Reply #3: The same man who said not a blade of grass dared grow without [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

his permission! (Nixon/Kissinger's gift to Chile, after Chileans actually VOTED for Salvador Allende as their President.)

People who steal power and run their countries in the way that Pinochet and his gang ran Chile, may no longer be granted sanctuary.

The victory of moderate socialist Ricardo Lagos in Chile's presidential election also increases the chances that Pinochet may yet be called to account for his crimes in a court of law. Lagos has promised that over 50 civil actions on behalf of the more than 3,000 victims will proceed unimpeded. Military files hitherto kept secret may be also opened. For the first time in Chile, Pinochet may be ordered to face official questioning about the killing, torture and repression that followed the assassination of the country's last socialist president, Salvador Allende, in a U.S.-backed coup.

For all its incongruities, the case has had a profound effect on international law. It establishes that even former heads of state do not enjoy impunity for crimes against humanity, and that they may be tried outside the country where the crimes were committed. It has also had a cleansing effect on Chile, which had been wallowing in the muck of cultural regression.
(snip/...)

http://www.marrder.com/htw/mar2000/editorial.htm

Though Pinochet murdered thousands and tortured even more, the cloak of terror with which he blanketed Chile muted any public recognition of the systematic abuse. Chile succumbed to a form of mass psychosis, a vehement collective denial of the most obvious sort of atrocities. Not until 1988, when Chile's media were opened by a Pinochet-sponsored plebiscite campaign, did a Chilean national TV audience hear a direct accusation of state torture--thanks to the courage of a beloved soccer star, Carlos Cazely. A few weeks later Pinochet lost his own plebiscite and two years after that had to leave office.

But the collective trauma, shame and lingering fears still kept much of Chilean society mute in recognizing and coming to terms with state terror and torture. The first prosecution of military officers would not come until the late 1990s. As late as 1998 Pinochet was being honored as an appointed Senator for Life. Not until a year later was he finally indicted by Chilean courts for his crimes; and then only after he had been held for 501 days in British custody.

Consider this staggering thought: Not until this past month did Chilean citizens have the opportunity to offer testimony on torture to a formal government commission. Three decades after their torment, more than 30,000 victims came forth.
(snip/...)

http://forums.soa.org/thread.jspa?threadID=1216&tstart=0



Pinochet time line:

9/11/73 The military coup in Chile. President Allende dies in the Moneda Palace. A State of Siege and 24-hour curfew proclaimed.

9/12/73 The commanding officers of the four armed forces (including the police) establish the Governing Military Junta. Pinochet is designated President of the Junta.

9/12/73 The National Stadium in Santiago is set up as a temporary prison, holding, according to Red Cross estimates, some 7,000 prisoners. Other concentration camps established at Pisagua, Chacabuco and Dawson Island.

9/14/73 The Junta dissolves the National Congress; world famous folk singer Victor Jara is tortured and shot to death by military guards in the Chile Stadium, Santiago.

9/18/73 Spanish priest Joan Alsina is arrested at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, tortured and shot. His body is found on the bank of the Mapocho River.

9/23/73 Soldiers raid the San Borja flats in Santiago and openly burn books in the street.

9/30/73 Allende loyalist and former Army Commander-in-Chief General Carlos Prats Gonzalez is killed in Buenos Aires, Argentina by a car bomb. His wife dies with him. In April 1998 Argentine courts held the Chilean secret police, DINA, responsible.
(snip/.............)

http://www.publica.com/chron.html