Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto, << pee noh CHEHT or pee noh SHEHT oo GAHR tay, ow GOO stoh >> (1915-2006), ruled as the military dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. He brought significant economic reforms to his country, but his regime also committed serious human rights violations, including murder and torture. More than 3,000 people were killed or mysteriously disappeared during his rule.
Pinochet was born in Valparaíso, Chile, on Nov. 25, 1915. He chose the army as a career and entered Chile’s leading military college, the Escuela Militar, in 1933. Pinochet later continued his studies at the War Academy and also taught there. After serving in a variety of posts and rising steadily in rank, Pinochet was named commander in chief of the army on Aug. 23, 1973.
Pinochet participated in a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973, that overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende Gossens. Pinochet quickly emerged as the dominant figure in the military junta and was named its president. He officially became president of the republic in 1974.
As president, Pinochet reversed the policies of Allende, who had begun a peaceful transition to socialism. Pinochet adopted a free market economic model and returned industries and land to private ownership. Although his economic policies met with some approval internationally, his political practices did not. He disbanded the Congress and restricted political parties and labor unions. He stifled opposition by using force and torture.
Chile held a plebiscite (vote of the people) on Pinochet’s rule in 1988. The vote resulted in his defeat, and he stepped down in 1990. After Pinochet left office, the Chilean government appointed a commission to investigate human rights abuses during his rule. In 1991, the commission confirmed that, under his administration, about 2,300 Chileans were murdered, about 950 disappeared, and many people were tortured. Pinochet continued to serve as the head of the military until 1998. He then took the post of senator for life, which he had created for himself. Pinochet resigned from this post in 2002.
In October 1998, Pinochet was arrested in the United Kingdom on an international warrant and charged with human rights violations, including murder and torture. In March 2000, the United Kingdom released Pinochet on grounds that he was medically unfit to stand trial, and he returned to Chile. During the early 2000’s, Chilean courts stripped Pinochet of legal immunity and ruled that he could be prosecuted for human rights abuses committed while he was in power and for tax fraud. But higher courts later ruled that Pinochet was too ill to stand trial in most of the cases. He died on Dec. 10, 2006.
