On 11 September 1973, the government of President Salvador Allende suffered a coup d'état by General Augusto Pinochet who was backed by the government of the United States. President Allende was declared to have committed suicide during the coup and General Pinochet took over the government and became the new President of the country. Immediately, President Pinochet began arresting, torturing and executing followers of President Allende. During this time, thousands of Chileans sought refuge in mainly European and Latin American embassies in the Chilean capital. Approximately 700 Chileans and Italians escaped to the Italian embassy in Santiago for refugee. In November 1974, the body of a Chilean woman was thrown over the walls of the Italian embassy. The woman, Lumi Videla, had obvious signs of torture. It was a ploy by the Chilean government to spread false rumors that the woman had died within the walls of the embassy and falsely claim that the asylees had killed her as a pretext to increase pressure on the embassy housing several anti-government supporters. The Italian government did assist several of the asylees to leave the embassy to Argentina and a few were resettled in Italy. Between 1973 and 1989, Italy did not appoint an Ambassador to Chile.