Widow Pinochet was even more righteous than her husband

Her husband was still in doubt, for Lucía Hiriart it was already a foregone conclusion: Chile needed a military coup in 1973. Under the democratically elected (and actively opposed by the US) socialist Salvador Allende, the country slipped into chaos and malaise. Her husband, General Augusto Pinochet, had to quickly put things in order with his army, Hiriart said on Thursday at the age of 99.

According to the unauthorized biography Dona Lucia she urged her husband: “Well, Augusto, I don’t know how long the military will last with this one.” rotos [paupers]. Do you not realize what scarcity does? Do you not realize what kind of rows there are? When do you put on the pants? Can you tell me?”

After her husband’s coup d’état on September 11, 1973, Hiriart would claim a role far more influential than that of a typical primera dama. Coming from a prominent Chilean family herself, she had an excellent nose for politics. She interfered with appointments, from ministers to diplomats. She also founded the volunteer institute CEMA, whose social mission was to help disguise the excesses of the dictatorship.

After the coup, Chile became isolated, but every now and then the couple traveled abroad. In late November 1975, the two went to Madrid, where Pinochet’s right-wing fellow dictator Franco had just died. Pinochet was one of the few foreign heads of government to listen to the funeral of el generalissimo on. And when Juan Carlos was proclaimed king, Hiriart squeezed into the box where Grace Kelly and Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos were already seated.