Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet (auˈɣusto pinoˈtʃet), (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an army

Chilean Army

The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....

 general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973. He was the Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1990, president of the Government Junta of Chile

Government Junta of Chile (1973)

Government Junta of Chile was the military junta established to rule Chile during the military dictatorship that followed the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. It was the executive and legislative branch of government until December 17, 1974...

 from 1973 to 1974 and President of the Republic from 1974 until transferring power to a democratically elected president

Patricio Aylwin

Patricio Aylwin Azócar was the first president of Chile after its return to democratic rule in 1990, following the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.- Early life :...

 in 1990.

By early 1972 Pinochet was General Chief of Staff of the Army.