How did the government of Chile turn from Democracy to Dictatorship in a matter of weeks? Augusto Pinochet led a coup in 1973 and took full authoritarian control of the country. The overthrow of Chilean democracy was so absolute it lasted for 17 years until 1989. Before the coup, Chile had benefited from a long history as a democratic country where Rule of Law existed. So what exactly happened?
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was born in Valparaiso in 1915, one of six children. The son of a customs inspector, he was raised in a middle-class home. At 17, he decided to enlist in the military as his career. He graduated from the academy in 1937 and steadily rose in rank. A general at 55, he was given command of the capital’s army garrison in 1971, what would later become a crucial position.
At the time, President Salvador Allende was the first Socialist elected leader of Chile. The election of his Unity Coalition set off alarm bells in both Chile and the U.S. His government made changes in economic policy including price controls and nationalization of banks. The measures unfortunately caused consumer shortages and hyper-inflation. During a 1972 protest and general labor strike in Santiago, Allende called on General Pinochet to impose a state of emergency in the capital.
This was the first time most Chileans ever saw the tall, broad-chested officer with a thick mustache and scowling face. Pinochet imposed a strict curfew and ordered the arrest of demonstrators on both sides, announcing that chaos would not be tolerated. His firm but even hand stance convinced Allende that he could be trusted. In 1973, he appointed Pinochet Commander-in-Chief of the army.
Due to the floundering economy, Allende lost popular support both in Congress and the middle class. Finally, and most critically, Allende lost support of his own military leaders. Only 3 weeks into his new post, Pinochet played a leading role in a CIA-backed coup against President Allende in September 1973. The aim was to “liberate Chile from (supposed) Marxist oppression.” The insurgents stormed the presidential palace La Moneda and began to shell it. President Allende was found dead inside after shooting himself in the head, rather than surrender.
Aside from the capital, the people offered little resistance to the military that quickly fanned out to every city across the country. The military, aided by financing from the U.S. CIA, gained control of the country in less than a week. Chile’s new regime consisted of the heads of the three branches of the military, with Augusto Pinochet its head.
Pinochet soon made it clear that he had no intention of continuing Chile’s democracy.
He blamed democracy for allowing Socialists and Leftists to take control of the government. In his first news conference, he declared that “Chile needed a nationalist, authoritarian government that could act decisively.” It was a pledge he kept. He scrapped the Constitution, banned all political parties, dissolved the National Congress, closed the Constitutional Court, and burned voter registration rolls. Although publicly criticizing it, the U.S. State Department supported his military government as being better that socialism.
In 1974, Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet declared himself President without an election, reducing the rest of the junta to mere advisors. He appointed trusted military officers as mayors of cities throughout Chile. He named retired officers as the heads of universities with orders to purge the faculty of liberal-leaning professors. His regime severely censored the formerly free press. Labor unions and strikes were also banned.
Later that year, Pinochet created the National Intelligence Directorate, or DINA, his secret police.
DINA conducted raids, arrests, executions, and disappearances of thousands of Chileans, even those living abroad. Tens of thousands of Allende supporters, union leaders, reporters and even foreign nationals were rounded up. DINA filled Santiago’s main sports stadium with detainees. Prisoners would be publicly executed as a way of terrorizing their neighbors into accepting military rule. The killings were often falsely justified as prisoners were shot while trying to escape or simply “disappeared.”
The rest of the world soon began to know the name and face of Augusto Pinochet. In public appearances, his face bore a perpetually angry scowl with arms folded across his chest. After mounting international pressure, he disbanded his DINA in 1977, but the damage to his opponents was already done.
Serious human rights abuses continued nevertheless over the next 17 years. He established an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that latest for almost 2 decades. A government-commissioned report later issued in 2004 concluded that almost 28,000 people had been tortured during Pinochet’s rule. According to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 250,000 people were detained or killed during the same period.
Pinochet was confident Chileans believed in his authoritarian government.
Due to economic growth, he felt sure he now had the grateful support and even love of Chileans. In 1980, Pinochet held a national referendum to decide on adopting a new constitution. In it, he proposed to ban all left-leaning parties and allow himself an additional eight years in office. The military would be “guarantors of institutionality,” giving them a murky role as political mediators. 67% of the voters approved the new constitution, although the result was criticized globally as being rigged by Pinochet.
