Salvador Allende (26 June 1908-11 September 1973) was President of Chile from 3 November 1970 to 11 September 1973, succeeding Eduardo Frei Montalva and preceding Augusto Pinochet. He was the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections, and he was killed in a CIA-backed military coup in 1973.
Biography[]
Salvador Allende Gossens was born in Valparaiso, Chile on 26 June 1908, the son of wealthy parents. He qualified as a doctor in 1932 and helped found the Socialist Party of Chile a year later, serving as its general secretary from 1943 to 1970. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1952, 1958, and 1964, but he won in 1970 as the leader of an alliance of socialists and communists, the first Marxist to win a Latin American presidency in a free election. Allende nationalized copper mines and a host of other, mostly foreign-owned businesses without compensation, incurring the wrath of foreign governments and bringing foreign investment to a standstill. He also promoted consumption rather than investment, introducing a pay rise and a price freeze that led to the rise of a thriving economic black market. The economy got out of control, and his land reforms broke up the hacienda estates and brought chaos to the countryside. The elites and middle classes, mindful of their private property, supported a coup against him by the CIA-backed general Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973. Allende committed suicide with an assault rifle at his desk in the burning presidential palace rather than resign from the presidency.