The same resolution failed to pass in the Senate. Less than a month later the military, motivated by the widespread economic discontent, fearful of Allende's association with Communist factions, and assuming legitimacy based on Congress' vote, launched an attack on La Moneda, the Presidential Palace, with tanks, infantry, and fighter jets. President Allende, after giving an emotional final address to the nation from the besieged palace, committed suicide allegedly with a machine gun given to him by Fidel Castro.

A military junta, led by Army General Augusto Pinochet, took power after the coup and immediately began rounding up Allende sympathizers and other collaborators. The infamous Chilean Dirty War had begun. The worst violence occurred in the first few months after the coup, with the number of suspected leftists killed or "desaparecidos" soon reaching into the thousands. In the days immediately following the coup, the National Stadium was used as a concentration camp holding 40,000 prisoners. Approximately 130,000 individuals were arrested in a three-year period. In 1988, a national referendum rejected a further eight years of Pinochet's presidency and elections held in 1989 returned the country to civilian rule for the first time since 1973.

Monday, Sept 12 Paraguay Navy Day (annual holiday). Paraguay, one of two landlocked countries in South America, has an extensive river system that reaches all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the capital at Asuncion. The Navy consists of 19 river patrol boats, 1 repair-ship, 4 transports, 5 planes, 4 helicopters, and 3,700 men.

Monday, Sept 12 Peru Abimael Guzman, Sendero Luminoso founder, arrested (1992). Under Guzman's leadership, the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path in English) became the largest Marxist insurgent group in South American and fought against the Peruvian government from 1980-1992. The group was responsible for 27,000 deaths including government representatives, foreign tourists, and peasant farmers. After a lengthy police effort, Guzman was captured in a raid on an apartment in Lima where he orchestrated the group's violence across Peru. He was sentenced to life in prison and incarcerated in the Naval Prison in Callao. In 2003, the military tribunals that convicted him and others were declared illegal and he was given another trial. In 2006, he was again convicted of terrorism charges and his life term was reinstituted. Although the group has been mostly dormant since Guzman's capture in 1992, the U.S. Department of State has the Sendero Luminoso on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Wednesday, Sept 14 Battle of Chapultepec Castle (1847). During the Mexican-American War, Mexico City's western approach was guarded by Chapultepec Castle, perched 200 feet above city. The U.S. Army forces under General Winfield Scott realized that a frontal assault supported by an artillery barrage was the only hope to get onto the castle ramparts. On Sept 13, the assault began. Under heavy fire, two assault teams managed to scale the castle walls with ladders, forcing the Mexicans to flee from the castle toward the city. Six military cadets refused to retreat and fought to the death, the final one wrapping himself in the Mexican flag and leaping from the castle wall before being captured. By Sept 14, 1847, the battle was over and General Scott triumphantly entered the castle and seized control of the entire city a short time later. Today, in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park, the Monument to the Heroic Cadets (Niños Héroes in Spanish) commemorates the heroic sacrifice of the six teenagers. On March 5, 1947, nearly one hundred years after the battle, U.S. President Harry S. Truman placed a wreath at the monument and stood for a moment of silence. The event also inspired the U.S. Marine Corps Hymn.

Thursday, Sept 15 Independence Day for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua (from Spain 1821). These nations jointly declared independence from Spain and formed the Federal Republic of Central America, also known as the United Provinces of Central America. The short-lived republic, modeled after the United States, lasted until 1840 when it disintegrated into individual nations.

Friday, Sept 16 Mexico Independence Day (from Spain, 1810). Napoleon's 1808 invasion of Spain inspired many South American Criollos (a Latin American of Spanish descent) to seek their independence from Spain. Influenced by the concepts of liberty, equality and democracy proposed during the American and French Revolutions, the Mexican revolutionaries declared their independence in the town of Dolores on September 16, 1810. Led by Father Miguel Hidalgo, the conspirators rang the town church bell as a rallying cry to fight for liberty. Known as the Grito de Dolores (the Shout of Dolores), this declaration marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. The war would last for over 10 years before Spain would finally recognize Mexican independence. Each year the scenario is reenacted as the President of Mexico rings Hidalgo's bell now set in the National Palace in Mexico City. Don't confuse Mexican Independence Day with Cinco de Mayo which marks the Mexican victory over the French in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla.

Saturday, Sept 17 Nicaragua former President Anastasio Somoza assassinated in Asuncion Paraguay (1980). Somoza fled to Paraguay on 17 July 1979 after being forced from power in Managua. Somoza had ruled with a brutal and corrupt hand, much like that of his father and brother before him. The U.S., fearful of communist expansion in the region, supported him and President Lyndon Johnson famously (allegedly) commented, "He's a son of a bitch but at least he's our son of a bitch." His embezzlement of millions of dollars of aid following the 1972 Managua Earthquake (some accounts say as much as $400 million) and human rights violations against the Sandinista rebel movement eventually cost him the support of the Carter Administration. In 1979 with the capital of Managua surrounded by rebel armies, he fled his native Nicaragua to Miami but, after being denied permanent sanctuary in the U.S., settled in Asunción, Paraguay. On Sept 17, he was assassinated when a hit squad fired a bazooka into his vehicle at close range, killing him instantly.

Information collated by Professor Pat Paterson, CHDS. Comments are welcome by email to Patrick.paterson@ndu.edu.