1973 Chilean coup d'état

The 1973 Chilean coup d'etat overthrew the elected socialist president Salvador Allende, who died during the attack on the presidential palace, La Moneda, in Santiago. The coup was led by the armed forces, and General Augusto Pinochet became head of the military junta. It followed years of political polarisation, economic crisis and strikes under Allende's Popular Unity government, and the United States had worked to undermine him. The military regime dissolved Congress, banned political parties and carried out a campaign of repression, with thousands killed or disappeared, and many more tortured. Pinochet introduced free-market reforms, and he gave up power after losing a plebiscite in 1988.

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