http://en.mercopress.com/2005/09/03/us-support-to-uk-in-falklands-war-was-decisive |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April and May 1982, a squadron of mothballed British [[Engineering:Hawker Hunter|Hawker Hunter]] fighter-bombers departed for Chile, arriving on 22 May and allowing the Chilean Air Force to reform the No. 9 "Las Panteras Negras" Squadron. A further consignment of three frontier surveillance and shipping reconnaissance Canberras left for Chile in October. Some authors have speculated that Argentina might have won the war had the military felt able to employ the elite VIth and VIIIth Mountain Brigades, which remained sitting in the [[Place:Andes|Andes]] guarding against possible Chilean incursions.<ref>Nicholas van der Bijl and David Aldea, 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands, page 28, Leo Cooper 2003</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2022}} Pinochet subsequently visited the UK on more than one occasion.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6167351.stm |title=UK &#124; UK Politics &#124; Pinochet death 'saddens' Thatcher |work=BBC News |date=11 December 2006 |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=15 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615014947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6167351.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Pinochet's controversial relationship with Thatcher led Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair to mock Thatcher's [[Finance:Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] as "the party of Pinochet" in 1999.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,90418,00.html Not much to be proud of] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124224407/http://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,90418,00.html |date=24 January 2016 }}. ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', Jeremy Hardy, 9 October 1999</ref>

===Human rights violations===
Pinochet's regime was responsible for many human rights abuses during its reign, including [[Social:Forced disappearance|forced disappearance]]s, murder, and torture of political opponents. According to a government commission report that included testimony from more than 30,000 people, Pinochet's government killed at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000. Two-thirds of the cases listed in the report happened in 1973.<ref name="DarkLegacy">{{Cite news | first=Monte | last=Reel | author2=J. Y. Smith | title=A Chilean Dictator's Dark Legacy | date=11 December 2006 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000302.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | access-date=18 November 2009 | archive-date=17 January 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117092313/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000302.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Retratos de víctimas en el Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, de Santiago de Chile.jpg|thumb|Photographs of victims of Pinochet's regime]]
Professor Clive Foss, in ''The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption'' (Quercus Publishing 2006), estimates that 1,500–2,000 Chileans were killed or [[Social:Forced disappearance|"disappeared"]] during the Pinochet regime. In October 1979, ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'' reported that Amnesty International had documented the disappearance of approximately 1,500 Chileans since 1973.<ref>"A Green Light for The Junta?" ''The New York Times''. 28 October 1977</ref> Among the killed and disappeared during the military regime were at least 663 Marxist MIR guerrillas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archivochile.com/Derechos_humanos/doc_gen_ddhh/hhdddocgen0002.pdf |title=Fallen from Mir in different times. Ceme Centro De Estudios Miguel Enriquez. |access-date=11 October 2013 |archive-date=13 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413053224/http://www.archivochile.com/Derechos_humanos/doc_gen_ddhh/hhdddocgen0002.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front, however, has stated that only 49 FPMR guerrillas were killed but hundreds detained and tortured.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fpmr.org/heroes8.html |title=For Those who gave everything. El Rodriguista, 11 Years of Fight and Dignity, 1994 |date=4 November 2005 |access-date=11 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120152429/http://www.fpmr.org/heroes8.html |archive-date=20 November 2008 }}</ref> According to a study in ''Latin American Perspectives'',<ref name="ExileStudy">{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Oñate Zúñiga |first2=Rody |year=2007 |title=Chilean political exile |journal=Latin American Perspectives |volume=34 |issue=4 |page=31 |doi=10.1177/0094582x07302902|s2cid=145443917 }}</ref> at least 200,000 Chileans (about 2% of Chile's 1973 population) were forced to go into exile. Additionally, hundreds of thousands left the country in the wake of the economic crises that followed the military coup during the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="ExileStudy"/> Some of the key individuals who fled because of political persecution were followed in their exile by the [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]] secret police, in the framework of [[Social:Operation Condor|Operation Condor]], which linked South American [[Social:Military dictatorship|military dictatorship]]s together against political opponents.

According to John Dinges, author of ''The Condor Years'' (The New Press 2003), documents released in 2015 revealed a CIA report dated 28 April 1978 that showed the agency by then had knowledge that Pinochet ordered the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a leading political opponent living in exile in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/30/bombshell-pinochets-guilt-delivered-too-late-383121.html|title=A Bombshell on Pinochet's Guilt, Delivered Too Late|first=John|last=Dinges|website=Newsweek|date=14 October 2015|access-date=14 January 2019|archive-date=18 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218214716/https://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/30/bombshell-pinochets-guilt-delivered-too-late-383121.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Peter Kornbluh in ''The Pinochet File'', "routine sadism was taken to extremes" in the prison camps. The rape of women was common, including sexual torture such as the insertion of rats into genitals and "unnatural acts involving dogs". Detainees were forcibly immersed in vats of urine and excrement and were occasionally forced to ingest it.<ref name="Kornbluh171"/><ref>Qureshi, Lubna Z. (2009). ''Nixon, Kissinger, and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile.'' Lexington Books. p. 135. {{ISBN|0-7391-2656-3}}</ref> Beatings with gun butts, fists and chains were routine; one technique known as "the telephone" involved the torturer slamming "his open hands hard and rhythmically against the ears of the victim", leaving the person deaf. At Villa Grimaldi, prisoners were dragged into the parking lot and had the bones in their legs crushed as they were run over with trucks. Some died from torture; prisoners were beaten with chains and left to die from internal injuries.<ref name="Kornbluh171">Peter Kornbluh (11 September 2013). ''[[The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability]].'' The New Press. {{ISBN|1-59558-912-0}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 p. 171] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031102237/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA171#v=onepage&q&f=true |date=31 October 2015 }}.</ref> Following abuse and execution, corpses were interred in secret graves, dropped into rivers or the ocean, or just dumped on urban streets in the night. The body of the renowned Chilean singer, theatre director and academic Víctor Jara was found in a dirty canal "with his hands and face extremely disfigured" and with "forty-four bullet holes".<ref>Peter Kornbluh (11 September 2013). ''[[The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability]].'' The New Press. {{ISBN|1-59558-912-0}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 p. 162] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027111338/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHYRBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA162 |date=27 October 2015 }}.</ref>

The practice of murdering political opponents via "death flights", employed by the juntas of Argentina and Chile, has sometimes been the subject of numerous [[Religion:Alt-right|alt-right]] and other right-wing extremist groups [[Social:Internet meme|internet meme]]s, with the suggestion that political enemies and leftists be given "free helicopter rides".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Caffier |first=Justin |date=25 January 2017 |title=Get to Know the Memes of the Alt-Right and Never Miss a Dog-Whistle Again |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezagwm/get-to-know-the-memes-of-the-alt-right-and-never-miss-a-dog-whistle-again |magazine=Vice |access-date=11 June 2017 |archive-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620003208/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezagwm/get-to-know-the-memes-of-the-alt-right-and-never-miss-a-dog-whistle-again |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2001, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos informed the nation that during Pinochet's reign, 120 bodies had been tossed from helicopters into "the ocean, the lakes and the rivers of Chile".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Franklin|first1=Jonathan|title=Chilean army admits 120 thrown into sea|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/09/chile.pinochet|access-date=11 December 2017|work=The Guardian|date=9 January 2001|archive-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211161005/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/09/chile.pinochet|url-status=live}}</ref> In a final assessment of his legacy during his funeral, Belisario Velasco, Chile's interior minister at the time remarked that "Pinochet was a classic [[Social:Right-wing dictatorship|right-wing dictator]] who badly violated human rights and who became rich."<ref>''The World's Most Notorious Dictators''. Athlon Special Issue. 2017. p. 53</ref>

During the 1990s, while no longer President still commander-in-chief, Pinochet scoffed at his human rights critics. When asked about the discovery of a mass grave of his government's victims, Pinochet was quoted in the Chilean press as joking that it was an "efficient" way of burial.<ref>{{cite news|title=Augusto Pinochet, 91, Ex-Dictator of Chile, Dies|work={{wipe|The New York Times}}|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/world/americas/10cnd-pinochet-obit.html |date=10 December 2006|access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref>

