"September 11, 1973 was a day of terror and blood shed in Chile. After months of rising tension troops stormed the presidential palace, leaving President Salvador Allende dead and thousands prisoners throughout this previously democratic nation." All of which was under the orders of Army Commander in Chief Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, who would be the leader of the military junta and one of the most sought after dictators. Pinochet and his military were aided, trained and financed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency before the coup. During his dictatorship "Through seventeen years of Pinochet's rule the body count mounted. More than 3, 000 executions and disappearances. Mass graves and lime pits filled with the General's victims Tens of thousands of Chileans were passed through the jails and routinely tortured." He targeted groups like indigenous people, the Catholic church, the rural community with labor unions, former government officials and the leftist political parties because they were the opposing people that were not under his regime. Under his power Pinochet drafted a new Constitution that stated he would remain president until 1989, but by the mid 1980's Chile had already started to rebel against its government. "In 1988, Pinochet arranged a plebiscite asking the people whether he should rule for another eight years. The gambit backfired on him and the proposition was defeated. Pinochet then negotiated a deal where he remained head of the armed forces until at least 1988, after which he would become senator for life." Even though Chile returned to a Democratic state again, Pinochet made a deal to remain head of the military. He was arrested in England on October 1988 on a warrant by Spanish prosecutors where he was tried for human rights abuses. The famous campaign "NO" to overthrow and encourage Chilean citizens to vote was very popular and focused on the importance of voting rather than all the negative that was going on at that time in Chile.
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