CHILE 1970-2014
September 4, 1970
Popular Unity (UP) and its candidate Salvador Allende are elected president of Chile with 36.3% of the vote.
October 26, 1970
Ratification by Congress of the election of Salvador Allende, in a climate of extreme political tension culminating in the CIA-backed plot that culminated in the assassination of Commander René Schneider.
November 4, 1970
Salvador Allende assumes the presidency and begins to implement the “40 measures of the Popular Government.”
April 1971
Popular Unity wins 51% of the vote in the municipal elections.
July 15, 1971
The government nationalizes copper by a unanimous vote of Congress.
November 1971
Fidel Castro arrives on an official visit and will stay there for almost four weeks.
December 1971
First major mobilization of “empty pots and pans” orchestrated by the right, which thus begins a major propaganda campaign.
February 1972
Chile denounces the embargo on Chilean copper imposed by the United States.
March 1972
Journalist Jack Anderson exposes the ITT and CIA conspiracy to prevent Allende’s election.
June 1972
Stabilization of the agrarian reform which began in 1970.
August – October 1972
The offensive to destabilize the government intensified with strikes by transport workers and retailers. Allende attempted to maintain government unity where tensions were felt.
The truckers’ strike paralyzes the country, Allende calls for the formation of anti-fascist committees and popular organization to alleviate the effects of the crisis.
The copper embargo continues. In the port of Le Havre, France, dockworkers refuse to unload copper in solidarity with Chilean miners. French courts rule this embargo illegal and order its lifting.
November 1972
Thanks to popular mobilization and efforts, the crisis was overcome. Salvador Allende began a world tour that took him to the podium of the United Nations to denounce the attacks his government was facing, particularly from U.S. companies.
March 1973
Popular Unity obtained 43.4% of the votes in the legislative elections.
June 1973
Submission of the “Church Report” by the United States Senate on the destabilizing activities of the ITT and the CIA in Chile.
On June 29, an artillery regiment rose up and laid siege to the government palace. They were defeated by loyal soldiers defending the government. The coup attempt lasted only a few hours. A kind of rehearsal…
August 1973
The truckers’ strike resumed, and Allende tried to maintain dialogue with the Christian Democrats, who had already made their choice, by declaring before the Senate that the government was unconstitutional.
September 9, 1973
Allende announces the preparation of a referendum to get out of the crisis.
September 11, 1973
The coup d’état ended the rule of law in Chile. Salvador Allende died in the presidential palace. Democratic institutions were shut down and replaced by a dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet, who created a new institutional system based on repression and the systematic elimination of his opponents.
The Constitution he created is still in force.
October 5, 1988
Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide whether he will stay or leave. The “NO” vote wins.
March 11, 1990
Patricio Aylwin Azocar (Christian Democratic Party) takes office as President.
March 11, 1994
Eduardo Frei (Christian Democratic Party) succeeds Patricio Aylwin Azocar.
October 16, 1998
Augusto Pinochet arrested in London at the request of the Spanish courts, which are seeking extradition.
March 3, 2000
Augusto Pinochet returns to Chile for medical reasons.
March 11, 2000
Ricardo Lagos Escobar takes office as President, becoming the first elected socialist president after Allende.
March 11, 2006
Election of Michèle Bachelet (Socialist Party).
March 11, 2010
Election of Sebastian Piñera, a businessman who made his fortune under the dictatorship, his brother is one of the economists who established the neoliberal system with the Friedman doctrine of the University of Chicago.
March 11, 2014
Next presidential election in Chile.