==Ideology and public image==
Pinochet himself expressed his project in government as a national rebirth inspired by Diego Portales, a figure of the early republic:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://beersandpolitics.com/discursos/augusto-pinochet/a-un-mes-de-la-constitucion-de-la-junta-de-gobierno/1000 |url-status=live |title=A un mes de la constitución de la junta de gobierno |last=Pinochet |first=Augusto |work=Discursos |via=Beers & Politics |date=11 October 1973 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623183135/http://www.beersandpolitics.com/discursos/augusto-pinochet/a-un-mes-de-la-constitucion-de-la-junta-de-gobierno/1000 |archive-date=23 June 2013 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|[Democracy] will be born again purified from the vices and bad habits that ended up destroying our institutions.&nbsp;... [W]e are inspired in the Portalian spirit which has fused together the nation&nbsp;...|author=Augusto Pinochet, 11 October 1973.|title=|source=}}

Lawyer Jaime Guzmán participated in the design of important speeches of Pinochet and provided frequent political and doctrinal advice and consultancy.<ref name="archivochile">{{cite web |first=Carlos |last=Huneus |publisher=Archivo Chile |title=Jaime Guzmán no fue un defensor de los Derechos Humanos en el Régimen de Pinochet |language=es |trans-title=Jaime Guzmán was not a defender of human rights in the Pinochet regime |url=http://www.archivochile.com/Portada/8_ddhh/02_port_ddhh.pdf |date=3 April 2001 |access-date=13 October 2015 |archive-date=29 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729013152/http://www.archivochile.com/Portada/8_ddhh/02_port_ddhh.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jacobo Timerman has called the Chilean army under Pinochet "the last Prussian army in the world",<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/14/world/buenos-aires-journal-timerman-stranger-in-two-more-strange-lands.html?pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | first=Shirley | last=Christian | title=Buenos Aires Journal; Timerman, Stranger in Two More Strange Lands | date=14 November 1987 | access-date=5 February 2017 | archive-date=20 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020135410/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/14/world/buenos-aires-journal-timerman-stranger-in-two-more-strange-lands.html?pagewanted=all | url-status=live }}</ref> suggesting a pre-Fascist origin to the model of Pinochet's military government.

Historian Alfredo Jocelyn-Holt has referred to Pinochet's figure as "[[Religion:Totem|totem]]ic", and added that it serves as a scapegoat which attracts "all hate".<ref name=Salazar/> Gabriel Salazar, also a historian, has lamented the lack of an international condemnation of Pinochet in court, since, according to Salazar, that would have damaged his image "irreparably" and that of the judicial system of Chile [for the good] too.<ref name=Salazar>{{cite web |url=http://saladehistoria.com/wp/2010/04/04/pinochet-por-salazar-y-jocelyn-holt/ |first=José Antonio |last=Vergara |date=April 4, 2010 |title=Pinochet por Salazar y Joceyn-Holt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511073803/http://saladehistoria.com/wp/2010/04/04/pinochet-por-salazar-y-jocelyn-holt/ |archive-date=11 May 2012 }}</ref>

In 1989 indigenous Mapuche groups representing the "Consejos Regionales" bestowed Pinochet the title ''Ulmen Füta Lonko'' or ''Great Authority''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Futatrokikelu: Don y autoridad en la relación mapuche-wingkaa|url=https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-04622009000100003|journal=Atenea|last1=Foerster|first1=Rolf|last2=Menard|first2=André|year=2009|issue=499|pages=33–59|access-date=August 4, 2020|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423180930/https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-04622009000100003|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=El tamaño de la traición|url=https://www.theclinic.cl/2010/10/17/el-tamano-de-la-traicion/|work=The Clinic|date=October 17, 2010|access-date=August 4, 2020|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227003644/https://www.theclinic.cl/2010/10/17/el-tamano-de-la-traicion/|url-status=live|last1=Cayuqueo |first1=Pedro }}</ref>

According to Pinochet, who was aware of his ancestry, he was taught the French language by an uncle, although he later forgot most of it. Pinochet admired Napoleon as the greatest among the French and had a framed picture of him. Another French ruler he admired was Louis XIV.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salinas |first=Luis A. |date=1999 |title=The London Clinic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRD6Jb9WHSwC&q=pinochet+luis+XIV&pg=PA29 |publisher=LOM Ediciones |isbn=956-282-167-6 |page=29 |language=es |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=23 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823183501/https://books.google.com/books?id=LRD6Jb9WHSwC&q=pinochet+luis+XIV&pg=PA29 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn-ua|When the admiration of Louis XIV surfaced in a 1986 interview it provoked ''APSI'' to publish a graphic satire made by Guillo which showed Pinochet dressed as Louis XIV on its front page. The magazine was subsequently censored out of the newsagent's shop and its staff imprisoned.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cossio |first=Hector |date=15 October 2014 |title='Chile en llamas': La serie que muestra la censura nuestra de cada día, en dictadura y democracia |trans-title='Chile on fire': The series that shows our daily censorship, in dictatorship and democracy  |url=http://www.elmostrador.cl/cultura/2014/10/15/chile-en-llamas-la-serie-que-muestra-la-censura-nuestra-de-cada-dia-en-dictadura-y-democracia/ |newspaper=El Mostrador |language=es |access-date=27 January 2016 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203110408/http://www.elmostrador.cl/cultura/2014/10/15/chile-en-llamas-la-serie-que-muestra-la-censura-nuestra-de-cada-dia-en-dictadura-y-democracia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Pinochet's reputation led Peruvians in the 1990s to call Alberto Fujimori "Chinochet" instead of his ordinary nickname "Chino".<ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 2014 |title=Periodista peruano: A Fujimori le gustaba que lo llamaran 'Chinochet' |trans-title=Peruvian journalist: Fujimori liked being called 'Chinochet' |url=https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/mundo/peru/alberto-fujimori/periodista-peruano-a-fujimori-le-gustaba-que-lo-llamaran-chinochet/2014-05-02/192054.html |work=Cooperativa |language=es |access-date=30 November 2018 |archive-date=2 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202202603/https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/mundo/peru/alberto-fujimori/periodista-peruano-a-fujimori-le-gustaba-que-lo-llamaran-chinochet/2014-05-02/192054.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Chadian dictator Hissène Habré, a Cold War ally of the West, has been characterized as "Africa's Pinochet" for ordering the torture and mass killing of political opponents during his reign, and for the decades long campaign to see him convicted of crimes against humanity.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lusher|first=Adam|date=30 May 2016|title=Hissène Habré, 'Africa's Pinochet', found guilty of crimes against humanity|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hissene-habre-chad-former-president-africa-pinochet-found-guilty-of-crimes-against-humanity-a7056186.html|work=The Independent|access-date=5 December 2019|archive-date=5 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205062133/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hissene-habre-chad-former-president-africa-pinochet-found-guilty-of-crimes-against-humanity-a7056186.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Images of Pinochet have been used in several [[Social:Internet meme|Internet meme]]s with the caption "Pinochet's Free Helicopter Rides", referencing death flights which saw political dissidents being thrown from helicopters over the Pacific or the Andes during Pinochet's rule. Variations of the internet meme have seen increased popularity with the rise of far-right and [[Religion:Alt-right|alt-right]] politics.<ref>{{cite news |language=es |date=8 August 2017 |title=Augusto Pinochet es un ícono dentro del movimiento de derecha radical que llevó a Donald Trump a la presidencia |trans-title=Augusto Pinochet is an icon within the radical right-wing movement that brought Donald Trump to the presidency |url=http://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2017/08/18/augusto-pinochet-es-un-icono-dentro-del-movimiento-de-derecha-radical-que-llevo-a-donald-trump-a-la-presidencia/ |work=El Desconcierto |access-date=30 November 2018 |archive-date=2 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202202623/http://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2017/08/18/augusto-pinochet-es-un-icono-dentro-del-movimiento-de-derecha-radical-que-llevo-a-donald-trump-a-la-presidencia/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>
*{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezagwm/get-to-know-the-memes-of-the-alt-right-and-never-miss-a-dog-whistle-again |title=Get to Know the Memes of the Alt-Right and Never Miss a Dog-Whistle Again |last=Caffier |first=Justin |date=25 January 2017 |website=VICE |access-date=5 June 2017 |quote={{-'}}Death flights' were a common form of extra-judicial execution during the Dirty War in Argentina and following the 1973 Chilean coup wherein dissidents were flown over the ocean in an airplane or helicopter and pushed to their death. From 1976 onward, thousands of political opponents to Argentina's Admiral Luis María Mendía and Chile's Augusto Pinochet were murdered in this manner. This wanton disregard for human life is hilarious to many in the alt-right. Starting in mid 2015, certain boards began suggesting progressive political opponents be given 'helicopter rides'. |archive-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620003208/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezagwm/get-to-know-the-memes-of-the-alt-right-and-never-miss-a-dog-whistle-again |url-status=live }}
*{{cite web |url=http://prospect.org/article/gop-reconsiders-trump-standard-bearer-candidate-retweets-white-supremacist |title=As GOP Reconsiders Trump as Standard Bearer |last=Stan |first=Adele M. |date=20 April 2016 |website=The American Prospect |quote=You could toss it off as a small thing; perhaps he just hastily hit the RT button without realizing who @keksec_org was. The tweet was generic enough: 'Your policies will make this state and country great again! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.' No time to click on a well-wisher's Twitter handle on the night you're winning a major state primary with a campaign based on white male rage—you know, to make sure they don't identify as a member of the #RWDS crowd (the hashtag standing for 'right-wing death squad'). |access-date=2 December 2018 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327233328/https://prospect.org/article/gop-reconsiders-trump-standard-bearer-candidate-retweets-white-supremacist |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Characterisation as fascist===
[[File:Junta Militar de Pinochet.JPG|thumb|right|Image showing Pinochet in an event with background imagery comparing the year of Chilean independence, 1810, with 1973, the year of the coup d'état that brought Pinochet to power]]
Pinochet and his government have been characterised as [[Social:Fascism|fascist]].<ref name="fascist">
*{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/pinochet-was-a-vile-fascist-but-allende-was-no-hero-1179768.html|title=Pinochet was a vile Fascist but Allende was no hero|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=21 September 2009|location=London|first=Andrew|last=Neil|date=22 October 1998|archive-date=18 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618212221/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/pinochet-was-a-vile-fascist-but-allende-was-no-hero-1179768.html|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSsGEsBUsVcC&q=pinochet%20fascism&pg=PP1|title=Blackshorts and Reds|access-date=21 September 2009|first=Michael|last=Parenti|isbn=978-0-87286-329-3|year=1997|publisher=City Lights Books |archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203143/https://books.google.com/books?id=WSsGEsBUsVcC&q=pinochet+fascism&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=letelier-docs_291178|title=Day of Reckoning Near for Pinochet|publisher=Transnational Institute|access-date=21 September 2009|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203315/https://www.tni.org/en/search/language/en?page=letelier-docs_291178|url-status=live}}
* {{cite news |first=Alistair |last=Horne |title=The case for Henry Kissinger |work=The Independent |date=18 August 2009}}
* {{cite news |first=Alide |last=Dasnois |title=Chile and the absurdity of ideological social engineering |work=The Cape Times |date=8 July 2009}}
* {{cite news |first=Michael |last=Posner |title=What it's like to arrive at a place called exile |work=The Globe & Mail |date=17 September 2009}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIz3ykCJlaMC&q=pinochet%20%22fascist%20policies%22&pg=PA302|title=The Identity of Liberation in Latin American Thought...|access-date=21 September 2009|first=Mario|last=Sàenz|isbn=978-0-7391-0084-4|date=31 August 1999|publisher=Lexington Books |archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203132/https://books.google.com/books?id=lIz3ykCJlaMC&q=pinochet+%22fascist+policies%22&pg=PA302|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, journalist and author Samuel Chavkin,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/30/nyregion/samuel-chavkin-journalist-and-author-81.html |title=Samuel Chavkin Journalist and Author, 81 |type=obituary |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020084417/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/30/nyregion/samuel-chavkin-journalist-and-author-81.html |archive-date=20 October 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=30 July 1994}}</ref> in his book ''Storm Over Chile: The Junta Under Siege'', repeatedly characterizes both Pinochet himself and the military dictatorship as fascist.<ref>{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Chavkin |title=Storm Over Chile: The Junta Under Siege |year=1985 |publisher=Laurence Hill Books |isbn=978-1-55652-067-9}}</ref>

