Seldom has it been more appropriate to say that the whole world was watching. The military coup against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973, unfolded as if on a public stage. Since a possible military takeover had been openly discussed in the preceding months, political observers inside and outside the country were hardly taken by surprise. Newspapers in Europe and the United States informed their readers of the “predictable end” to Allende’s presidency. TV audiences worldwide could see the images of the burning presidential palace La Moneda and even pictures of obviously ill-treated civilians who had been herded together in Santiago’s sport stadium. Estimates of the number of people killed raised notions of a vast human catastrophe. Figures of 25,000–30,000 were considered to be conservative, and some ranged as high as 80,000. The information pouring out of Chile literally shocked human rights activists into action. Within days of the coup, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists sent urgent protests to the military junta, appealing for a stop to the violence.

The worldwide concern of the first months proved to be only a prelude since the eyes of the international community were to be kept on the events in Chile for many years. The bloody establishment and trajectory of the Pinochet dictatorship gave rise to one of the longest and most intense human rights campaigns ever to be waged against a single regime. It stretched over the entire sixteen years of the military junta’s existence, from 1973 to 1989, flaring up every time new shocking details reached the media. A broad range of actors supported the efforts, including states from all regions of the world, the various bodies of supranational organizations, and innumerable private groups. These actors applied a wide variety of measures, ranging from public manifestations and humanitarian aid to economic sanctions and on-site investigations.