Gonzalo's family witnesses the military coup of 1973 led by Augusto Pinochet, in which Salvador Allende kills himself and Augusto Pinochet takes over. After Father McEnroe is removed from the now militarized school, he attends the mass performed by a new priest, consumes the sacramental bread to save it from desecration and declares the ground to be desecrated. Machuca leads the other students in honoring the priest and is expelled. Gonzalo tries to visit the shantytown where Pedro and Silvana live but arrives to find it being destroyed by the soldiers. He then witnesses a soldier murdering Silvana. Himself being dragged into the conflict, Gonzalo convinces a soldier that he is not from the shantytown due to his nice clothing and fair complexion, and is forced to abandon his friend. He returns to his family's new home, which is now even more opulent thanks to his mother's lover and the new redistribution of wealth under the new government. He remains distraught over the events he has witnessed as he remembers his friends as he stares down at the ruins of their homes. The 17 years of Chilean dictatorship, in which 250,000 Chileans were detained, have begun.