However, he and his government are generally excluded from academic typologies of fascism.<ref name="R. Griffin, 2003, pp. 36-37">{{cite book |first=R. |last=Griffin |year=2003 |title=The Nature of Fascism |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=36–37}}</ref><ref name="R.O. Paxton, 2004, p. 201">{{cite book |last=Paxton |first=R. O. |year=2004 |title=The Anatomy of Fascism |location=London |publisher=Allen Lane |page=201}}</ref><ref name="A. Cento Bull 2009, p. 604">{{cite encyclopedia |author=A. Cento Bull |year=2009 |entry=Neo-Fascism |editor-first=R. J. B. |editor-last=Bosworth |title=The Oxford Handbook of Fascism |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=604}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link=Walter Laqueur |first=Walter |last=Laqueur |title=Fascism: Past, Present, Future |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |page=115}}</ref> Roger Griffin included Pinochet in a group of pseudo-populist [[Social:Despotism|despots]] distinct from fascism, which included the likes of Saddam Hussein, [[Biography:Suharto|Suharto]], and Ferdinand Marcos. He argues that such regimes may be considered populist ultra-nationalist but lack the rhetoric of national rebirth, or [[Philosophy:Palingenesis|palingenesis]], necessary to make them conform to the model of [[Social:Palingenetic ultranationalism|palingenetic ultranationalism]].<ref name="R. Griffin, 2003, pp. 36-37"/> Robert Paxton meanwhile compared Pinochet's regime to that of [[Biography:Mobutu Sese Seko|Mobutu Sese Seko]] in the former Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), arguing that both were merely client states that lacked popular acclaim and the ability to expand. He further argued that had Pinochet attempted to build true fascism, the regime would likely have been toppled or at least been forced to alter its relationship to the United States.<ref name="R.O. Paxton, 2004, p. 201"/> Anna Cento Bull also excluded Pinochet from fascism, although she has argued that his regime belongs to a strand of [[History:Cold War|Cold War]] [[Social:Anti-communism|anti-communism]] that was happy to accommodate [[Social:Neo-fascism|neo-fascist]] elements within its activity.<ref name="A. Cento Bull 2009, p. 604"/>

''World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia'' notes that "Although he was authoritarian and ruled dictatorially, Pinochet's support of neoliberal economic policies and his unwillingness to support national businesses distinguished him from classical fascists."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvD2rZSVau4C&q=pinochet%20fascism&pg=PT163 |title=World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia |volume=1 |first1=Cyprian |last1=Blamires |first2=Paul |last2=Jackson |publisher=[[Company:ABC-CLIO|ABC-CLIO]] |access-date=10 March 2010 | isbn=978-1-57607-940-9|year=2006}}</ref>

Historian Gabriel Salazar stated that high visibility of Pinochet and neglect of co-workers was reminiscent of fascist leadership:

{{blockquote|It is notable that in all the declarations of Pinochet's men, nobody has mentioned the creators of the new Chilean society and state, I haven't heard anybody mention Jaime Guzmán, Carlos Cáceres, Hernán Büchi, Sergio de Castro. There is no mention of the true brains, or that the whole of the armed forces were involved in this, in dirty and symbolic tasks. Everything is embodied in Pinochet, it's very curious that figures of the stature of Büchi are immolated before the figure of Pinochet, in what is to me a fascist rite, give everything to the [[Social:Führer|Führer]], "I did it, but ultimately it was him".<ref name=Salazar/>}}

===Intellectual life and academic work===
Pinochet was publicly known as a man with a lack of culture and this image was reinforced by the fact that he also portrayed himself as a common man with simple ideas.<ref name=Pena2007/> He was also known for being reserved, sharing little about his opinions or feelings.<ref name=Pena2007>{{cite news |last=Peña |first=Cristóbal |date=6 December 2007 |title=Exclusivo: Viaje al fondo de la biblioteca de Pinochet |url=http://ciperchile.cl/2007/12/06/exclusivo-viaje-al-fondo-de-la-biblioteca-de-pinochet/ |newspaper=Ciper |access-date=23 May 2015 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316173506/http://ciperchile.cl/2007/12/06/exclusivo-viaje-al-fondo-de-la-biblioteca-de-pinochet/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Before wresting power from Allende, Pinochet had written two books, {{lang|es|Geopolítica}} (1968) and {{lang|es|Campaña de Tarapacá}} (1972), which established him as a major figure in Chile's military literature.<ref name=Pena2007/> In {{lang|es|Geopolítica}}, Pinochet plagiarized his mentor general Gregorio Rodríguez Tascón by using paragraphs from a 1949 conference presentation of Rodríguez without attributing them to him.<ref name=Cooperativa2013/><ref name=LaTercera2013>{{cite news|date=4 May 2013|title=Los libros de Pinochet|url=http://papeldigital.info/ltrep/2013/05/04/01/paginas/024.pdf|newspaper=La Tercera|language=es|page=R24|access-date=23 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615212025/http://papeldigital.info/ltrep/2013/05/04/01/paginas/024.pdf|archive-date=15 June 2015}}</ref> Rodríguez had previously lectured Pinochet and René Schneider and Carlos Prats in geography and geopolitics. In contrast to the two latter Pinochet was not an outstanding student but his persistence and interest in geopolitics made Rodríguez assume the role as his academic mentor.<ref name=LaTercera2013/> Rodríguez granted Pinochet a slot as assistant lecturer in geopolitics and in geography. According to Rodríguez, Pinochet would have been particularly impressed by his lectures on ''The Art of War''.<ref name=LaTercera2013/> Pinochet would later succeed Rodríguez in the geopolitics and geography chair.<ref name=LaTercera2013/>

