Santiago, Chile ? Bitter divisions over the memory of Gen. Augusto Pinochet surfaced Tuesday at his military funeral, as mourners booed the defense minister who denied the dictator a state funeral and cheered Pinochet’s grandson for justifying the bloody coup that ousted an elected president more than 30 years ago.

Across town, about 4,000 Pinochet opponents had a joyful celebration in tribute to Salvador Allende, the Marxist president whom Pinochet toppled in his 1973 coup, and carried images of relatives killed under the ensuing dictatorship.

Appealing for calm at the funeral, army chief Gen. Oscar Izurieta asked Chileans “to let history make a balanced and fair judgment.” But Army Capt. Augusto Pinochet proclaimed that his grandfather, who died Sunday of heart failure at age 91, “defeated Marxism, which attempted to impose its totalitarian model.”

Defense Minister Vivianne Blanlot, the government’s only representative at the funeral, was booed when she arrived.

“Go away, go away!” many mourners chanted. The government of President Michele Bachelet – a Socialist and former defense minister who herself suffered imprisonment and exile under Pinochet’s regime – denied him a state funeral because he took power by force and never was elected legitimately.

Boos also erupted at the mere mention of Patricio Aylwin, who was elected president after Pinochet lost a referendum that forced him step down in 1990.

Pinochet’s younger daughter, Jacqueline, eased tensions by shaking Blanlot’s hand at the moment of exchanging peace wishes in the Roman Catholic Mass.

After the funeral, Pinochet’s body was flown by helicopter to a cemetery in nearby Vina del Mar to be cremated. His family said Pinochet himself had made that decision to avoid the desecration of his tomb by enemies.