Plan B Forum

1973 Chilean coup d'état

Supported by:
United States

CIA.svg Central Intelligence Agency

Commanders and leaders
Chile Salvador Allende Chile Augusto Pinochet
Chile José Toribio Merino
Chile Gustavo Leigh
Chile César Mendoza

The 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed event in both the Cold War and the history of Chile. Following an extended period of social and political unrest between the conservative-dominated Congress of Chile and the democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende, Allende was overthrown in a US-backed coup d’état.

The U.S.-backed junta was composed of the heads of the Air Force, Navy, Carabineros (police force) and the Army, though Augusto Pinochet eventually arose to supreme power within a year after the coup, formally assuming the presidency in late 1974.[1] Pinochet later assumed power and ended Allende's elected Popular Unity government, instigating a campaign of terror on its supporters, including the murder of former Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier.[2][3] Before Pinochet's rule, Chile had for decades been hailed as a beacon of democracy and political stability in a South America plagued by military juntas and Caudillismo.

During the air raids and ground attacks that preceded the coup, Allende gave his last speech, in which he vowed to stay in the presidential palace, denouncing offers for safe passage should he choose exile over confrontation.[4] Direct witness accounts of his death agree that he committed suicide in the palace.[5][6] After the coup, the junta established a military dictatorship, with support from the CIA and DIA, that ruled Chile until 1990; it was marked by numerous human rights violations. A weak insurgent movement against the Pinochet government was maintained inside Chile by elements sympathetic to the former Allende government, and an internationally supported plebiscite in 1988 eventually removed Pinochet from power.

The United States played a role in the events, funding the conservative opposition and utilising the Central Intelligence Agency in sabotage campaigns to encourage a coup, subsequently supporting the Allende government's replacement with a military junta led by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet.[7]