Investigative journalist Juan Cristóbal Peña has put forward the thesis that Pinochet felt intellectual envy of Carlos Prats and that the latter's assassination in 1974 was a relief for Pinochet.<ref name=Cooperativa2013>{{cite news |last=EFE |date=8 July 2013 |title=Pinochet, un 'intelectual limitado' que copió libros, según escritor |trans-title=Pinochet, a 'limited intellectual' who copied books, according to writer |url=http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/augusto-pinochet/pinochet-un-intelectual-limitado-que-copio-libros-segun-escritor/2013-07-08/075339.html |newspaper=Radio Cooperativa |language=es |access-date=23 May 2015 |archive-date=1 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601220215/http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/augusto-pinochet/pinochet-un-intelectual-limitado-que-copio-libros-segun-escritor/2013-07-08/075339.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his lifetime, Pinochet amassed more than 55,000 books in his private library, worth an estimated US$2,840,000 (2006–07). The extent of his library was revealed to the public only after a police inspection in January 2006.<ref name=Pena2007/> Pinochet bought books at several small bookshops in the old centre of Santiago and was later supplied with books from abroad by military attachés who bought texts Pinochet was searching for.<ref name=Salazar2013>{{cite news |last=Salazar |first=Carlos |date=4 June 2014 |title=Juan Cristóbal Peña: 'Se ha menospreciado a Pinochet en su capacidad intelectual' |language=es |trans-title=Juan Cristóbal Peña: "Pinochet has been belittled in his intellectual capacity" |url=http://www.lanacion.cl/juan-cristobal-pena-se-ha-menospreciado-a-pinochet-en-su-capacidad-intelectual/noticias/2013-06-03/140957.html |newspaper=La Nación |access-date=23 May 2015 |archive-date=15 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815031952/http://www.lanacion.cl/juan-cristobal-pena-se-ha-menospreciado-a-pinochet-en-su-capacidad-intelectual/noticias/2013-06-03/140957.html }}</ref><ref name=NYtimes>{{cite news|last=Romero|first=Simon|date=9 January 2014|title=A Chilean Dictator's Secret Book Collection: Heavy on Napoleon, Light on Fiction|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/world/americas/a-chilean-dictators-secret-book-collection-heavy-on-napoleon-light-on-fiction.html?_r=0|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=23 May 2015|archive-date=31 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331102226/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/world/americas/a-chilean-dictators-secret-book-collection-heavy-on-napoleon-light-on-fiction.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> As ruler of Chile he used discretionary funds for these purchases.<ref name=NYtimes/> The library included many rare books including a first edition (1646) {{lang|la|Histórica relación del Reyno de Chile}} and an original letter of Bernardo O'Higgins. A significant part of the books and documents of the library of José Manuel Balmaceda was found in Pinochet's library in 2006.<ref name=Pena2007/> Pinochet's library contained almost no poetry or fiction.<ref name=NYtimes/>

===Nicknames===
Supporters sometimes refer to Pinochet as ''my general'' (the military salutation for a general) while opponents call him {{lang|es|pinocho}} (Spanish for "[[Biology:Pinocchio|Pinocchio]]", from the children's story).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/lasa2009/files/SorensenKristin.pdf|title=Latin American Studies Association: Login|access-date=17 December 2009|archive-date=18 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718221235/http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/lasa2009/files/SorensenKristin.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A common nickname used by both younger generations is {{lang|es|el tata}} (Chilean Spanish equivalent of "the grandpa"). Since the Riggs Bank scandal he has been referred to sarcastically as ''Daniel Lopez'', one of the fake identities he used to deposit money in the bank.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/augusto-pinochet/patrimonio/pinochet-con-nombres-de-chapa-abrio-cuentas-en-el-riggs-en-1985/2004-11-20/142652.html |title=Pinochet, con nombres de 'chapa', abrió cuentas en el Riggs en 1985 |trans-title=Pinochet opened accounts at Riggs under false names<!--Chilean Spanish 'nombre de chapa' = nickname--> in 1985 |work=Radio Cooperativa |language=es |date=20 November 2004 |access-date=20 August 2014 |archive-date=21 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821112408/http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/augusto-pinochet/patrimonio/pinochet-con-nombres-de-chapa-abrio-cuentas-en-el-riggs-en-1985/2004-11-20/142652.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Post-dictatorship life==
[[File:Augusto Pinochet - 1995.jpg|thumb|upright|Pinochet in 1995]]

===Arrest and court cases in the United Kingdom===

Pinochet was arrested in London on "charges of genocide and terrorism that include murder" in October 1998.<ref name="Bartrop-2007">{{cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R |last2=Totten |first2=Samuel |title=Dictionary of Genocide |chapter=Pinochet, Augusto, Case Against |date=30 November 2007 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgGA91skoP4C&pg=PA331 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-34642-2 |oclc=883597633 |location=Westport, Conn. |volume=1 |page=331 |access-date=29 August 2021 |archive-date=29 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829080859/https://books.google.com/books?id=rgGA91skoP4C&pg=PA331 |url-status=live }}</ref> The indictment and arrest of Pinochet was the first time that a former government head was arrested on the principle of [[Social:Universal jurisdiction|universal jurisdiction]].<ref>Robertson, Geoffrey, ''Crimes Against Humanity''. Penguin Books, 2006. Ppg. 336-7.</ref>

After being placed under house arrest on the grounds of the Wentworth Club in Britain in October 1998 and initiating a judicial and public relations battle, the latter run by [[Social:Thatcherism|Thatcherite]] political operative Patrick Robertson,<ref>{{cite web|date=2021-03-02|title=The rich v the very, very rich: the rebellion at Wentworth golf club|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/mar/02/wentworth-golf-club-reignwood-yan-bin|access-date=2021-05-03|website={{wipe|The Guardian}}|language=en|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505203736/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/mar/02/wentworth-golf-club-reignwood-yan-bin|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Evening Standard 21 June 1995</ref> he was released in March 2000 on medical grounds by the Home Secretary Jack Straw without facing trial. Straw had overruled a House of Lords decision to extradite Pinochet to face trial in Spain.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/663170.stm Pinochet set free] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016002953/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/663170.stm |date=16 October 2009 }}, ''BBC'', 2 March 2000 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

===Return to Chile===
Pinochet returned to Chile on 3 March 2000. So as to avoid any potential disruption his flight back to Chile from the UK departed from RAF Waddington, evading those protesting against his release. His first act when landing in Santiago's airport was to triumphantly get up from his wheelchair to the acclaim of his supporters.<ref name="Return" /><ref>{{YouTube|gHReUalWqDw|video of Pinochet arriving at Santiago airport}}, 3 March 2000</ref><ref>Alex Bellos and Jonathan Franklin, [https://www.theguardian.com/pinochet/Story/0,,190560,00.html Pinochet receives a hero's welcome on his return] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613144759/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/04/pinochet.chile1 |date=13 June 2015 }}, ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', 4 March 2000 {{in lang|en}}</ref> He was greeted by his successor as head of the Chilean armed forces, General Ricardo Izurieta.<ref name="Return">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/664514.stm Pinochet arrives in Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226222206/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/664514.stm |date=26 February 2008 }}, ''BBC'', 3 March 2000 {{in lang|en}}</ref> President-elect Ricardo Lagos said the retired general's televised arrival had damaged the image of Chile, while thousands demonstrated against him.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/665342.stm Thousands march against Pinochet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040526083212/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/665342.stm |date=26 May 2004 }}, ''BBC'', 4 March 2000</ref>

In March 2000, Congress approved a constitutional amendment creating the status of "ex-president", which granted its holder immunity from prosecution and a financial allowance; this replaced Pinochet's senatorship-for-life. 111 legislators voted for, and 29 against.<ref name="Amendment">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/690817.stm Chile offers Pinochet new immunity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226222201/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/690817.stm |date=26 February 2008 }}, ''BBC'', 25 March 2000 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of judge Juan Guzmán's request in August 2000, and Pinochet was indicted on 1 December 2000 for the kidnapping of 75 opponents in the Caravan of Death case.<ref name="December00">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1050374.stm Pinochet charged with kidnapping] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226222211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1050374.stm |date=26 February 2008 }}, ''BBC'', 1 December 2000 {{in lang|en}}</ref> Guzmán advanced the charge of kidnapping as the 75 were officially "[[Social:Forced disappearance|disappeared]]": even though they were all most likely dead, the absence of their corpses made any charge of "homicide" difficult.

