The President arrived at La Moneda around 7:30 AM, accompanied by a few of his aides and nineteen members of the Presidential security force. By that time, loyal sections of Carabineros had taken up positions inside and outside the building, deploying armored vehicles. José María Sepúlveda Galindo, Director General of Carabineros, arrived soon after. When he reached the President's office, Allende was on the telephone, trying to reach some of the generals involved in the coup or any other military officer who would provide information. "No one is answering. I think that this time all of them are involved," Allende remarked.(2)
Meanwhile José Tohá, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defense at different times in the UP government, arrived at the palace with his brother Jaime Tohá, the present Minister of Agriculture. As he entered, a radio journalist inquired about the unfolding coup. "The President will remain in La Moneda," Toha answered. "I'm here to support Allende. We will not give up the government until November 3rd of 1976."(3)
Soon afterward, Allende addressed the people of Chile over the radio: "Confirmed reports indicate that a sector of the Navy has rebelled and is occupying Valparaíso. Santiago is normal and [the soldiers are] in their barracks. I'm here defending the government that I represent by the will of the people. Be alert and vigilant...I wait for the soldiers of Chile to respond positively and defend the laws and the Constitution. Workers must go to their workplace and wait for new instructions."(4)
Between 8:00 and 9:00 AM, the President stayed on the second floor, assessing the situation continually. He had a telephone conversation with Rolando Calderón, Secretary General of the CUT (Central Única de Trabajadores, a large labor union sympathetic to the government). He also spoke with Hernán del Canto, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party, who had earlier made a brief stopover at La Moneda. "The leaders of the party will do what they feel is their duty. I know mine," Allende told him.(5)
Although Calderon's CUT had been asked to silence the radio stations sympathetic to the putchist right, this had not happened. But the radio station belonging to the Technical University of the State —which was in sympathy with the government— was now shut down by rebelling soldiers of the Navy. Other radio stations were also shut down. Soon, a colonel appeared at the palace to inform Allende that he had not been able to go to his office in the Ministry of Defense because the army had taken it over.(6)
Then, at 8:40 AM the first declaration of the military junta was broadcast through the Agriculture Radio Station and heard in La Moneda: "Considering...the grave economic, social, and moral crisis that the country is experiencing,...the incapacity of the government to control the chaos...that will lead the people of Chile to an inevitable civil war, the Armed Forces and Carabineros decide:...the President of the Republic of Chile must give up his office immediately... Signed: Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, Commander in Chief of the Army; José Toribio Merino, Commander in Chief of the Navy; Gustavo Leigh, commander in Chief of the Air Force, and César Mendoza Durán, Director General of Carabineros." Now the putsch acquired definite names and faces. And the chances of survival for the constitutional government steeply declined.(7) Merino had named himself Navy chief over Raúl Montero Cornejo; César Mendoza did the same in Carabineros.
The co-ordination of the coup d'etat required an efficient radio network among the military chiefs. At the Ministry of Defense, Admiral Patricio Carvajal acted as the "operator," making sure that information and orders flowed smoothly among the different branches of the armed forces: from Valparaíso, where Admiral Merino had begun the coup that morning, to the War School of the Air Force in Santiago, where General Leigh directed theAir Force, to the Military command in Peñalolén, where General Pinochet presided at the highest level of contact and command.(8)
Soon after the Junta's broadcast, the armored vehicles belonging to Carabineros at La Moneda abandoned their positions. In his office, Allende listened to an offer from the Junta, relayed to him by his military aides: Roberto Sánchez of the Air Force, Jorge Grez of the Navy, and Sergio Badiola of the Army. A plane was being readied that would fly the President and his family out of the country. But Allende's refusal of the offer was categorical: "The Armed Forces have broken with their tradition. I will not surrender, nor resign." With that, the President released his military aides from their duties, so that they could have the option of returning to their respective institutions.(9)
A few minutes after 9:00 AM —through a telephone link with Magallanes Radio, the only pro-government station that had not been silenced by military raids that morning— Allende addressed the nation once again.(10) "This will surely be the last time I speak to you," he said. "Magallanes Radio will be silenced, and the reassuring tone of my voice will not reach you. It doesn't matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be with you. At the least, your memory of me will be that of a man who was loyal to the country...I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other people will be able to transcend this sad and bitter moment, when treason tries to force itself upon us...I'm sure that my sacrifice will not be in vain,...it will be a moral lesson that will punish the felony, cowardice, and treason [of the Armed Forces]."(11)
Shortly thereafter, the defenders of La Moneda saw the first tanks making their approach. Belonging to the Second Armored Regiment and under the command of Army General Javier Palacios, they took up positions around the Plaza de la Constitución and,(12) while Air Force jets flew overhead, trained their guns on the Presidential palace. Inside, an aide was on the telephone, trying to negotiate with the military. Rebuffed, he turned to Allende with the message: "In two minutes, we will be attacked." Allende immediately snatched up his assault rifle, donned a combat helmet, and left his office to organize the resistance inside the building. At that moment, the first shots were heard.(13)
