September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet, with U.S. backing, and the Chilean military attacked the presidential palace just days after the democratically Salvador Allende ascended to power.

5,000 civilians died in the suppression of the protests against the coup. Another 10,000 died or were 'disappeared' in the years that followed. An additional 27,000 were imprisoned.

Supporters of Pinochet credit him with staving off the beginning of communism, fighting terrorism from radical groups such as MIR, and implementing /neoliberal/ market policies that laid the groundwork for rapid economic growth that continued into the 1990s.

His opponents charge him with destroying Chile's democracy, pursuing a policy of state terrorism in which thousands of opponents were killed and tortured, catering exclusively to private interests, and adopting economic policies that favored the wealthy and hurt the middle- and low-income sectors in Chile.