SUMMARY
Chile has not experienced civil war or armed insurgency in the contemporary era. However, it has a well-documented history of state-led repression, most notably during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, which involved systematic human rights abuses. Since 1989, the country has transitioned to a democratic system, but episodes of one-sided violence – especially involving state security forces’ use of force against civilians – have been recorded, most notably during mass protests in 2019-2020.
2024
In 2024, Chile experienced a notable increase in organized criminal activity, particularly in Santiago, where transnational gangs expanded their operations, through drug trafficking, extortion, and targeted killings. Chilean law enforcement initiated coordinated efforts, including joint operations with international agencies, to dismantle criminal networks operating in the capital. Low-intensity violence continued in the Araucanía and Biobío regions, where elements of the Mapuche conflict persisted. Indigenous actors engaged in land recovery efforts and were involved in confrontations with security forces and private landowners. In November 2024 the disappearance of Julia Chuñil, a 72-year-old Mapuche land defender, raised concerns about targeted violence against Indigenous individuals. While the case remained unresolved, it was widely interpreted as politically motivated due to her role in land disputes.
Judicial processes relating to the 2019-2020 social uprising known as Estallido Social (“Social Outbreak”) made limited progress. The Estallido Social was a wave of mass protests that was initially sparked by a subway fare hike but quickly expanded to broader demands for social justice, equality, and constitutional reform, exposing deep-rooted grievances about inequality, state repression, and the legacy of the Pinochet-era constitution. In October 2024, Chilean courts initiated proceedings against police commanders accused of authorizing or failing to prevent excessive use of force. According to local and international observers, including the UN and Amnesty International, excessive use of force, targeted injuries (notably eye injuries from rubber bullets), and mass arbitrary detentions were central concerns. However, nowadays the majority of human rights cases remained under investigation, with a low rate of formal indictments and limited institutional accountability.
Although killings were limited, the scale and coordination of state violence during the protests led to UCDP registering these incidents as one-sided violence.
The constitutional reform process remained suspended following the rejection of the second draft in the December 2023 referendum. No new drafting body was convened in 2024 and no significant legislative developments were recorded concerning constitutional replacement efforts during the year. This impasse leaves Chile operating under its current constitution, originally enacted during the Pinochet era. Despite political polarization, no widespread political violence or armed conflict occurred.
Organized violence in Chile
While Chile has not experienced organized armed conflict in recent decades, the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) represents one of the most severe periods of state-led violence in the Southern Cone. After the 1973 military coup that ousted democratically elected President Salvador Allende, the military regime launched a campaign of repression against perceived leftist and dissident elements of society.
Thousands were tortured, executed or forcibly disappeared in operations carried out by military and intelligence agencies, including the notorious Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) and Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI). Similar in methods and ideas to other regimes that emerged all over the Southern Cone in the same years, this period is categorized as one-sided violence in UCDP data, due to the deliberate targeting of civilians by state actors.
Following the 1990 democratic transition, Chile established the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Report) to investigate disappearances and killings under the Pinochet dictatorship; after that in 2004 the Valech Commission documented cases of torture and political imprisonment. While some human rights violations were prosecuted and military influence over politics gradually declined, progress was hindered by the 1978 Amnesty Law, which shielded many perpetrators from accountability and contributed to widespread impunity and long delays in justice.
In 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup, the Chilean government launched the National Truth and Justice Search Plan (Plan Nacional de Búsqueda de Verdad y Justicia). This initiative aimed to clarify the circumstances surrounding the enforced disappearances and political executions during the dictatorship, guarantee access to relevant government records, and provide reparations to victims' families. The plan represents the first time the Chilean state has assumed direct responsibility for locating the disappeared, transforming previous efforts into a permanent public policy.
Overall, Chile has largely maintained democratic governance and internal peace. However, Mapuche Indigenous movements in the south have clashed with the state over land, autonomy, and historical injustices. These tensions have occasionally resulted in localized violence, including arson and police raids, but have not escalated into armed conflict by UCDP standards.
Pre-1989 conflicts
Prior to 1989, Chile did not experience a formal civil war, but its history was marked by intense political and ideological conflict that shaped the country's institutions and collective memory.
The most consequential rupture occurred with the 11 September 1973 military coup, when General Augusto Pinochet – backed by sectors of the Chilean elite and the U.S. government – overthrew then President Salvador Allende. The coup was carried out with significant violence, including military assaults on civilian infrastructure and the aerial bombing of the presidential palace, La Moneda. The ensuing military dictatorship (1973-1990) ruled through systematic repression. More than 3000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared and tens of thousands were detained, tortured, or exiled for political reasons. The regime extended its reach beyond national borders through coordinated extraterritorial assassinations of political opponents in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay and the United States.
Throughout the 1980s, resistance movements such as the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR, “Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front”) and the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR, “Revolutionary Left Movement”) engaged in armed struggle, sabotage, and symbolic actions against the regime. While their activities remained limited in scope, the state’s response was expansive and severely marked by widespread surveillance, arbitrary detention, and violence that extended well beyond the immediate actors involved, targeting broader civil society and political dissidents.
These episodes of authoritarian repression and resistance continued to influence Chile's political culture, particularly in relation to transitional justice, civil-military relations, and enduring mistrust of state security institutions.
