Augusto Pinochet’s Brutal Rule: A Look Inside His Regime

For Chileans, September 11 is remembered as a date that plunged the country into many long years of brutal repression and human rights abuses. On that day in 1973, a military coup supported by the United States toppled the democratically elected government of left-wing president Salvador Allende.

What followed was 16 years of violent persecution that would see thousands murdered and tens of thousands displaced and tortured as Chile’s new leader, Augusto Pinochet, protected his position. The main target was leftists, but anyone suspected of having ideological sympathies for socialism or anyone standing in the way of the Pinochet junta was in grave danger as the country became ruled as a police state.

*Content Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions that may not be suitable for all readers. Reader discretion is advised.

On September 4, 1970, Salvador Allende, leader of Chile’s Socialist Party, narrowly defeated his rivals in a bitterly contested election. Winning a plurality, it looked as if the Chilean National Congress would elect Allende as the new president.

Allende, a Marxist, was sympathetic to the communist cause and supported countries such as the Soviet Union and Cuba. This generated significant concern within the US government, which was actively trying to stem the spread of communism.

This was not, however, the beginning of CIA involvement in the country. Since 1963, the US had been actively influencing politics in Chile, supporting right-wing politicians, and funding the suppression of socialism. One reason for this was that there were US businesses in Chile, and they feared, as did their government, that they would get appropriated by a left-wing government intent on nationalization. Another reason is that the US feared the spread of communism in what they considered to be their own “backyard.”

With Allende’s victory in 1970, alarm bells rang very loud for the US government. The CIA, with the support of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, began looking for ways to reduce Allende’s power. In so doing, the CIA sought out military leaders in Chile and investigated the possibility of staging a coup.

Obstacles & CIA Involvement

A huge obstacle to staging a coup was Chile’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, General René Schneider. He was not interested in politics and was completely against using the military to stage a coup.

General Roberto Viaux, however, was not opposed to leading a coup. In fact, he had tried before in 1969 against President Eduardo Frei Montalva. Viaux proceeded to attempt a kidnapping of Schneider. The resultant scuffle ended up with Schneider being shot and killed.

The extent of CIA involvement in this murder is unknown. Political scientist Mark Falcoff suggests Kissinger was not hopeful that Viaux would be able to pull off a successful coup. Kissinger reported to Nixon, “This looks hopeless. I turned it off. Nothing would be worse than an abortive coup,” to which Nixon responded, “Just tell him to do nothing.”

Journalist Christopher Hitchens, however, contends that Kissinger and Nixon simply wanted deniability, and if anything, they sought for Viaux to redouble his efforts to remove Schneider from the picture.

In any event, Schneider ended up dead. This actually had the opposite effect to what the US wanted, and the Chilean National Congress ended up ensuring that Allende was made president, in part to safeguard against anti-democratic reactionaries such as Viaux.

The years that followed were economically terrible for Chile. Whether this was due to Allende’s Marxist policies or American interference is an issue of debate. Allende raised salaries while keeping prices fixed, leading to shortages and an economic downturn. On the other hand, it is argued that the US actively restricted Chile’s economy in the same way it did in Cuba. It is plausible that the failure of the Chilean economy was a mixture of both factors.

Nevertheless, Allende lost popularity across the country, spurring sentiment for a change of government. By 1973, there was unrest in the streets, and on June 29, elements of the military attempted a coup. It failed miserably, and one of the biggest supporters of Allende during this time was an unremarkable officer named Augusto Pinochet.

Pinochet was rewarded for his loyalty and became commander of the Santiago garrison, a position of extreme influence in Chile. Santiago, the capital of Chile, is by far the biggest city and the seat of power.

On September 11, another coup occurred. This time, it was successful. The military surrounded La Moneda presidential palace as aircraft streaked across the skies of the capital, and key buildings within the city were seized.

As the coup got underway, Allende muttered, “I wonder what they’ve done with poor Pinochet.” He had no suspicions about the head of the Santiago garrison at all.

What happened next is another subject of debate. The official line disseminated by the successors to the Allende presidency was that he committed suicide. This version of the events was under harsh scrutiny until 2011 when an exhumation and autopsy claimed this was the case.

At the head of the military was General Augusto Pinochet. He took control of the country and ran it as a right-wing, totalitarian dictatorship.

Immediately after the coup, a junta was set up to govern the country. It consisted of General Augusto Pinochet representing the army, Admiral José Toribio Merino representing the Chilean Navy, General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán representing the Air Force, and General César Mendoza representing the police force.

The Junta suspended the constitution as well as the National Congress of Chile, which had served as the parliament. A curfew was imposed, strict censorship was administered, and all political parties were banned.

While this was happening, leftists, artists, intellectuals, and anybody deemed to be a political opponent were being rounded up and taken to internment camps. The reign of brutality had begun in earnest. General Carlos Prats, the man who had elevated Pinochet to status in the military, now became an enemy and fled the country. He was assassinated with a car bomb in Buenos Aires.

On June 27, 1974, Pinochet, as head of the army, had the most powerful backing, and the other three members of the Junta relegated their roles to allow Pinochet to become Supreme Chief of the Nation. He had effectively installed himself as an authoritarian dictator with unchecked power.

War on the Leftists

The initial stages of the junta had seen thousands of people removed from Chilean society. Whether interned or simply executed, this operation was not enough for Pinochet to sleep easy.

He ordered another operation known as the “Caravan of Death,” which toured the length of the country, arresting and murdering anybody else thought to be harboring anti-Pinochet sentiments. Most of those arrested were sent to labor camps where they were tortured and worked to death. Others were executed, with some being flown out to sea in helicopters and pushed out over the Pacific Ocean.

