35 Facts About Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990.

Augusto Pinochet rose through the ranks of the Chilean Army to become General Chief of Staff in early 1972 before being appointed its Commander-in-Chief on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende.

On 11 September 1973, Pinochet seized power in Chile in a military coup, with the support of the United States, that toppled Allende's democratically elected left-wing Unidad Popular government and ended civilian rule.

However, while in London in 1998 Augusto Pinochet was arrested under an international arrest warrant in connection with numerous human rights violations.

In 2004, Chilean Judge Juan Guzman Tapia ruled that Augusto Pinochet was medically fit to stand trial and placed him under house arrest.

Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte was born in Valparaiso on 25 November 1915.

Augusto Pinochet went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaiso, the Rafael Ariztia Institute in Quillota, the French Fathers' School of Valparaiso, and then to the Military School in Santiago, which he entered in 1931.

In September 1937, Augusto Pinochet was assigned to the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepcion.

In January 1971, Augusto Pinochet was promoted to division general and was named General Commander of the Santiago Army Garrison.

However, on 2 December 1971, following a series of peaceful protests against economic policies of Allende, the curfew was re-installed, all protests prohibited, with Augusto Pinochet leading the crackdown on anti-Allende protests.

However, Augusto Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the military junta, and then was proclaimed "Supreme Chief of the Nation", the de facto provisional president, on 17 June 1974 by Decree Law No 527.

Augusto Pinochet was officially titled "President of the Republic" on 17 December 1974.

Augusto Pinochet organized a plebiscite on 11 September 1980 to ratify a new constitution, replacing the 1925 Constitution drafted during Arturo Alessandri's presidency.

In 2011, the commission identified an additional 9,800 victims of political repression during Augusto Pinochet's rule, increasing the total number of victims to approximately 40,018, including 3,065 killed.

Documents were released in 2015 that alleged Augusto Pinochet ordered Letelier's assassination, though Michael Townley, a US citizen who worked for DINA and had organized Letelier's assassination and directly carried it out, implied otherwise in letters.

Augusto Pinochet thus left the presidency on 11 March 1990 and transferred power to the new democratically elected president.

Augusto Pinochet was then sworn in as a senator-for-life, a privilege granted by the 1980 constitution to former presidents with at least six years in office.

Augusto Pinochet's reputation led Peruvians in the 1990s to call Alberto Fujimori "Chinochet" instead of his ordinary nickname "Chino".

In, Augusto Pinochet plagiarized his mentor general Gregorio Rodriguez Tascon by using paragraphs from a 1949 conference presentation of Rodriguez without attributing them to him.

Investigative journalist Juan Cristobal Pena has put forward the thesis that Augusto Pinochet felt intellectual envy of Carlos Prats and that the latter's assassination in 1974 was a relief for Augusto Pinochet.

Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London on "charges of genocide and terrorism that include murder" in October 1998.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of judge Juan Guzman's request in August 2000, and Augusto Pinochet was indicted on 1 December 2000 for the kidnapping of 75 opponents in the Caravan of Death case.

Augusto Pinochet resigned from his senatorial seat shortly after the Supreme Court's July 2002 ruling.

In January 2005, the Chilean Army accepted institutional responsibility for past human rights abuses In 2006, Augusto Pinochet was indicted for kidnappings and torture at the Villa Grimaldi detention center by judge Alejandro Madrid, as well as for the 1995 assassination of the DINA biochemist Eugenio Berrios, himself involved in the Letelier case.

On 25 November 2006, Augusto Pinochet marked his 91st birthday by having his wife read a statement he had written to admirers present for his birthday:.

Augusto Pinochet died a few days later, on 10 December 2006, without having been convicted of any of the crimes of which he was accused.

In January 2006, daughter Lucia Augusto Pinochet was detained at Washington DC-Dulles airport and subsequently deported while attempting to evade the tax charges in Chile.

Augusto Pinochet was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in August 2000 by the Supreme Court and indicted by Judge Juan Guzman Tapia.

Augusto Pinochet's trial continued until his death on 10 December 2006, with an alternation of indictments for specific cases, lifting of immunities by the Supreme Court or, to the contrary, immunity from prosecution, with his health a main argument for, or against, his prosecution.

The Supreme Court affirmed, in March 2005, Augusto Pinochet's immunity concerning the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires, which had taken place in the frame of Operation Condor.

Ninety percent of these funds would have been raised between 1990 and 1998, when Augusto Pinochet was chief of the Chilean armies, and would essentially have come from weapons traffic.

Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack on the morning of 3 December 2006 and was given the last rites the same day.

Augusto Pinochet's remains lay in repose on 11 December 2006 at the Military Academy in Las Condes.

Augusto Pinochet's body was cremated in Parque del Mar Cemetery, Concon, on 12 December 2006, according to his request to "avoid vandalism of his tomb", according to his son Marco Antonio.

Augusto Pinochet was portrayed by Jaime Vadell in the 2023 black comedy film El Conde directed by Pablo Larrain, where he is depicted as a 250-year old French-born vampire who faked his death and is living in seclusion.