Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"But Allende's attempt to make Chile a socialist country seriously weakened the economy and roused such a fierce opposition and violence that the president declared in August 1973 that the country was on the brink of civil war. Just how far the United States contributed to Allende's ousting is disputed but the CIA was certainly authorized to spend millions of dollars trying to bring him down. . . . Announcing 'the liberation of the fatherland from the Marxist yoke,' they arrested many left-wing leaders, took military control of factories and working-class areas in cities, and declared martial law." [Furtado: 1001 Days]