In July 2002, the Supreme Court dismissed Pinochet's indictment in the various human rights abuse cases, for medical reasons (vascular [[Medicine:Dementia|dementia]]). The debate concerned Pinochet's mental faculties, his legal team claiming that he was senile and could not remember, while others (including several physicians) claimed that he was affected only physically but retained all control of his faculties. The same year, the prosecuting attorney Hugo Guttierez, in charge of the Caravan of Death case, declared, "Our country has the degree of justice that the political transition permits us to have."<ref name=Guttierez>[http://www.memoriayjusticia.cl/english/en_issues-gutierrez.html "The Appeals Court Ruling Is Negotiated Out for Pinochet"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201104/http://www.memoriayjusticia.cl/english/en_issues-gutierrez.html |date=27 September 2007 }}, Interview with Attorney Hugo Gutierrez, by ''Memoria y Justicia'',21 February 2002 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

Pinochet resigned from his senatorial seat shortly after the Supreme Court's July 2002 ruling. In May 2004, the Supreme Court overturned its precedent decision, and ruled that he was capable of standing trial. In arguing their case, the prosecution presented a recent TV interview Pinochet had given to journalist Maria Elvira Salazar<ref>{{Citation|last=María Elvira Salazar|title=ENTREVISTA A PINOCHET – MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR|date=November 10, 2010|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=nKeLy5HmUZ0|access-date=April 20, 2019|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203228/https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=nKeLy5HmUZ0|url-status=live}}</ref> for a Miami-based television network, which raised doubts about his alleged mental incapacity.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-14-fg-pinochet14-story.html|title=Pinochet Competent, Must Stand Trial, Judge Rules|date=December 14, 2004|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=April 24, 2019|issn=0458-3035|archive-date=20 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120155056/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-14-fg-pinochet14-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2004/12/14/internacional/1102978802_850215.html|title=El juez Guzmán procesa a Pinochet y ordena su arresto domiciliario por asesinato y secuestro|date=December 14, 2004|work=El País|access-date=April 24, 2019|language=es|issn=1134-6582|archive-date=25 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525225409/https://elpais.com/diario/2004/12/14/internacional/1102978802_850215.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2004, he was charged with several crimes, including the 1974 assassination of General Prats and the Operation Colombo case in which 119 died, and was again placed under house arrest. He suffered a stroke on 18 December 2004.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4108039.stm | work=BBC News | title=Chile's Pinochet 'suffers stroke' | date=18 December 2004 | access-date=3 March 2012 | archive-date=18 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203104/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4108039.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> Questioned by his judges in order to know if, as president, he was the direct head of [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]], he answered: "I don't remember, but it's not true. And if it were true, I don't remember."<ref>16 November 2005. {{lang-es|link=no|"No me acuerdo, pero no es cierto. Y si es cierto, no me acuerdo"}}. Quoted in [http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061210/pags/20061210221221.html Las frases para el bronce de Pinochet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011192625/http://lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061210/pags/20061210221221.html |date=11 October 2007 }}, ''La Nacion'', 11 December 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

In January 2005, the Chilean Army accepted institutional responsibility for past human rights abuses.<ref>General Juan Emilio Cheyre, "Ejército de Chile: el fin de una visión", La Tercera, 11 May 2004</ref> In 2006, Pinochet was indicted for kidnappings and torture at the Villa Grimaldi detention center by judge Alejandro Madrid (Guzmán's successor),<ref name="CourtBBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/5329264.stm Court 'lifts Pinochet immunity'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203059/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5329264.stm |date=18 January 2022 }}, BBC, 8 September 2006.</ref> as well as for the 1995 assassination of the DINA biochemist Eugenio Berrios, himself involved in the Letelier case.<ref name=LCI>[http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/monde/ameriques/0,,3341806,00-levee-immunite-pinochet-pour-meurtre-chimiste-.html Levée de l'immunité de Pinochet pour le meurtre d'un chimiste] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929105606/http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/monde/ameriques/0%2C%2C3341806%2C00-levee-immunite-pinochet-pour-meurtre-chimiste-.html |date=29 September 2007 }}, news agency cable, 12 October 2006 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Berrios, who had worked with Michael Townley, had produced [[Chemistry:Sarin|sarin]], [[Medicine:Anthrax|anthrax]] and [[Medicine:Botulism|botulism]] in the Bacteriological War Army Laboratory for Pinochet; these materials were used against political opponents. The DINA biochemist was also alleged to have created [[Chemistry:Black cocaine|black cocaine]], which Pinochet then sold in Europe and the United States.<ref name="Franklin">Jonathan Franklin, [https://www.theguardian.com/chile/story/0,,1818137,00.html Pinochet 'sold cocaine to Europe and US'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203157/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/11/chile.drugstrade |date=18 January 2022 }}, ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', 11 July 2006 {{in lang|en}}</ref> The money for the drug trade was allegedly deposited into Pinochet's bank accounts.<ref name="ContrerasBerrios">[https://web.archive.org/web/20131110154826/http://www.cooperativa.cl/p4_noticias/antialone.html?page=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cooperativa.cl%2Fp4_noticias%2Fsite%2Fartic%2F20060710%2Fpags%2F20060710181933.html General (r) Manuel Contreras: Eugenio Berríos está vivo], ''Radio Cooperativa'', 10 July 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref> Pinochet's son Marco Antonio, who had been accused of participating in the drug trade, in 2006 denied claims of drug trafficking in his father's administration and said that he would sue Manuel Contreras, who had said that Pinochet sold cocaine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lostiempos.com/noticias/10-07-06/10_07_06_ultimas_int8.php |title=Hijo de Pinochet acusa de "mentiroso y canalla" a ex jefe DINA |access-date=2 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402113837/http://www.lostiempos.com/noticias/10-07-06/10_07_06_ultimas_int8.php |archive-date=2 April 2008 }}, ''Los Tiempos'', 10 July 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1" />

On 25 November 2006, Pinochet marked his 91st birthday by having his wife read a statement he had written to admirers present for his birthday:
{{blockquote|Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbour no rancour against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration ... I assume full political responsibility for what happened.<ref name="Quotes">[http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061210/pags/20061210221221.html Las frases para el bronce de Pinochet]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011192625/http://lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061210/pags/20061210221221.html |date=11 October 2007 }}, ''La Nacion'', 11 December 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ap.org/en/|title=The Associated Press|website=Associated Press|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/165-rogues-gallery/29612.html|title=Ailing Pinochet Takes Responsibility|website=archive.globalpolicy.org|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref>}}
Two days later, he was again indicted and ordered preliminary house arrest on charges of kidnapping and murder of two bodyguards of Salvador Allende <!-- UNNECESSARY – Wagner Salinas and Francisco Lara – -->who were arrested the day of the 1973 coup and executed by firing squad during the Caravan of Death.<ref>Eduardo Gallardo: "Pinochet indicted for 1973 executions," [http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/28/apworld/20061128120419&sec=apworld Associated Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905163627/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp%3Ffile%3D/2006/11/28/apworld/20061128120419%26sec%3Dapworld |date=5 September 2019 }}, 27 November 2006.</ref><ref name=Nov06>[http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/177449/0/pinochet/procesado/homicidios/ Procesan a Pinochet y ordenan su arresto por los secuestros y homicidios de la "Caravana de la Muerte"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905163627/https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/177449/0/pinochet/procesado/homicidios/ |date=5 September 2019 }}, ''20minutos'', 28 November 2006.</ref>

Pinochet died a few days later, on 10 December 2006, without having been convicted of any of the crimes of which he was accused.

