According to the accounts of various witnesses, the General in charge of the operation entered La Moneda, went up to the Salón Independencia, and there found the lifeless body of President Salvador ALLENDE GOSSENS.

Beside him was Dr. Patricio Guijón, who testifies that, at approximately 14:00 hours, while at the end of the line to leave the building, he decided to return in order to retrieve a gas mask. Upon passing in front of the Salón Independencia and looking inside, he was able to observe the President with an automatic rifle in his hands; at that moment, his body was struck by bullets.

Based on the above, the Commission has had to establish that President Salvador Allende took his own life.

His case is undoubtedly unique.

The Commission has not deemed it pertinent or possible to attempt to classify the death of President Allende according to the criteria it had to develop for the study of other cases.

In stating this, the Commission is not evading its responsibility. It is true that the case of Salvador Allende is not different, in a very profound sense, from so many other cases that this Commission has reviewed. His life, like every life, is irreplaceable in its essential dignity and individuality. The pain of his family members deserves every respect.

However, it is self-evident that the office he held, the historical circumstances of his passing, and the undeniable connotations of his final decision confer upon his death a significance that escapes the possibilities and the duties that this Commission seeks to elucidate.

The day and the circumstances in which President Allende took his own life mark an extreme point of division in Chilean society. We believe we see signs that this division is being overcome, and we hope to contribute, with this report, to advancing toward the necessary reconciliation.

To this end, and in good conscience, the Commission bows with respect before the pain of all those who feel the death of President Allende deeply, and defers a pronouncement on the circumstances in which it occurred and on its significance to Chilean society itself and to history.