Chilean coup of 1973

:This article is about the successful coup in September 1973 that brought Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet to power. For the failed coup attempt in June of the same year, see tanquetazo.

Military coup of 1973

General Pinochet came to power in a military coup d'état on September 11, 1973, in which rebels bombed the Presidential Palace with British-made Hawker Hunter fighter jets. Allende and some of his aides were besieged in the palace. Allende refused to surrender, and addresed the nation for a last time in a potent . During this coup, Allende died. After being debated by several years, the official version, that he committed suicide with a machine gun (generally presumed to be the machine gun given to him by Fidel Castro), and an autopsy labelled his death as suicide, has been widely accepted, even by members of his own party and family. This general acceptance is based on statements given by two doctors from the La Moneda Palace infirmary: Patricio Guijón, who made a statement at the time, and José Quiroga who confirmed it many years later. (Some sources misattribute these statements to "Allende's personal doctor"; that would be Enrique Paris Roa, who does not appear to have made such a statement.) However some still insist he was murdered by Pinochet's military forces while defending the palace. http://wais.stanford.edu/Chile/chile_conflict.html, http://www.rrojasdatabank.org/murder10.htm, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_3199000/3199155.stm, http://www.garella.com/rich/eric/exile.htm, http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/lat102200.htm, http://www.laopinion.com/archivo/index.html?START=1&RESULTSTART=1&DISPLAYTYPE=single&FREETEXT=quiroga&FDATEd12=&FDATEd13=&SORT_MODE=SORT_MODE,

Related Topics:
Coup d'état - September 11 - 1973 - Presidential Palace - Hawker Hunter

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Initially there were four leaders of the junta: in addition to Pinochet from the Army, there were Gustavo Leigh Guzmán of the Air Force, José Toribio Merino Castro of the Navy, and César Mendoza Durán of the National Police (Carabineros de Chile). Coup leaders soon decided against a rotating presidency and named Pinochet permanent head of the junta.

Related Topics:
Junta - Gustavo Leigh Guzmán - José Toribio Merino Castro - César Mendoza Durán

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Pinochet moved to solidify his control against any opposition. On September 13, the junta dissolved the Congress. The National Stadium was temporarily converted into an immense prison. Approximately 130,000 individuals were arrested in a three-year period, with the number of dead and "disappeared" reaching into the thousands within the first few months. Most of the people targeted had been supporters of Allende; the September 13 decree also outlawed the parties that had been part of Popular Unity, and all political activity was declared "in recess".

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In the book in which he recounts the coup (El Día decisivo), Pinochet affirms that he was the leading plotter of the coup and used his position as Commander of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme that was coordinated with the other branches of the military. In recent years, however, high military officials from the time have said that Pinochet only reluctantly got involved in the coup a few days before it was scheduled to occur.

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Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the Junta (originally agreed to be rotated among all members), and he was proclaimed the President of the Republic.

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