===Corruption and other issues===
[[File:Pinochet-riggs.JPG|thumb|Documentation of some of Pinochet's many United States bank accounts]]
In 2004, a United States Senate [[Finance:Money laundering|money laundering]] investigation led by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Norm Coleman (R-MN)—ordered in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks—uncovered a network of over 125 securities and bank accounts at Riggs Bank and other U.S. financial institutions used by Pinochet and his associates for twenty-five years to secretly move millions of dollars.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite press release |author=United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs |title=Levin-Coleman Staff Report Discloses Web of Secret Accounts Used by Pinochet |publisher=US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs |url=https://www.senate.gov/~levin/newsroom/release.cfm?id=233631 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201080242/http://www.senate.gov/%7Elevin/newsroom/release.cfm?id=233631 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |access-date=16 March 2005}}</ref> Though the subcommittee was charged only with investigating compliance of financial institutions under the USA PATRIOT Act, and not the Pinochet regime, Senator Coleman noted:
{{blockquote|This is a sad, sordid tale of money laundering involving Pinochet accounts at multiple financial institutions using alias names, offshore accounts, and close associates. As a former General and President of Chile, Pinochet was a well-known human rights violator and violent dictator.<ref name="autogenerated1" />}}

Over several months in 2005, Chilean judge Sergio Muñoz indicted Augusto Pinochet's wife, Lucia Hiriart; four of his children – Marco Antonio, Jacqueline, Veronica and Lucia Pinochet; his personal secretary, Monica Ananias; and his former aide Oscar Aitken on tax evasion and falsification charges stemming from the Riggs Bank investigation. In January 2006, daughter Lucia Pinochet was detained at Washington DC-Dulles airport and subsequently deported while attempting to evade the tax charges in Chile.<ref>"U.S. Sends Back Pinochet Daughter," CNN, 28 January 2006</ref> In January 2007, the Santiago Court of Appeals revoked most of the indictment from Judge Carlos Cerda against the Pinochet family.<ref>[http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=240949 Corte revoca mayoría de procesamientos en caso Riggs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810114404/https://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=240949 |date=10 August 2020 }}, ''El Mercurio'', 3 January 2007 {{in lang|es}}</ref> But Pinochet's five children, his wife and 17 other persons (including two generals, one of his former lawyer and former secretary) were arrested in October 2007 on charges of embezzlement and use of false passports. They are accused of having illegally transferred $27m (£13.2m) to foreign bank accounts during Pinochet's rule.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7028503.stm Pinochet family arrested in Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430050943/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7028503.stm |date=30 April 2021 }}, ''BBC'', 4 October 2007 {{in lang|en}}</ref><ref>[http://docs.latercera.cl/especiales/2007/cobertura_Caso_Riggs/portada2.html Cobertura Especial: Detienen a familia y principales colaboradores de Pinochet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011195856/http://docs.latercera.cl/especiales/2007/cobertura_Caso_Riggs/portada2.html |date=11 October 2007 }}, ''La Tercera'', 4 October 2007 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

In September 2005, a joint investigation by ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'' and ''La Tercera'' revealed that the British arms firm BAE Systems had been identified as paying more than £1m to Pinochet, through a front company in the British Virgin Islands, which BAE has used to channel commission on arms deals.<ref name="BAE">David Leigh and Rob Evans, [https://www.theguardian.com/chile/story/0,13755,1570335,00.html Revealed: BAE's secret £1m to Pinochet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203154/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/15/bae.freedomofinformation |date=18 January 2022 }}, ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', 15 September 2005 {{in lang|en}}</ref> The payments began in 1997 and lasted until 2004.<ref name="BAE" /><ref name="Detectivestory">David Leigh, Jonathan Franklin and Rob Evans, [https://www.theguardian.com/chile/story/0,13755,1570165,00.html Detective story that linked £1m Pinochet cash to BAE] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203213/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/15/bae.freedomofinformation1 |date=18 January 2022 }}, ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', 15 September 2005 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

In 2007, fifteen years of investigation led to the conclusion that the 1992 assassination of DINA Colonel Gerardo Huber was most probably related to various illegal arms traffic carried out, after Pinochet's resignation from power, by military circles very close to himself.<ref name="NYT">Larry Rohter, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html?ex=1308369600en=964a159db7c0d614ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss Colonel's Death Gives Clues to Pinochet Arms Deals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808081901/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html?ex=1308369600en=964a159db7c0d614ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss |date=8 August 2018 }}, ''The New York Times'', 19 June 2006 {{in lang|en}}</ref> Huber had been assassinated a short time before he was due to testify in the case concerning the 1991 illegal export of weapons to the Croatian army. The deal involved 370 tons of weapons, sold to Croatia by Chile on 7 December 1991, when the former country was under a United Nations' embargo because of the support for Croatia war in [[Place:Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]].<ref name="Memoria">[http://www.memoriaviva.com/culpables/criminales%20h/huber_gerardo.htm Biographical notice] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607085309/http://www.memoriaviva.com/culpables/criminales%20h/huber_gerardo.htm |date=7 June 2007 }} on ''Memoria viva'' NGO website {{in lang|es}}</ref> In January 1992, the judge Hernán Correa de la Cerda wanted to hear Gerardo Huber in this case, but the latter may have been silenced to avoid implicating Pinochet in this new case<ref name="NYT" /><ref name="Coronel">Jorge Molina Sanhueza, [http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050924/pags/20050924223646.html Gerardo Huber sabía demasiado, pero no alcanzó a contarlo. El coronel que le pena al ejército] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312003922/http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050924/pags/20050924223646.html |date=12 March 2007 }}, ''La Nación'', 25 September 2005 {{in lang|es}}</ref><ref name="CDE">Andrea Chaparro, [http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050814/pags/20050814204006.html CDE insiste en unir caso Huber con tráfico de armas a Croacia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011192508/http://lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050814/pags/20050814204006.html |date=11 October 2007 }}, ''La Nación'', 15 August 2005 {{in lang|es}}</ref>—although the latter was no longer President, he remained at the time Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Pinochet was at the center of this illegal arms trade, receiving money through various [[Social:Offshore company|offshores]] and front companies, including the Banco Coutts International in Miami.<ref>Andrea Chaparro Solís, [http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20060613/pags/20060613215629.html Generales (R) y civiles de Famae procesados en caso armas a Croacia] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120629184537/http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20060613/pags/20060613215629.html |date=29 June 2012 }}, ''La Nación'', 13 June 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Pinochet was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in August 2000 by the Supreme Court and indicted by judge Juan Guzmán Tapia. Guzmán had ordered in 1999 the arrest of five militarists, including General {{Ill|Pedro Espinoza Bravo|es|Pedro Espinoza}} of the [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]], for their role in the Caravan of Death following the coup on 11 September. Arguing that the bodies of the "[[Social:Forced disappearance|disappeared]]" were still missing, he made [[Social:Jurisprudence|jurisprudence]], which had as effect to lift any prescription on the crimes committed by the military. Pinochet's trial continued until his death on 10 December 2006, with an alternation of indictments for specific cases, lifting of immunities by the Supreme Court or to the contrary immunity from prosecution, with his health a main argument for, or against, his prosecution.