To exterminate all aspects of opposition, The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) was set up. Referred to as “Pinochet’s Gestapo,” this agency employed thousands of people. Through DINA, Pinochet could eliminate his rivals and clear Chile of possible dissent to his rule.

Throughout the years of Pinochet’s reign, it was not just the individual suspects who were targeted. Their families were at risk, too. Many thousands of innocent people were transported to labor camps in the dry Atacama Desert or to Patagonia, where they were tortured in the most inventive and cruel ways.

One of the worst places that served as an example of the depraved brutality of the Pinochet regime was Villa Grimaldi, an old colonial property that had been turned into a DINA torture center. Run by Colonel Marcelo Moren Brito, this center saw the internment of thousands of prisoners. Hundreds would “disappear” at the hands of DINA agents experimenting with torture methods.

One of the most infamous methods of torture was “the grill,” a metal bed to which prisoners were tied naked and electrocuted. Other torture methods involved severe beating and driving over victims’ legs with vehicles. One torture method called the “telephone” involved smacking the sides of the victim’s head with open palms repeatedly until the victim went deaf.

At the Pisagua Internment Camp in the far north of the country, prisoners were forced to crawl and eat dirt for hours on end. Those who complained or collapsed from exhaustion risked prompt execution. Prisoners at Pisagua were also immersed in vats of excrement and, on occasion, were even forced to consume feces.

At the “Discothèque,” also known as “Venda Sexy” in Santiago, prisoners were subjected to sexual torture. The victims, the majority of whom were women, were repeatedly raped and had objects and live animals inserted into them. One family of victims was even forced to have incestual sex.

The role of leftists under the Pinochet regime was exaggerated in order to brainwash the Chilean public. They were accused of acts of terrorism and presented to the Chilean public as dangerous criminals.

Not content with the suppression and elimination of leftism in his own country, Pinochet reached out to dictators across the rest of South America. They formed Operation Condor, a pan-South American network of intelligence agencies that passed information about leftist activities to one another. Through this network, the Condor nations were able to eliminate dissidents from each others’ countries.

It was not just in South America where Pinochet managed to extend his grasp. Allende’s former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, managed to flee to the United States when Pinochet took power. On September 21, 1976, he was assassinated via a car bomb in Washington DC.

It is believed that around 60,000 people were killed as a result of Operation Condor.

Pinochet’s Economy

Following the disappointing results of Allende’s economic policy in Chile, Pinochet took an opposing viewpoint and implemented extreme capitalist policies. Successive waves of privatization opened the country up to the free market on a massive scale.

For the first few years, Chile went through major economic uncertainty, with the economy going through extreme bullish and bearish phases. By the mid-1980s, however, the economy began to stabilize, and Chile became comfortably rich.

The transformation had been guided by a group of Chilean economists known as the “Chicago Boys.” They had studied under the famous economist Milton Friedman, and were well versed in the methods of implementing free-market capitalism.

By the end of the 1980s, Chile was an exceptionally wealthy country and happened to win much praise from Milton Friedman, who referred to Chile as a “miracle.”

Despite economic success, the free-market policies did not result in an even spread of wealth. The country was polarized, and the wealthy elite had grown their fortunes at the cost of the working classes. This point is argued by Chilean economist Alejandro Foxley and political journalist Naomi Klein, among others, who blame the neoliberal policies for the widening of the gap between the wealthy elite and the poor.

Others, such as Chilean economist José Piñera, have challenged this version of events, claiming that the economic policies actually reduced poverty in the country.

With similar economic policies, Pinochet won favor with Margaret Thatcher. During the Falklands War, Chile even provided the British with vital intelligence on Argentinian movements.

In 1980, Pinochet implemented a law that allowed him to remain in power at least until 1988, at which point a referendum would be held to determine whether he would stay in power for another eight-year term. He allowed for political advertising in order to campaign for the referendum, but this had the knock-on effect of allowing for other political statements to be made by the public who opposed Pinochet.

Various parties came out in opposition to Pinochet, and he lost the referendum by 56 percent to 44 percent. He tried to orchestrate a coup to keep power, but the police refused to follow his orders. Desperate, he ordered a meeting of his junta to extend his power, but they, too, refused.

In July 1989, another referendum was held in order to change the constitution and allow for political plurality. Ninety-one percent of the electorate approved the changes, and a presidential election date was set for December 1989. This election was won by center-left candidate Patricio Aylwin, who had 55 percent of the vote. There was a 95 percent turnout during this election.

Aylwin was inaugurated on March 11, 1990. Pinochet stepped down from his post, but he did not disappear altogether. The government made him a senator for life and gave him immunity.

Last Battle

In 1998, Pinochet traveled to London to have surgery on his back. Believing he was safe there, he was shocked when he was arrested under the demands of an international warrant presented by the Spanish government. Many of the victims of Pinochet’s regime had been Spaniards, and the Spanish wanted him extradited to stand trial in Spain.

Margaret Thatcher made a speech in favor of Pinochet, asking that he be returned to Chile, while the Labour Home Secretary, Jack Straw, declared that Pinochet was unfit to stand trial.

Pinochet returned to Chile, and over the next few years, he was subjected to scrutiny as the evidence mounted against him. Thirty-five thousand people had been tortured, and 3,000 had been murdered by his regime in Chile. He was placed under house arrest in 2005, and just after he had been declared fit to stand trial, he died on December 10, 2006 from a heart attack at the age of 91.

The legacy left by Augusto Pinochet would take decades to heal. Families were ripped apart, and the country went through many years of ant-leftist witch hunts. For many, there was no justice, and there never will be.

Today, Chile still grapples with its past and the effects of Pinochet’s brutal rule.