1973 Chilean Coup

The 1973 Chilean coup began on September 11 when Chilean military forces, led by Army Commander Augusto Pinochet, surrounded the presidential palace and demanded President Salvador Allende’s resignation. Allende died during the assault, officially ruled a suicide, ending the democratically elected Popular Unity government.

The coup followed years of political and economic crisis under Allende’s socialist administration, marked by hyperinflation, strikes, and polarization between left and right-wing factions. The military justified intervention as necessary to prevent civil war and communist takeover.

Declassified documents reveal extensive U.S. involvement in destabilizing Allende’s government through economic pressure, covert funding of opposition groups, and direct communication with coup plotters. In 1970, the CIA pursued a covert effort known as Track II to prevent Allende from taking office. On the morning of the 1973 coup, the CIA relayed word that a Chilean officer might seek U.S. help if the military met resistance. The United States did not act on that request.

Following the coup, Pinochet established a military dictatorship lasting until 1990, during which an estimated 3,200 people were killed or disappeared and thousands more tortured. The regime implemented free-market economic policies advised by Chicago School economists, generating both economic growth and severe inequality.

Pinochet’s government later joined Operation Condor, through which South American dictatorships pursued political opponents across borders.

International human rights organizations documented extensive evidence of the regime’s atrocities, leading to Pinochet’s eventual arrest in London in 1998.