Jan. 15: The Chilean government took control of the nation’s largest banks at the behest of the International Monetary Fund’s austerity program. Chile is scheduled to pay $3.5 billion dollars on its loans this year.

Mar. 26: Riots and demonstrations occurred in four cities. The military was called out against the population for the first time since 1974.

May 8: A general strike and plant occupation by the National Union Command, a confederation of Chile’s largest unions, was called off because Pinochet sent tanks and troops to three of the largest mines and threatened to “invade” any occupied facilities. Instead, the Union Command sponsored the first national day of protest on May 11th.

May 11: 70% of the nation’s students boycotted classes. Motorists blocked business-related and military traffic by packing the streets with automobiles. Marches and rallies of sev-eral thousands occurred. Demonstrations by lawyers led to beatings in the national courthouse.

May 14: Soldiers seized about 2000 people in pre-dawn raids on two areas that had shown resistance on May 11th. The detained were held in soccer stadiums. About 200 union militants were arrested, and striking miners were fired.

June 10: At least 550 miners were fired, 350 arrested and three killed in strike actions at the El Salvador copper mine, Chile’s third largest. The El Salvador and Chuquicamata copper mines were put under direct military occupation.

June 11: Hundreds of thousands march in the second national day of protest. Shantytowns in major cities throughout Chile were barricaded with piles of burning tires and trash. Clashes between rock- and glass- throwing protesters and tear gas-, water canon- and rifle-firing “forces of order” led to 1300 arrests, many injuries and several deaths. Students held campuses, particularly the University of Santiago for three days. When they marched off campus, the police attacked with clubs and drove them back. To protest human rights violations, the Pinochet’s constitution was ignominiously burned outside the supreme court before hundreds of demonstrators. Several city buses were destroyed by fire. Bombs exploded at seven electric power facilities.

June 20: Union leaders and the communist Party disavow the violence which they claim is due to “splinter groups” outside their control.

July 12: The junta arrest Gabriel Valdez, and other leaders of the Democratic Alliance — a coalition dominated by the Christian Democrats — for organizing the third national day of protest. Lawyers throw small change at government prosecutors in the national courthouse, protesting detention and arrest proceedings.

Aug. 12: As street demonstrations continued for the third straight day, the commander of the Air Force — Fernando Matthei, a member of the junta — publically questioned the government's account of the violence and informed Pinochet that the air force would not participate in further repression. In late August, Brigadier General Carol Urzoa Iban—the military governor of Santiago — is assasinated.

Sept. 3: Rodomiro Tomic—a christian Democratic leader—said that if Pinochet would reach minimal agreement with the people, the protests would be unnecessary.

Sept. 8: 6000 people formed the funeral procession for Migúel Angel Zavala, a bus driver killed at a demonstration. 30,000 people lined the streets. The march, led by clergy and members of the Chilean Human Rights Commission, was stormed by police after it had entered the municipal cemetery. Gabriel Valdez announced that any further dialogue with the junta was inconceivable.

Sept. 13: The fourth straight day of protests included maintaining the barricades of burning tires to block military/police related traffic, marching, pot-banging, throwing rocks at cops, and assembling, through most of the night. Approximately 36,000 people were involved in La Leguna along, one Santiago shantytown.

Oct. 5: A protest of 10,000 students and miners in Santiago, called to support out-of-work miners, burned an effigy of Pinochet. Riot police fired buckshot and tear gas when the crowd tried to march on the national palace with the slogan “Enough of crime and torture.”