When the generals overthrew the Allende government and seized power on September 11, 1973, they did so in the name of the rule of law (el estado de derecho). In its first official statement justifying the coup, Edict No. 5 (Bando No. 5), the governing junta declared that the Allende administration had “placed itself outside the law on multiple occasions, resorting to arbitrary, dubious, ill-intentioned, and even flagrantly erroneous [legal] interpretations;” and had “repeatedly failed to observe the mutual respect which one power of the state owes to another.” For these reasons, the Allende government had “fallen into flagrant illegitimacy,” and the armed forces had “taken upon themselves the moral duty … of deposing the government, … [and] assuming power” with the objective of reestablishing “normal economic and social conditions in the country, with peace, tranquillity, and security for all.”

At first, many Chileans believed that the military was intervening on a temporary basis and would call elections within a few months.