14 Facts About Gustavo Leigh

Air General Gustavo Leigh Guzman was a Chilean general, who represented the Air Force in the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat and, for a time, in the ruling junta that followed.

Gustavo Leigh was born in Santiago, son of Army Colonel Hernan Gustavo Leigh Banados and Laura Guzman Cea.

However, Gustavo Leigh was the first to sign the coup document, drafted by Vice Admiral Jose Toribio Merino, to depose Allende.

Gustavo Leigh quickly emerged as the toughest member in the four-man military junta.

Gustavo Leigh defended the coup, arguing that a civil war between Chileans was inevitable.

Gustavo Leigh condemns Chile, but at the same time he wants closer relations with a dictatorship like Castro's in Cuba, that had led an authoritarian regime for 18 years.

Gustavo Leigh purged the Air Force of left-wing officers such as General Alberto Bachelet and repeatedly called on Chileans to denounce left-wingers to the new authorities.

General Gustavo Leigh was a supporter of strong state intervention in the economy.

Gustavo Leigh was heavily influenced by the Egyptian model being built by Anwar Sadat of a mixed economy based on free market principles but a strong state presence in heavy industry and a strong state regulation over imports and the financial speculation market.

Gustavo Leigh had continuous disagreements with the prevailing free market economic policy of the so-called Chicago Boys that was favoured by the US as well as Pinochet himself.

Gustavo Leigh was strongly opposed to any divestment or privatisation in the State owned mining company Codelco.

Gustavo Leigh was detained by a judge investigating his role in the disappearance of twelve communist leaders, but the Supreme Court of Chile ordered his release by virtue of the Law of Amnesty.

Gustavo Leigh died of cardiovascular ailments in Santiago's Air Force Hospital on September 29,1999, aged 79.

Gustavo Leigh was survived by his wife, Gabriela Garcia, and six children from two marriages.