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
Chile at the FIFA World Cup oldest South American federation, with 112 years of existence. Its foundation dates back to June 19, 1895 at the port city of Valparaiso. Its first President was David Scott. Chile is one of four founding member nations of CONMEBOL together with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. They established the South American footballing organization on July 9, 1916. The four original associations enacted and participated in the first ever South American Championship which would later be named the Copa América. Chile have appeared in nine FIFA World Cup finals to date, which were in 1930, 1950, 1962 (which they hosted), 1966, 1974,