Who was Augusto Pinochet?

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general, politician and dictator who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, before being automatically self-declared President of the Republic by the junta in 1974 becoming de facto dictator of Chile.

Augusto Pinochet rose through the ranks of the Chilean Army to become General Chief of Staff in early 1972 before being appointed its Commander-in-Chief on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende. On 11 September 1973, Pinochet seized power in Chile in a U.S.-backed coup d'état that toppled Allende's democratically elected Unidad Popular government and ended civilian rule. In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet Supreme Head of the nation by joint decree, although without the support of one of the coup's instigators, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh.

After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, and political critics, resulting in the executions of from 1,200 to 3,200 people, the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands. According to the Chilean government, the number of executions and forced disappearances was 3,095. Operation Condor was founded at the behest of the Pinochet regime in late November 1975, his 60th birthday.