The Supreme Court affirmed, in March 2005, Pinochet's immunity concerning the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires, which had taken place in the frame of Operation Condor. However, he was deemed fit to stand trial for Operation Colombo, during which 119 political opponents were "disappeared" in Argentina. The Chilean justice also lifted his immunity on the Villa Grimaldi case, a detention and torture center in the outskirts of Santiago. Pinochet, who still benefited from a reputation of righteousness from his supporters, lost legitimacy when he was put under house arrest on tax fraud and passport forgery, following the publication by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of a report concerning the Riggs Bank in July 2004. The report was a consequence of investigations on financial funding of the [[Religion:September 11 attacks|September 11 attacks]] in the US. The bank controlled between US$4 million and $8 million of the assets of Pinochet, who lived in Santiago in a modest house, dissimulating his wealth. According to the report, Riggs participated in [[Finance:Money laundering|money laundering]] for Pinochet, setting up offshore shell corporations (referring to Pinochet as only "a former public official"), and hiding his accounts from regulatory agencies. Related to Pinochet's and his family secret bank accounts in United States and in Caribbean islands, this tax fraud filing for an amount of 27 million dollars shocked the conservative sectors who still supported him. Ninety percent of these funds would have been raised between 1990 and 1998, when Pinochet was chief of the Chilean armies, and would essentially have come from weapons traffic (when purchasing French 'Mirage' fighter aircraft in 1994, Dutch 'Leopard 2' tanks, Swiss 'MOWAG' armored vehicles or by illegal sales of weapons to Croatia, during the Balkans war). His wife, Lucía Hiriart, and his son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, were also sued for complicity. For the fourth time in seven years, Pinochet was indicted by the Chilean justice.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/28/chile.pinochet/?section=cnn_topstories U.S. sends back Pinochet daughter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111165109/http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/28/chile.pinochet/?section=cnn_topstories |date=11 November 2007 }}, ''CNN'', 28 January 2006</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Pinochet muerto.jpg|thumb|upright|Pinochet on the bier on 11 December 2006]]
[[File:Feretro Pinochet.jpg|thumb|Pinochet's funeral]]
Pinochet suffered a heart attack on the morning of 3 December 2006 and was given the last rites<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=237903 |title=Augusto Pinochet grave en el Hospital Militar, minuto a minuto |website=www.emol.com |date=4 December 2006 |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205090003/http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=237903 |archive-date=5 December 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6203476.stm |title=Americas &#124; Chile's Pinochet has heart attack |work=BBC News |date=13 December 2006 |access-date=2022-01-18 |archive-date=2 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102034559/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6203476.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pinochet-s-condition-improves-doctors-say-1.615291 |title=Pinochet's condition improves, doctors say {{!}} CBC News |access-date=2 January 2022 |archive-date=2 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102034604/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pinochet-s-condition-improves-doctors-say-1.615291 |url-status=live }}</ref> the same day. On 4 December 2006, the Chilean Court of Appeals ordered the suspension of his house arrest. On 10 December 2006 at 13:30 local time (16:30 UTC) he was taken to the intensive care unit.<ref>[http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/12/10/internacional/1165772627.html?a=9226ef1866a7f79b7121e16dc29be1b4&t=1165774791 Muere el ex dictador Chileno Augusto Pinochet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020032613/http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/12/10/internacional/1165772627.html?a=9226ef1866a7f79b7121e16dc29be1b4&t=1165774791 |date=20 October 2017 }} ''EFE''</ref> He died of congestive heart failure and [[Medicine:Pulmonary edema|pulmonary edema]],<ref>[http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=238569 Augusto Pinochet falleció en el Hospital Militar tras sufrir recaída] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020231858/http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=238569 |date=20 October 2017 }} "; El Mercurio"</ref> surrounded by family members, at the Military Hospital at 14:15 local time (17:15 UTC).<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167237.stm Chile's Gen Pinochet dies at 91] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020035101/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167237.stm |date=20 October 2017 }} ''BBC News''</ref>

Massive spontaneous street demonstrations broke out throughout the country upon the news of his death. In Santiago, opponents celebrated his death in Alameda Avenue, while supporters grieved outside the Military Hospital. Pinochet's remains lay in repose on 11 December 2006 at the Military Academy in Las Condes. During this ceremony, Francisco Cuadrado Prats&mdash;the grandson of Carlos Prats (a former Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the Allende government who was murdered by Pinochet's secret police)&mdash;spat on the coffin, and was quickly surrounded by supporters of Pinochet, who assaulted and brutally beat him. Pinochet's funeral took place the following day at the same venue before a gathering of 60,000 supporters.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pinochet's funeral draws 60,000|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2006/12/12/pinochet-funeral.html|access-date=5 March 2013|newspaper=CBC News|date=12 December 2006|archive-date=5 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805003132/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2006/12/12/pinochet-funeral.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a government decision, he was not granted a state funeral (an honor normally bestowed upon past presidents of Chile) but a military funeral as former [[Social:Commander-in-chief|commander-in-chief]] of the Army appointed by Allende. The government also refused to declare an official national day of mourning, but it did authorize flags at military barracks to be flown at half staff, and for the Chilean flag to be draped on Pinochet's coffin. Socialist President Michelle Bachelet, whose father Alberto was temporarily imprisoned and tortured after the 1973 coup and died shortly afterwards from heart complications, said that it would be "a violation of [her] conscience" to attend a state funeral for Pinochet.<ref>"Clashes Break out after Pinochet's death", Yahoo!News, 11 December 2006</ref> The only government authority present at the public funeral was the Defense Minister, Vivianne Blanlot.<ref>{{cite news |last1=EFE |title=La ministra chilena de Defensa, insultada en el funeral de Pinochet |trans-title=Chilean Defense Minister insulted at Pinochet's funeral |url=https://www.elperiodico.com/es/internacional/20061212/ministra-chilena-defensa-insultada-funeral-5408856 |access-date=29 March 2021 |work=El Periódico |agency=EFE |date=12 December 2006 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203236/https://www.elperiodico.com/es/internacional/20061212/ministra-chilena-defensa-insultada-funeral-5408856 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Spain, supporters of late dictator Francisco Franco paid homage to Pinochet. Antonio Tejero, who led the failed coup of 1981, attended a memorial service in Madrid.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lacuarta.com/diario/2007/01/12/12.14.4a.VUE.VIUDOS.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205083046/http://www.lacuarta.com/diario/2007/01/12/12.14.4a.VUE.VIUDOS.html|title="Viudos de Franco" homenajearon a Pinochet en España|archive-date=5 February 2015|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref> Pinochet's body was cremated in Parque del Mar Cemetery, Concón, on 12 December 2006, on his request to "avoid vandalism of his tomb", according to his son Marco Antonio.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B1D9E9839-D2D8-4255-8D40-68053E9D60B0%7D)&language=EN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930013136/http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B1D9E9839-D2D8-4255-8D40-68053E9D60B0%7D%29&language=EN|title=Family Wants Pinochet Cremation|archive-date=30 September 2007|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref>{{efn-ua|See also: corpse of Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, corpse of Evita and Hands of Perón.}} His ashes were delivered to his family later that day, and are deposited in Los Boldos, Santo Domingo, Valparaíso, Chile; one of his personal residences. The armed forces refused to allow his ashes to be deposited on military property.<ref>[http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061225/pags/20061225180129.html Pedregoso camino para que cenizas de Pinochet llegaran a Los Boldos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103172221/http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20061225/pags/20061225180129.html |date=3 November 2014 }}, La Nación 26 December 2006</ref>

==In popular culture==
Pinochet was portrayed by Jaime Vadell in the 2023 black comedy film ''El Conde'' directed by Pablo Larraín,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pablo Larraín y Netflix preparan "El Conde", una sátira sobre un Pinochet vampiro |url=https://www.ambito.com/espectaculos/netflix/pablo-larrain-y-preparan-el-conde-una-satira-un-pinochet-vampiro-n5470803 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=www.ambito.com}}</ref> where he is depicted as a 250-year old French-born vampire who faked his death and is living in seclusion.

==Honours==

===National honours===
* {{flag|Chile}}:
** [[File:CHL Order of Merit of Chile - Grand Cross BAR.png|70px]] Grand Master of the Order of Merit (1974–1990)
** [[File:CHL Order of Bernardo O'Higgins - Grand Cross BAR.png|70px]] Grand Master of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins (1974–1990){{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
**[[File:Cinta Presidente de la República "Gran Oficial".png|70px]] President of the Republic Decoration
** 10 Years Service Award
**20 Years Service Award
**30 Years Service Award
**Minerva Medal (Army War College)
**Minerva Medal (Army War College)
**Decoration of the President of the Chilean Red Cross
**Grand Knight of the Altiplano of Arica

