General Pinochet came to power in a military coup d'etat on September 11, 1973. The coup leaders used Hawker Hunter fighter jets to bomb the Presidential Palace which housed Allende, who refused to surrender, committing suicide. Pinochet was named head of the victorious junta's governing council, and he moved to crush Chile's liberal opposition, arresting approximately 130,000 individuals in a three-year period. Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the Junta and then proclaiming himself the President of the Republic.

The violence and bloodshed of the coup itself was continued during Pinochet's administration. Once in power, Pinochet ruled with an iron hand. Dissidents who were murdered for speaking out against Pinochet's policies are said to have "been disappeared." It is unknown exactly how many people were killed by government and military forces during the 17 years that he was in power, but the "Rettig Commission" listed 2,095 deaths and 1,102 "disappearances." Torture was also commonly used against dissidents. Thousands of Chileans fled the country to escape the regime.

Pinochet's presidency was also frequently made unstable by riots and isolated violent attacks. Assassination attempts were common, which increased government paranoia and in the eyes of some contributed the cycle of oppression.

The situation in Chile came to international attention in September 1976 when Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador to the United States and minister in Allende's cabinet, was murdered by a car bomb in Washington, D.C. Gen. Carlos Prats, Pinochet's predecessor as army commander, who had resigned rather than support the moves against Allende, had died in similar circumstances in Buenos Aires, Argentina two years earlier.

[ The Beaches of Chile I ]

Those weren't the Chilean fates they
Wept receding the entire beach was
Becoming an open sore in his eyes

Those weren't the beaches they found the clearing of the
sky snow-white before his eyes as if they were detached
reflecting throughout Chile the open wounds they washed

i. Bathed in tears he cast his vestments onto the water

ii. You would have seen him naked curled up in a
ball shivering with his hands covering hid
festering sores.

iii. Like a wraith you would have seen how he clasped
himself livid moaning while the color of the sky
evanesced in his eyes.

Because it wasn't the beaches they found but the spilling of
all the sores white aching upon them covering them
like a blessing fixed in his pupils

iv. Because even what had never been was reborn dawning
on those beaches

v. That was the shining of his own open sores on
the coast

vi. That was the sparkling of all the beaches that
only then greeted the cleansed vision of his eyes

For it wasn't the coats thy found but his own wounds
stretching out until they were the beach where all
Chile radiant splendorous began to cast their vestments onto
the water washing before others the bastardly fates they wept

[ Las Playas de Chile ]

No eran esos los chilenos destinos que
lloraron alejándose toda la playa se
iba haciendo una pura llaga en sus ojos

No eran esas playas que encontraron sino más bien el clarear
del cielo frente a sus ojos albo como si no fuera de ellos
en todo Chile espejeando las abiertas llagas que lavaban

i. Empapado de lagrimas arrojó sus vestimentas al agua

ii. Desnudo lo hubieran visto acurrucarse hecho un ovillo
sobre si tembloroso con las manos cubriéndose el
purular de las heridas.

iii. Como un espíritu lo hubieran ustedes visto cómo se
abrazó a sí mismo lívido gimiente mientras se le
iba esfumando el color del cielo en sus ojos

Por que no eran esas playas que encontraron sino al volcarse
de todas la llagas sobre ellos blancas dolidas sobre sí
cayéndoles como una bendición que les fijara en sus pupilas

iv. Porque hasta lo que nunca fue renació alborando por
esas playas

v. Ese era el resplandor de sus propias llagas abiertas en
la costa

vi Ese era el relumbrar de todas las playas que recién allí
le saludaron la lavada visión de sus ojos

Porque no eran esas las costas que encontraron sino sus propias
llagas extendiéndose hasta ser la playa donde todo Chile comenzó
a arrojar sus vestimentas al agua radiantes esplendorosos
lavando frente a otros los bastardos destinos que lloraron.