Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet was the Chilean general who became the dominant leader of the military dictatorship established after the 1973 coup.

Pinochet became commander-in-chief of the army shortly before the coup against Salvador Allende. He led the junta and then ruled as president under an authoritarian constitution. His regime was responsible for systematic detention, torture, disappearance and exile while implementing sweeping market reforms. He left the presidency in 1990 after losing the 1988 plebiscite.

Allende’s novels frequently approach the Pinochet era through fictional families, prisoners, journalists and exiles. A Long Petal of the Sea names the political transition directly, while Of Love and Shadows and The House of the Spirits use fictionalised regimes with clear Chilean parallels.