It did allow for a slow return to democracy, restoring an appointed National Congress in 1990, and a presidential election in 1997. He continued to block virtually all attempts to prosecute either himself or former members of DINA for human rights abuses, granting immunity. An economic recession then followed, that left more than a third of the Chilean work force unemployed. It prompted strikes and protests throughout the country. All were quickly suppressed by his military.
Nevertheless, opposition to Pinochet finally began to grow in Chile.
In 1988, an over-confident Pinochet arranged for another national referendum, asking the people for another eight years in office. The ploy backfired as a 56% majority of Chileans had soured against him. Pinochet had a back-up plan though. He negotiated a deal with the Congress where he would remain head of the armed forces until 1998, after which he’d become “Senator for Life.“
In presidential elections a year later, Patricio Aylwin, a centrist Christian Democrat won the Presidency. In 1993, the people elected another Christian Democrat by an even greater margin. Foreign investment, stunted during the Pinochet years, poured back into the country and Chilean products were again welcomed abroad. The armed forces, though they enjoyed autonomy, were now subordinate to the president.
With the transition to democracy going so well, the new government hoped Pinochet would settle into a quiet retirement. Instead, he placed his loyal troops on High Alert and gave public notice that he would not tolerate attempts to prosecute any of his senior officers. “The day they touch one of my men, the rule of law ends,” he vowed.
One of President Aylwin’s first acts was to create the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission “to clarify the truth on the violations of human rights during military rule.” The commission collected more than 3,400 cases of human rights abuses. In 1996, the subsequent National Commission for Reconciliation and Reparation concluded that over 3,000 people died or “disappeared” between 1973 and 1990 at the hands of Pinochets’ secret police.
The commission’s report cited victims by name and described the gruesome deaths by mutilations, drownings and electrocutions. Pinochet publicly scoffed at his critics. Asked about a Santiago mass grave under his regime, he joked that it was an “efficient” way of burying traitors. In 1998, the National Congress nevertheless made the former dictator an unelected Lifetime Senator — something Pinochet would later claim granted him immunity from prosecution.
With Pinochet out of office, stories of rampant corruption slowly began swirling.
Pinochet used his power as head of the armed forces to protect his officers as immune from prosecution. He managed to quash judicial and congressional investigations into the financial dealings of his two sons, who were accused of profiting from illegal investments. Chilean investigators found that Pinochet had amassed $28 Million in secret bank accounts overseas.
Later that year, an 83-year-old Pinochet traveled to England for back surgery. He was arrested in London on a warrant issued by Spanish prosecutors. They were investigating the deaths of Spanish diplomats in Chile by the DINA. The Chilean government asked for his release, claiming foreign courts had no jurisdiction. The Spanish prosecutors persisted, saying that Pinochet’s actions constituted Crimes against Humanity. The struggle continued for 15 months.
The British House of Lords ruled he could not be extradited to Spain. This allowed Pinochet to return to Chile on medical grounds. After over a year’s absence, however, all was not well for Pinochet back in his home country. On his return, he was forced to spend his retirement fighting a barrage of legal charges relating to corruption and human rights violations.
Later that year, the Chile Supreme Court indicted Pinochet on human rights abuses.
The court subsequently overturned the ruling in 2002, then reinstated it in 2004, ruling that he was not above the law and fully capable of standing trial. Pinochet was placed under house arrest. For the rest of his life, the former dictator fought off lawsuits and humiliating news reports of the widespread brutality of his rule. The new president, a Socialist and former political prisoner of Pinochet, allowed the cases to run their course in court.
Awaiting trial, he lived in seclusion with his wife at his estate in Bucalemu, 80 miles southwest of Santiago. He was scorned even by his former military colleagues and conservative politicians. Many were angered by the revelation that he held $28 million in secret bank accounts abroad. Pinochet continued to insist that he enjoyed the wide love and support of his fellow Chileans. But polls indicated otherwise. Well over half believed that he should be prosecuted for his human rights crimes.
Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet, died two years later in 2006 at the Military Hospital of Santiago after an acute heart attack. He was 91. So what lesson do we gleam from this cautionary tale? It demonstrates how quickly and easily an established and thriving modern democracy was overturned. How the people accepted a nationalist, authoritarian leader out of either apathy, fear or anger. Today, we must learn a lesson of from Chile’s example … and stay forever vigilant.
One thought on “Chile’s Ruthless Dictator, Augusto Pinochet”