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| 1970, May 26 |
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| Failed military coup against Frei. | 1 |
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| Aug. 26 |
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| Seizure of land near Santiago by organized Marxist groups (Revolutionary Junta of the Homeless). Political tension made the government hesitant to interfere. | 2 |
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| Sept. 4 |
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| Presidential elections. Sen. Allende of the Popular Unity (UP) coalition won 36.3 percent of the popular vote, while Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez of the National Party secured 34 percent. The six-party UP included Communists, Socialists, and radical elements from the PDC and the United Popular Action Movement (MAPU). Support for the UP came from urban and rural workers, some middle-class elements, and intellectuals. Since no candidate had a majority, it was left to the Congress to choose. Despite an effort by the U.S. to bribe congressmen to fix the outcome, the PDC supported Allende in return for guaranteed civil liberties. Allende asserted that while he intended to achieve dramatic reforms, he would adhere to constitutional norms. | 3 |
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| Oct. 22 |
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| Gen. René Schneider Chereau, commander in chief of the army, was attacked and fatally wounded in a CIA-supported coup attempt by right-wing extremists hoping to block the election of Allende. | 4 |
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| Oct. 24 |
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| ALLENDE WAS ELECTED by a joint session of the Congress, by a vote of 153–35. | 5 |
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| Nov. 12 |
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| Reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the first step in Allende's policy of rapprochement with the Communist countries. Allende was the first overt Marxist popularly elected in an American state. His government called for the expropriation of large foreign companies and financial, commercial, and industrial monopolies. He also planned to redistribute all landholdings over 80 hectares. | 6 |
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| 1971–73 |
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| During his 1,000 days in power, Pres. Allende introduced far-reaching social and economic reforms. An initial price and wage freeze, along with massive public spending in housing, sanitation, and health, led to a short-run boom in consumer spending and income redistribution. Highly popular through 1971, even among middle-class groups, Allende nationalized copper, coal, and steel production, and most private banks. Workers in some cases occupied their firms, refusing to leave until expropriation was announced. Factories, such as the Yarur textile works, were turned into cooperatives with or without government approval. Pressures mounted from the Left in the UP and the rural sector (where peasants took over land on their own) for more rapid reform. By 1972 the latifundia system (large agricultural estates with low productivity) had been dismantled, but under the reform, agricultural production had declined by 29 percent. By 1973 the government had lost control of the reform in many areas. At the same time, opposition on the Right and Center was growing. Runaway inflation (300 percent by 1973), widespread strikes, disinvestment, sabotage, and protests were destroying the economy. CIA initiatives also helped cause serious problems for the regime by 1973. The U.S. stopped the flow of needed spare parts and supplies and cut off aid and loans to the government (destabilization), while still funding the military. | 7 |
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