General Augusto Pinochet, the commander-in-chief of Chile's army, masterminded a brutal military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. The chaotic events saw warplanes bombing the presidential palace, tanks rolling into the streets, and soldiers storming the radio stations. Allende, a socialist and a pioneer of Latin American socialism, refused to surrender and died in the presidential palace, reportedly by his own hand. The coup marked the beginning of a 17-year-long dark era of military dictatorship under Pinochet, who ruled with an iron fist, crushing political opposition, and human rights abuses became rampant.