SANTIAGO, Chile — Isabel Allende long ago accepted that her father, former President Salvador Allende, took his own life with an assault rifle just minutes before troops stormed the presidential palace in a coup Sept. 11, 1973.
Even as leftist supporters declared that Allende had died in a gun battle, his suicide became a source of pride for the surviving family members, she said.
“It was an extremely courageous act for someone who loved life as he did,” she said.
But doubts have lingered, so early Monday, at the behest of the Allende family and a judge investigating human-rights cases related to Chile’s 17-year dictatorship, Salvador Allende’s remains were exhumed. Forensic experts now will perform a second autopsy to try to determine once and for all how the Socialist leader died.
