Barra in Valparaíso and with people who had begun their professional training in Pedagogy, emerging as assistant professors. Due to the request of its director and the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Education of the University of Chile, Mr. Eugenio Pererira Salas, Decree No. 9,118 of October 13, 1954 was issued, on the basis of which the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile in Valparaíso was created, which began to function as such the following year. This document was signed by the President of the Republic, Mr. Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, and his Minister of Education, Mr. Tobías Barros Ortiz. The Military Dictatorship (1973-1990) On September 11, 1973, a coup d'état took place, to which, according to various accounts, the University did not offer resistance, being invaded by military assault around 12:15 by the "Maipo" 2nd Infantry Regiment, despite the fact that at that time there were already few students at the University (alerted by the situation in the country). The intervention led to massive arrests of students, academics and officials. In 1981 —by decision of the military dictatorship— the Valparaíso branch of the University of Chile was separated from its main campus (located in the city of Santiago de Chile), creating the University of Valparaíso first. Two months later, in a second split, the Faculty of Education and Letters was transformed into the Instituto Profesional Academia Superior de Ciencias Pedagógicas de Valparaíso (Professional Institute of the Higher Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Valparaíso). This transition meant the significant loss of its infrastructure and the allocation of a reduced state contribution (0.6% of the total direct fiscal contribution), in addition to other problems arising from the policies and definitions implemented by the authoritarian regime that affected academics, officials and students. Law 18,434 of 4 September 1985, created the Playa Ancha University, which succeeded the Academia Superior de Ciencias Pedagógicas de Valparaíso and the University of Chile. The UPLA nowadays (1990-present) The return to democracy in 1990 brought with it the election of the first democratically elected rector by direct vote of academics, Professor Pedro Norman Cortés Larrieu being elected on that occasion. In 1991, its San Felipe campus began operating. On the other hand, there was an important development of the infrastructure: the Faculty of Arts is built in 1995, the adjacent lands to the central house are acquired, the FEUPLA is put in operation with Confech