===Foreign honours===
*{{flag|Guatemala}}: Grand Cross of the Order of the Quetzal<ref>{{cite web |author=Palma, Claudia |editor=Prensa Libre |title=Polémica Orden del Quetzal |url=http://www.prensalibre.com/polemica-orden-del-quetzal |date=15 April 2015 |access-date=23 May 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527073254/http://www.prensalibre.com/polemica-orden-del-quetzal |url-status=live }}</ref>
*{{flag|Ecuador}}: 
**Order of Abdon Calderón, 1st Class
**Official Honorary General Staff Decoration of the Armed Forces of Ecuador
**Honorary Staff Officer of the Armed Forces of Ecuador
*{{flag|El Salvador}}: Order of José Matías Delgado
*{{flag|Paraguay}}: Collar of Francisco Solano Lopez Grade of the National Order of Merit (Paraguay)<ref name="PinochetOrders">{{cite web |title=Biografía de los miembros de la Junta de Gobierno |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0053665.pdf |website=memoriachilena.cl |access-date=13 January 2015 |archive-date=15 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615173910/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0053665.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
*{{flag|Argentina}}: 
**Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín<ref name="PinochetOrders" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Decreto n.° 2904/76|publisher=Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina|date=6 December 1976|url=https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/7071512/19761206?busqueda=1|access-date=20 July 2021|archive-date=28 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028170228/https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/7071512/19761206%3Fbusqueda%3D1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina |title=Ley de derogación de condecoraciones entregadas al dictador Augusto Pinochet Ugarte |url=https://www4.hcdn.gov.ar/dependencias/dsecretaria/Periodo2005/PDF2005/TP2005/06AGOSTO2005/tp110/4725-D-05.pdf |date=18 August 2005 |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714004051/https://www4.hcdn.gov.ar/dependencias/dsecretaria/Periodo2005/PDF2005/TP2005/06AGOSTO2005/tp110/4725-D-05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
**Grand Cross of the Order of May<ref name="PinochetOrders" />
*{{flag|Colombia}}: Commander of the Order of Military Merit José María Córdova
*{{flag|Spain}}: Crosses of Military Merit<ref name="PinochetOrders" /> (1973, revoked in 2023)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eldiario.es/politica/gobierno-retira-pinochet-cruz-merito-militar-mantenia-1975_1_10505676.html|title= El Gobierno retira a Pinochet la Cruz al Mérito Militar que mantenía desde 1975|date=11 September 2023|access-date=11 September 2023|work=elDiario.es|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://elpais.com/espana/2023-09-11/el-gobierno-retirara-la-gran-cruz-al-merito-militar-concedida-a-pinochet-en-1975.html|title=España retirará la Gran Cruz al Mérito Militar concedida a Pinochet en 1975|work=El País|date=11 September 2023|access-date=11 September 2023|language=es}}</ref>
*{{flag|Sweden}}: Military Order of Santa Brigada (1975)<ref name="PinochetOrders">{{cite web |title=Biografía de los miembros de la Junta de Gobierno |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0053665.pdf |website=memoriachilena.cl |access-date=13 January 2015 |archive-date=15 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615173910/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0053665.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* 1970 Chilean presidential election
* Book burnings in Chile
* History of Chile
* [[Social:Pinochetism|Pinochetism]]
* ''Colonia'', a film about two West Germans caught up in the aftermath of the Pinochet coup who end up in the Colonia Dignidad cult
* ''Missing'', a film based on the life of U.S. journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the aftermath of the Pinochet coup
* ''No'', an Academy Award-nominated film presenting a dramatized account of the 1988 national plebiscite campaign on Pinochet's rule
* ''Nostalgia for the Light'', a documentary that discusses Pinochet's regime and the disappearances of Chileans. 
* ''El Conde'', a film that satirizes Pinochet as an centuries-old vampire seeking death.
* David H. Popper, US ambassador to Chile (1974–1977)
* United States involvement in regime change

== Explanatory notes==
{{notelist-ua}}

==References==
{{Reflist|
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<ref name="fascist">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/pinochet-was-a-vile-fascist-but-allende-was-no-hero-1179768.html|title=Pinochet was a vile Fascist...|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=21 September 2009|location=London|first=Andrew|last=Neil|date=22 October 1998|archive-date=18 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618212221/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/pinochet-was-a-vile-fascist-but-allende-was-no-hero-1179768.html|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSsGEsBUsVcC&q=pinochet%20fascism&pg=PP1|title=Blackshorts and Reds|access-date=21 September 2009|first=Michael|last=Parenti|isbn=978-0-87286-329-3|year=1997|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203143/https://books.google.com/books?id=WSsGEsBUsVcC&q=pinochet+fascism&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=letelier-docs_291178|title=Day of Reckoning Near for Pinochet|publisher=Transnational Institute|access-date=21 September 2009|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203315/https://www.tni.org/en/search/language/en?page=letelier-docs_291178|url-status=live}}
* Alistair Horne, "The case for Henry Kissinger" – The Independent (3587 words, 18 August 2009)
* Alide Dasnois, "Chile and the absurdity of ideological social engineering" – The Cape Times (1226 words, 8 July 2009)
* Michael Posner, "What it's like to arrive at a place called exile; Drawing on personal experience, Carmen Aguirre's play chronicles the plight of Chilean refugees fleeing the Pinochet regime" – The Globe & Mail (829 words, 17 September 2009)
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIz3ykCJlaMC&q=pinochet%20%22fascist%20policies%22&pg=PA302|title=The Identity of Liberation in Latin American Thought...|access-date=21 September 2009|first=Mario|last=Sàenz|isbn=978-0-7391-0084-4|date=31 August 1999|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118203132/https://books.google.com/books?id=lIz3ykCJlaMC&q=pinochet+%22fascist+policies%22&pg=PA302|url-status=live}}</ref> -->
}}

==Further reading==
{{div col}}
* {{cite book|last=Bawden|first=John R|title=The Pinochet Generation: The Chilean Military in the Twentieth Century|publisher=University of Alabama|year=2016|isbn= 978-0-8173-1928-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Cooper|first=Marc|title=Pinochet and Me|publisher=Verso|year=2002|isbn= 1-85984-360-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Dinges |first=John |author-link=John Dinges |title=The Condor Years: How Pinochet And His Allies Brought Terrorism To Three Continents |url=https://archive.org/details/condoryearshowpi00ding
 |url-access=registration |year=2005
 |publisher=The New Press |location=New York
 |isbn=1-56584-977-9
 }}
* {{Cite book
 |last=Muñoz
 |first=Heraldo
 |title=The dictator's shadow: life under Augusto Pinochet
 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictatorsshadowl00muno_0
 |access-date=20 January 2008
 |year=2008
 |publisher=Basic Books
 |location=New York
 |isbn=978-0-465-00250-4
 }} (Reviewed in {{wipe|The Washington Post}}, Book World, p.&nbsp;2, 2009-10-19)
* {{Cite book  |last=O'Shaughnessy  |first=Hugh  |title=Pinochet: The Politics of Torture  |url=https://archive.org/details/pinochetpolitics00osha  |year=2000  |publisher=NYU Press  |location=New York  |isbn=0-8147-6201-8  }}
* {{citation |last=Robin |first=Marie-Monique |title=Escadrons de la mort, l'école française |publisher=La Découverte |date=2004 |series=Cahiers libres |isbn=2707141631 |url=https://archive.org/details/EscadronsDeLaMort_201610}}
* {{Cite book|last=Whelan |first=James R. |author-link=James R. Whelan
 |title=Out of the Ashes: Life, Death and Transfiguration of Democracy in Chile, 1833–1988
 |year=1989
 |publisher=Regnery 
 |isbn=978-0-895-265531
 |oclc= 18256127}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
* [http://www.cidob.org/es/documentacio/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/chile/augusto_pinochet_ugarte Extensive bio by Fundación CIDOB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006121950/http://www.cidob.org/es/documentacio/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/chile/augusto_pinochet_ugarte |date=6 October 2014 }} (in Spanish)
* [http://pinochet-biography.excathedra.dk Augusto Pinochet (1915–2006) – A Biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061213181022/http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/special-reports/20061211-dossier-pinochet-dies.html France 24 coverage] – Augusto Pinochet's Necrology on France 24
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/10/98/the_pinochet_file/newsid_198000/198306.stm BBC coverage] (special report)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070212202527/http://www.chacabuco.org/ Documentary Film on Chilean Concentration Camp from Pinochet's Regime: Chacabuco]
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/index.html CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression] from The National Security Archive
* [http://www.cyberussr.com/hcunn/for/chile-73.html Chile under Allende and Pinochet]
* [http://www.memoriaviva.com/ Human rights violation under Pinochet]
* [https://archive.today/20070210232346/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2497858,00.html The Times obituary]
* [http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/0904cypher.html Analysis of economic policy under Pinochet] by economist Jim Cypher in Dollars & Sense magazine
* [http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=5206&sec_id=5206 Chile: The Price of Democracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721192053/http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=5206&sec_id=5206 |date=21 July 2011 }} ''New English Review''
* [http://www.hoover.org/research/what-pinochet-did-chile What Pinochet Did for Chile] ''Hoover Digest (2007 No. 1)''
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/15/another_9_11_anniversary_september_11 When US-Backed Pinochet Forces Took Power in Chile] – video report by ''Democracy Now!''

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{{Succession box
| title=President of Chile
| before=Salvador Allende
| after=Patricio Aylwin
| years=17 December 1974 – 11 March 1990}}
{{S-mil}}
{{Succession box
| title=Army Commander-in-chief
| before=Carlos Prats
| after=Ricardo Izurieta
| years=23 August 1973 – 11 March 1998}}
{{end}}
{{Navboxes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinochet, Augusto}}
[[Category:Political corruption]]

{{Sourceattribution|Augusto Pinochet}}