Augusto Pinochet is the former Dictator of Chile and head of the Chilean Army. He joined the Chilean Army in 1935. Pinochet rose up the ranks and the president Salvador Allende made him commander-in-chief of the Army. Twenty days later Pinochet became the leader of Chile when he took down Salvador Allende. Allende was a marxist so the United States and the people of Chile were approving when this happened in 1973. Pinochet went on to kill just under 3,000 people and tortured about 30,000 people. A reason for his violence is the violence of the enemy and the threat of another civil war. Pinochet was able to save Chile from an economical disaster that was created by Allende. Pinochet promoted low taxes, foreign investment, and the selling off of state business. Although this made Chile’s economy much stronger, it also decreased wages and the unemployment went dramatically down. Pinochet has also stolen money. In a Hong Kong bank there were ten tons of gold under his name. The gold would equal about 160 million dollars. Pinochet created a secret police called Directorate of National Intelligence. Pinochet also committed big crimes inside and out of Chile. He was investigated for murdering and torturing Spaniards. Pinochet was also suspected of car bombing the former Chilean foreign minister and his American assistant who was in the car with the foreign minister. The US stopped their military help for Chile after this car bombing in 1976. Two years before this incident he supposedly car bombed his predecessor as the head of the army who was in the car with his wife. Pinochet was put under house arrest in 2004 and died in 2006.