Los mil días de Allende (2023)
The Chile’s democratically elected Marxist President Salvador Allende leaved an interior courtyard of La Moneda Presidential Palace surrounded by his heavily armed personal security detail. It is widely recognized as the last known photograph of Allende alive.
Overhead, military jets under the command of General Augusto Pinochet were preparing to bomb the palace.
Allende is seen wearing a combat helmet and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle—a personal gift from Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Flanking him are plainclothes members of the Grupo de Amigos del Presidente (GAP) (Presidednt’s Friends Groups in Spanish), his improvised leftist security force, along with a few loyal police officers.
Knowing that the palace was entirely surrounded by rebel infantry and tanks, Allende refused multiple offers to surrender or flee, famously declaring over the radio that he would pay for the defense of the nation’s principles with his life.
The photograph was taken by Luis Orlando “Chico” Lagos, Allende’s official staff photographer. During the heavy shelling, Lagos managed to escape the crumbling palace alongside Allende’s daughters before the final military breach.
Shortly after this photograph was taken, as smoke engulfed the burning palace, Allende ordered the remaining defenders to lay down their arms and surrender. He then walked into the Independence Salon of the palace alone and committed suicide, ensuring he would never be taken prisoner by the coup forces.
His death marked the immediate collapse of Chilean democracy and the beginning of Pinochet’s brutal 17-year military dictatorship.