I haven’t heard any plausible explanation for the sadism managed by Pinochet. As one Chilean friend expressed it to me, “I didn’t understand Pinochet’s psychology.” As soon as the junta took power, it rounded up leaders of Allende’s Popular Unity Party and other perceived leftists (such as university students and the famous Chilean folk singer Victor Jara; Plate 4.5), with the goal of literally exterminating the Chilean left-wing. Within the first 10 days, thousands of Chilean leftists were taken to two sports stadiums in Santiago, interrogated, tortured, and killed.
