In 1960, President Adolfo López Mateos became the first Mexican head-of-state to pay a visit to Chile. In 1972, President Salvador Allende paid a visit to Mexico. On 11 November 1974, Mexican President Luis Echeverría Álvarez severed diplomatic relations with Chile a year after the unconstitutional removal and death of elected President Salvador Allende by General Augusto Pinochet. For the next fifteen years, Mexico would receive thousands of Chilean refugees who fled the dictatorship of Pinochet. Both nations re-established diplomatic relations on 23 March 1990. Since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, both nations have increasingly become closer with regards to bilateral relations and trade.