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Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet was the leader of Chile's military junta from 1974 to 1990 who overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende in a coup in 1973. As head of Chile's military government, Pinochet crushed political opposition and was widely condemned for the torture of tens of thousands of regime opponents. Pinochet instituted free market policies and stepped down from power in 1990 after losing a national referendum, though he remained commander of the armed forces until 1998 and a senator for life. He was never tried for human rights abuses due to claims of mental incapacity.

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48 views3 pages

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet was the leader of Chile's military junta from 1974 to 1990 who overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende in a coup in 1973. As head of Chile's military government, Pinochet crushed political opposition and was widely condemned for the torture of tens of thousands of regime opponents. Pinochet instituted free market policies and stepped down from power in 1990 after losing a national referendum, though he remained commander of the armed forces until 1998 and a senator for life. He was never tried for human rights abuses due to claims of mental incapacity.

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Augusto Pinochet

president of Chile
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Alternate titles: Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Dec 6, 2022 Article History

Augusto Pinochet
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Born:
 
November 25, 1915 Valparaíso Chile
Died:
 
December 10, 2006 (aged 91) Santiago Chile
Title / Office:
 
president (1974-1990), Chile
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Augusto Pinochet, in full Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, (born November 25,
1915, Valparaiso, Chile—died December 10, 2006, Santiago), leader of
the military junta that overthrew the socialist government of Pres. Salvador
Allende of Chile on September 11, 1973. Pinochet was head of Chile’s military
government (1974–90). During his dictatorial reign tens of thousands of opponents of
his regime were tortured.

Pinochet, a graduate of the military academy in Santiago (1936), was a career military


officer who was appointed army commander in chief by President Allende 18 days
before the coup, which he planned and led. Pinochet was named head of the victorious
junta’s governing council, and he moved to crush Chile’s liberal opposition; in its first
three years the regime arrested approximately 130,000 people, many of whom were
tortured. In June 1974 Pinochet assumed sole power as president, relegating the rest of
the junta to an advisory role.

Pinochet was determined to exterminate leftism in Chile and to reassert free-


market policies in the country’s economy. His junta was widely condemned for its harsh
suppression of dissent, although its reversal of the Allende government’s socialist
policies resulted in a lower rate of inflation and an economic boom between 1976 and
1979. A modest political liberalization began in 1978 after the regime announced that, in
a plebiscite, 75 percent of the electorate had endorsed Pinochet’s rule.

Under a new constitution promulgated in March 1981, Pinochet was to remain president


for an eight-year term until 1989, when a national referendum would determine
whether he served an additional eight-year term. During the 1980s, Pinochet’s free-
market policies were credited with maintaining a low rate of inflation and an acceptable
rate of economic growth despite a severe recession in 1980–83. Pinochet permitted no
meaningful political opposition, but he fulfilled his constitutional obligation to hold the
plebiscite scheduled, which took place earlier than mandated, in October 1988. The
result was a “no” vote of 55 percent and a “yes” vote of 43 percent. Although rejected by
the electorate, Pinochet remained in office until free elections installed a new president,
the Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, on March 11, 1990.

As commander of the armed forces until 1998, Pinochet frequently thwarted human


rights prosecutions against members of the security forces. After stepping down, he
became a senator for life, a post granted to former presidents under the 1981
constitution. Later in 1998, while visiting London, he was detained by British authorities
after Spain requested his extradition in connection with the torture of Spanish citizens
in Chile during his rule. The unprecedented case stirred worldwide controversy
and galvanized human rights organizations in Chile. The United States and other
countries were prompted to release formerly classified documents concerning Chileans
who had “disappeared”—who were kidnapped and presumably killed by the Pinochet
regime. The disclosures brought to light details of Operation Colombo, in which more
than 100 Chilean leftists disappeared in 1975, and Operation Condor, in which
several South American military governments coordinated their efforts to systematically
eliminate opponents in the 1970s and ’80s. In January 2000 Pinochet was allowed to
return home after a British court ruled that he was physically unfit to stand trial.
Nevertheless, he continued to face investigations by Chilean authorities.

Later in 2000 Pinochet was stripped of his immunity from prosecution—which he had


enjoyed as a former president—and was ordered to stand trial on charges of human
rights abuses (in Chile immunity is lifted on a case-by-case basis). The charges were
dropped in 2002, however, after Chile’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling that he was
mentally incapable of defending himself in court. Soon afterward, Pinochet resigned his
post as a senator for life. Near the end of 2004 the National Commission on Political
Imprisonment and Torture issued its report, which confirmed more than 35,000 cases
of torture that took place during the Pinochet regime. In 2005 the Chilean Supreme
Court voted to remove Pinochet’s immunity for illegal financial dealings as well as for a
case involving the disappearance and execution of at least 119 political dissidents whose
bodies were found in 1975 in neighbouring Argentina. He was ruled fit to stand trial for
those crimes. Pinochet died the following year, however, without ever having been tried
for the human rights abuses that occurred while he was in power.
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by  Amy
Tikkanen.

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