His approach to his opponents also hardened. Within weeks of the coup, Manuel Contreras � a personal friend � had set up the ferocious Dina secret police. The parliament was shut down and trade unions banned.

Chile also co-operated with several other South American dictatorships in Operation Condor � a pact to hunt down and kill left-wing opponents. But Gen Pinochet � pictured here in 1975 with Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer � later denied any knowledge of the pact.