The 1989 Chilean coup d'etat was a nonviolent military and political event in which the Chilean Army moved tanks and two divisions of infantry into the government district of Santiago on February 15, 1989, against the backdrop of massive popular protests and the rehabilitation of former exiles, with the fall of the ruling Communist Party clear at this point. With "the true believers" having been purged from army ranks in the preceding weeks and the coup's leadership largely conservatives who favored democratic institutions, the coup set the stage for the formal collapse of the Communist Party the next day.