The Overthrow of Democracy in Chile — A Timeline

The Overthrow of Democracy in Chile — A Timeline

September 11, 1973: The Chilean military launches a coup. The Junta, headed by commander in chief of the army, General Augusto Pinochet, declares itself the government, proclaims a State of Internal War, imposes martial law and carries out a brutal campaign to destroy areas of resistance. At least 10,000 Chileans and foreigners are held in the national stadium. (In 2011, the Chilean government acknowledged that more than 40,000 people had been murdered, disappeared, or tortured by the Pinochet dictatorship.) Allende and his aides die defending the national palace — they had refused to surrender. (Some were killed, Allende committed suicide.) In his last radio address, Allende says,

Probably Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal of my voice will not reach you: It does not matter. You will continue to hear me, I will always be beside you or at least my memory will be that of a dignified man, that of a man who is loyal.

The country is closed to the outside world for a week. No one is allowed out or in; all borders and international airports are closed; international communications are cut.
Marxist political parties are outlawed, leftist newspapers, radio and TV stations closed. Congress is closed. The constitution is abolished. All mayors and locally elected representatives are removed and replaced by active or retired military officers. The largest labor union, with 800,000 members, is outlawed.
The Junta makes an effort to erase all traces of the popular culture of the Allende years: public burning of books, posters, newspapers; all murals and wall paintings obliterated; the leftist poet Pablo Neruda’s home is ransacked and his manuscripts disappear; use of the term compañero to address one another is outlawed, certain musical instruments associated with the “New Song” movement are banned. The heads of all universities are replaced with military appointees.
The Junta returns control of more than 350 factories nationalized by the Popular Unity government to previous owners; worker participation and management is abolished; wage increases are canceled. U.S. companies announce interest in reinvesting in Chile. The U.S.-dominated InterAmerican Development Bank grants Chile a $65 million loan. U.S. banks begin lending millions of dollars to the Pinochet regime.
October 5, 1973: The Nixon administration grants $24.5 million in wheat credits to the Junta in Chile.
“It is clear,” said a U.S. Senate committee report, “the CIA received intelligence reports on the coup planning of the group which carried out the successful September 11th coup throughout the months of July, August, and September 1973.”
September 17, 1974: President Gerald Ford: What the United States did in Chile was “in the best interest of the people in Chile and certainly in our own best interests.”