When dictators seize power, they must decide how to deal with pre-existing political parties. Some dictators opt to repress all parties, as General Augusto Pinochet did in Chile 1973-1990.
A look at the Latin American dictatorships highlights the importance of the Catholic Church in the legitimisation of violence, even after the Second Vatican Council.1 In the years of the last military dictatorships in Chile (1973-1990) and Argentina (1976-1983), the ongoing political and public influence of the Church existed, in parallel with the potential of Christian religion to legitimise violence.