The distribution of forces was heavily against Allende. He had little more than a hundred people, many of them civilians and most only lightly armed. The heavy weapons available inside La Moneda were three bazookas and about five 30 caliber machine guns. Outside, a large number of snipers loyal to the government had taken up nearby positions. According to General Sergio Arellano Stark, who watched events from the Ministry of Defense, "the main concentration was in the rooftops of the building of Entel, the State Bank, the Clarín newspaper, the España building, and the Intercontinental Theatre." But pitted against these were the Sherman tanks of the opposing forces, the soldiers of the Junior Officers' School deployed to the east of the palace, the Tacna Regiment approaching it from the south, and both Air Force and Army helicopters in the air.(14)
By mid-morning firing had become intense. In an inferno of flying wood splinters, dense smoke, and ear-splitting detonations, bullets of all sizes from cannons and machine guns were smashing the windows of La Moneda, destroying furniture, lamps, framed pictures, and the walls to which they were attached. Allende's order was to seek refuge in the offices and patios behind the thick walls at the interior of the palace.(15) Meanwhile, with the aid of a "Puma" Army helicoptor, General Palacios's troops and tanks gradually snuffed out the resistance of the snipers.(16)
At around 10:40 there was a ceasefire of sorts, while the President ordered the Carabineros remaining inside La Moneda to leave, but not to take their weapons with them.(17) Soon after, most of the women inside the building also left, including the two daughters of the President.(18) At the same time, over the military's communications network, Leigh announced that he was prepared to send Hawker-Hunter jets to bomb La Moneda immediately. Carvajal, who was on the telephone negotiating with José Tohá, asked for additional time so that the partial evacuation of the palace could be completed.(19)
At noon, those still inside La Moneda heard the approach of jets. According to the account of Oscar Soto, one of Allende's physicians, the planes fired rockets that sounded like "a high-pitched noise resembling a whistle, surely produced by the trajectory of the projectiles. After a few seconds, [we would experience] an intense explosion,...that felt like an earthquake, and the shattering of glass...[A]s a result of the expansive wave, doors and windows in the building would open violently...When the bombing ceased [15 to 20 minutes later], the central section of the palace was burning and destroyed. [W]e felt the crackling of the flames, and a penetrating black smoke invaded everything...[Before long] helicopters [flew overhead and] dropped tear gas inside the building...We couldn't breathe..."(20)
After the air raids, Palacios renewed the ground attack. The relentless firing of the tanks was deafening, as explosions pulverized the remains of the building and fed the flames.(21) Then a group of twenty soldiers broke open the palace door facing Morandé Street and flushed out several people while the shooting in the Plaza diminished. Allende was still on the second floor with a few companions. When he learned that the first floor had been taken, he ordered everyone out of the building: "Everybody leave your weapons and go down. I will be the last one."(22) As the others made their way out of the palace, Allende entered Independence Hall. There the President sat down, placed his assault rifle between his legs, and set its muzzle under his chin. Two shots ended the life of the Constitutional President of Chile.(23)
General Palacios arrived at the scene of the suicide with
his soldiers and ordered them to block the entrance to the room where Allende
lay, except to forensic personnel. He then sent the following brief
message to the generals assembled at the Ministry of Defense: "Mission
accomplished. Moneda taken. President dead."(24)
Notes
(1) Ahumada, Eugenio et al. Chile: la memoria prohibida, (1989),
p. 92-93. Santiago, Chile: Pehuén Editores
(2) Cf. Ahumada, p. 94
(3) Ibid., p. 95
(4) Ibid.
(5) Soto, Óscar. El último dia de Salvador Allende,
(1998), p. 66. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones el País
(6) Ibid.
(7) El Mercurio, (September 13, 1973). In Los mil dias de
Allende II, (1997). Miguel González Pino, et al., eds. Santiago,
Chile: Centro de Estudios Públicos
(8) Verdugo, Patricia. Interferencia secreta, (1998), p. 73.
Santiago, Chile: Editorial Sudamericana Chilena
(9) Cf. Soto, p. 69
(10) Ahumada, p. 110
(11) Allende, Salvador. Documentos radiofónicos, (1998).
Database on-line available at nodo50.org/allende/radio.htm
(12) Ahumada, p. 109
(13) Cf. Verdugo, p. 95
(14) Ahumada, pp. 109-112
(15) Verdugo, p. 101
(16) Ahumada, p. 112
(17) Ibid., pp. 112-113
(18) Soto, pp. 82-83
(19) Ahumada, p. 118
(20) Soto, pp. 85-86
(21) Ahumada, p. 132-133
(22) Soto, p. 90-91
(23) Ibid., p. 92; Ahumada, p. 144
(24) Ahumada, p. 145
Photo credits (from top to bottom)
1, 3, 5, 6, and 8: Tohá, Moy de and Isabel Letelier. Allende: demócrata intransigente, (1986), p. 66. Santiago, Chile: Amerinda Ediciones
2: Varas, Florencia. Gustavo Leigh, el general disidente, (1979). Santiago, Chile : Ediciones Aconcagua
4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13: Mejido, Manuel. Esto pasó en Chile, (1974). México, DF : Editorial Extemporáneos
7: Velarde, Hector. Salvador Allende, Iconografía, (1999). Database on-line available at: spin.com.mx/~hvelarde/chile/salvador.allende/iconografia.html
Orlando Letelier became the first member of Allende's cabinet to be placed under arrest
The Military Junta. From left to right: César Mendoza, Gustavo Leigh, Pinochet, and José Toribio Merino
Troops advancing behind the cover of a tank
Another tank trains its machine gun on a rooftop
Allende and members of the Presidential security force...
...organize the defense of La Moneda
Allende and Army aide-de-camp Sergio Badiola inside the Palace
"At noon, those still inside La Moneda heard the approach of jets"
Hawker-Hunter jets hit the Palace...
...while the ground attack continued
Aerial view of the bombing of the Palace
Soldiers arrest the defenders of La Moneda
Sofa in Independence Hall where Allende shot himself