Augusto Pinochet

Who was Augusto Pinochet?

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet was dictator of Chile between 1973 and 1990 and Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army from 1973 to 1998. He was also president of the Government Junta of Chile between 1973 and 1981.

Pinochet assumed power in Chile following a coup d'état on 11 September 1973 that overthrew the elected socialist Unidad Popular government of President Salvador Allende and ended civilian rule. Pinochet had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Army by Allende on 23 August 1973, having been its General Chief of Staff since early 1972. In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet President of Chile by joint decree, although not with the support of one of the coup's instigators, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh.

From its beginning, the new military government implemented harsh measures against its perceived opponents. Various reports and investigations claim that between 1,200 and 3,200 people were killed, up to 80,000 people were interned and as many as 30,000 were tortured during the time Pinochet was in government.

Under the influence of the free market-oriented neoliberal "Chicago Boys", the military government implemented economic reforms, including currency stabilization, tariff cutting, opening Chile's markets to global trade, restricting labor unions, privatizing social security, and the privatization of hundreds of state-controlled industries. These policies produced what has been referred to as the "Miracle of Chile," but critics claim the government policies dramatically increased economic inequality. But the devastating effect of the 1982 monetary crisis in the Chilean economy can be attributed to the Finance Minister Sergio de Castro's decision to peg Chile's currency to the U.S. dollar - to align Chile's high inflation rate with the U.S. inflation rate, but triggered a tremendous devaluation when the U.S. dollar fell, and set off a bank crisis. Economist Milton Friedman, whose ideas influenced the Chicago Boys, criticized de Castro for his decision as it distorted markets. Chile was, for most of the 1990s, the best-performing economy in Latin America, though academics continue to dispute the legacy of Pinochet's reforms.