Tanquetazo
Sign in to saveEl Tanquetazo or El Tancazo (Spanish: "The tank putsch") was an attempted coup d'état that occurred in Chile on 29 June 1973.
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Background
- Putsch
- Aftermath
- See also
- References
- External links
El Tanquetazo or El Tancazo (Spanish: "The tank putsch") was an attempted coup d'état that occurred in Chile on 29 June 1973.
Elements of an armored regiment of the Chilean Army led by Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Souper tried to overthrow the Popular Unity government of President Salvador Allende. Souper's regiment fired on buildings of the Chilean Government in central Santiago with tanks and small arms in which 22 people were killed. Loyalist soldiers led by Army commander-in-chief Carlos Prats successfully put down the coup within hours. Souper and most of the soldiers involved in the coup surrendered to Prats while some fled in exile to Ecuador.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tanquetazo” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.