Alberto Arturo Miguel Bachelet Martínez (; 27 April 1923 – 13 March 1974) was a Chilean

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of the

Chilean Air Force "With full speed to the stars" , colours = Indigo White , colours_label = , march = Alte Kameraden , mascot = , anniversaries = 21 March ...

. He opposed the 1973 coup of General

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

, and was imprisoned and subject to

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

for several months until his death in 1974 of heart disease while in prison. His daughter

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

has been twice elected President of Chile.

Career

Bachelet was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

to Alberto Bachelet Brandt and Mercedes Martínez Binimelis. In 1940, in military service, he earned a scholarship to the School of Aviation Captain Manuel Avalos Prado, with

Gustavo Leigh Air General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán (September 19, 1920 – September 29, 1999) was a Chilean general, who represented the Air Force in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and, for a time, in the ruling junta that followed. Leigh was forced out of th ...

, by choice of the then commander of the Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment Hill, Colonel Luis Osvaldo Puccio Giesen. Leigh and Bachelet later were officers, one at Management Branch and the other at Branch of Air. In 1962, under the presidency of Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez, Bachelet was appointed military attache to the Chilean Embassy in Washington D. C., USA. In 1972,

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

appointed him secretary of the National Supply and Marketing (DINAC), a position he had to turn the Boards of Supply and Prices (JAP). During 1973, General Bachelet was working in the Accounts of the Chilean Air Force (FACH). When he opposed the coup of 11 September, led by the commander in chief

and supported, among others, by his friend

, he was first arrested on the same day, 11 September 1973, in the office of the Ministry of Defence. Although he was released that night, his house was raided on 14 September and he was arrested again. He was held at the Air War Academy of

FACH The German system (; literally "compartment" or "subject of study", here in the sense of "vocal specialization") is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices. It is used w ...

, and its principal then Colonel

Fernando Matthei Fernando Matthei Aubel (11 July 1925 – 19 November 2017) was a Chilean Air Force general who was part of the military junta that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, replacing the dismissed Gustavo Leigh as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air F ...

(Matthei has profusely denied any involvement in his interrogation and death, stating that he was in London during the coup, finishing his work as Air Attache and did not return to Chile until December 1973. He claimed that he was only the nominal head of the Academy, visiting it just once in February 1974, which was effectively being controlled by Gustavo Leigh as his personal headquarters outside of Pinochet's control). In this place Bachelet was subjected to interrogation and torture by his own comrades in arms. Then he was transferred to the FACH Hospital. In a letter to his son Albert, who lived in Australia, he reported: He was put under house arrest in October 1973, but on 18 December he was arrested for the third time with several officers and NCOs in the Air Force, who were tried for "treason" in Martial entitled Aviation / Bachelet and other ROL 1-73, also known as FACH Process. He died on 12 March 1974, after suffering a heart attack while being in jail in Santiago, where he was being tortured.

Family

He was married to

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Ángela Jeria Gómez, with whom he fathered two children, Alberto and Michelle. Michelle later became the first female

president of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...

References

External links

(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachelet, Alberto 1974 deaths 1923 births Chilean Air Force generals Chilean people of French descent Chilean people of Swiss descent Chilean torture victims People from Santiago 20th-century Chilean military personnel Chilean people who died in prison custody