Carrizal Bajo is a harbour and village in Atacama Region

Atacama Region

The Atacama Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Chañaral, Copiapó and Huasco. It is bordered to the north by Antofagasta, to the south by Coquimbo, to east with Provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan of Argentina, and to west with...

, 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...

, located about 50 km north of the city of Huasco

Huasco, Chile

Huasco is a Chilean city and commune, in the Huasco Province, Atacama Region.The port city of Huasco is located 50 km west of Vallenar and close to the town of Huasco Bajo, which lies on the southern bank of the Huasco River and only a few km from its mouth...

. Between May and August 1986 the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front

Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front

The Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front , also known as El Frente Patriótico, or simply El Frente, is a left-wing urban guerrilla movement in Chile, named for a figure in Chile's independence movement, Manuel Rodríguez. The group was founded on September 14, 1983 as an armed resistance against the...

, the armed wing of the Communist Party of Chile

Communist Party of Chile

The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...

, used the port to smuggle in weapons from Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n ships anchored offshore. This was the largest weapon smuggle move during the whole military dictatorship period (1973–1990) in Chile and while most of the weapons were discovered by authorities some were moved to other parts of the country and came notably to be used in the 1986 assesination attempt on Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...

. The weapons interned were US weapons obtained by Cuba from Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

.