As he lay in a London hospital bed recovering from back surgery, Chilean General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte received visitors; not candy-stripers or well-wishers, but British police officers carrying a Spanish warrant for his immediate arrest. The 83 year-old Pinochet was arrested on October 16th of 1998 to stand trial for "crimes against humanity" in Spain. The warrant had been issued by the Spanish judge Balthasar Garzón, who had long pursued human rights violators like Pinochet. The news spread rapidly to the U.S. and to Latin America, and public opinion was starkly divided.

Pinochet's arrest stems from the brutal military dictatorship that destroyed thousands of lives from 1973 to 1990. Through the active involvement and funding of the Nixon Administration and the CIA, General Pinochet led a military coup that overthrew the freely elected government of Salvador Allende Gossens. Allende had been elected in 1970, the first freely elected Marxist president. After three years of economic strangulation and political alienation by the U.S. government, the Nixon administration coordinated a military overthrow of the government in September of 1973 which lead to the death of Allende and the dictatorship of Pinochet.

Over the next seventeen years, Pinochet used the army, the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard), and the DINA (Chilean Secret police), to terrorize, torture and murder thousands of Chileans. Pinochet destroyed all opposition to his authority and coordinated the mass "disappearance" of men, women and children. Torture and detention centers were set up throughout Chile. Political prisoners were subjected to intense beatings, electric shocks to the genitals, and even animal rape. Meanwhile, the foreign business interests that had been ejected by the Allende government returned and profited from the new productivity of the strict regime. A plebiscite in October of 1988 called for the removal of Pinochet from office. After almost two decades of oppression and torture, Pinochet was forced out by his people. Despite losing the "presidency," Pinochet continues to participate in Chilean politics as a Senator for life.

The recent events in London and Madrid regarding Pinochet's crimes indicate a new willingness of the international community to recognize and punish human rights abusers. Garzón contends that Spain can prosecute Pinochet because hundreds of Spanish citizens were murdered or disappeared by Pinochet's regime and through the coordinated efforts of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia under the guise of "Operation Condor." The arrest warrant was sent to Britain and carried out by the British police because of recent treaties through the European Community.

Pinochet and his supporters have claimed that the General has immunity from prosecution as a former head of state. A recent decision in the British courts has indicated that Pinochet is not immune from prosecution and can be extradited to Spain for trail. The unfortunate catch to the decision is that Pinochet can only be tried for crimes committed after 1988, the year that Britain signed an international treaty on human rights. Thus only the crimes committed in the last year of the Pinochet regime could be used against him, while the far more atrocious crimes committed in the 1970's and early 1980's would be ignored. Garzón hopes that the case of a seventeen year-old girl that was raped and murdered by the military in 1988 will be effective in convicting the general.

So now the dictator must wait, under house arrest in Britain. He grows more and more enfeebled as has publicly stated that he has resigned himself to dying in custody. In his home country, mass rallies both denouncing and supporting the Garzón initiative have demonstrated the continued rift of rich and poor in Chile. The affluent who prospered under Pinochet's regime seek his immunity and return to Chile. The poor and his political opponents applaud the efforts of Spain to punish the general when Chile would not.

Meanwhile, many other nations like France and Canada are issuing similar warrants for Pinochet's arrest in their countries, signifying an international call for justice. Currently, the U.S. has done little more than to sit by silently, cognizant of its complicity in Pinochet's atrocities and afraid of damaging prosperous trade relations with Chile.

So Pinochet waits--and the world watches. The bold tyrant in black sunglasses and adorned in pressed white naval regalia is now an old white haired man in a business suit - a lion in winter.

"Remember Chile," http://www.remember-chile.org.

LaSPAM Main | LaSPAM Table of Contents | La Salle University