History of Chile him to Spain. Thereafter, Pinochet returned to Chile in March 2000. Upon descending the plane on his wheelchair, he stood up and saluted the cheering crowd of supporters, including an army band playing his favorite military march tunes, which was awaiting him at the airport in Santiago. President Ricardo Lagos later commented that the retired general's televised arrival had damaged the image of Chile, while thousands demonstrated against him. The "Concertación" coalition has continued to dominate Chilean politics for last two decades. In January 2006 Chileans elected their first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, of the Socialist Party. She was sworn
Government Junta of Chile (1973) by the DINA secret police, in the frame of Operation Condor which linked South-American dictatorships together against political opponents. Government Junta of Chile (1973) The Government Junta of Chile () was the military junta established to rule Chile during the military dictatorship that followed the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état backed by the United States. It was the executive and legislative branch of government until December 17, 1974. After that date, it functioned strictly as a legislative body until the return to democracy in 1990. On September 11, 1973, the day of the coup,