Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990)

Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, an armed leftist resistance movement against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship developed until 1990 when democracy was restored. This conflict was part of the South American theater in the Cold War, with the United States backing the Chilean military and the Soviet Union backing the guerrillas. The main armed resistance groups of the period were the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR), the armed wing of the Communist Party. These groups had a long-standing rivalry, including over Marxist orthodoxy and its implementation.

Key events during the armed resistance were the attempt to set up guerrilla camps in Neltume from 1970 to 1973 and from 1980 to 1981, the February 1986 sabotaging of the Limache train tracks, the Carrizal Bajo arms smuggling operation in August 1986 and the attempted killing of Pinochet in September that same year. After the return to democracy was initiated in 1990 the bulk of the armed groups demobilized. However, splinter groups that reportedly switched targets after the dictatorship fell, continued to carry out assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and armed robberies until 2010.

The insurgency was supported by Cuba, Libya, Nicaragua and North Korea (the Warsaw Pact states provided minor financial assistance), while the Chilean security forces were backed by the United States.