Posted on 12/10/2006 4:52:45 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SANTIAGO, Chile - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who terrorized his opponents for 17 years after taking power in a bloody coup, died Sunday, putting an end to a decade of intensifying efforts to bring him to trial for human rights abuses blamed on his regime. He was 91.
Violent clashes broke out between police and Pinochet opponents who threw rocks at cars and set up fire barricades on the city's main avenue. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Authorities said there were a number of arrests, but no immediate reports of injuries.
Hundreds of Pinochet supporters gathered outside the hospital, weeping and trading insults with people in passing cars. Some shouted "Long Live Pinochet!" and sang Chile's national anthem.
Many Chileans saw Pinochet's death as reason for celebration. Hundreds of cheering, flag-waving people crowded a major plaza in the capital, drinking champagne and tossing confetti.
Supporters saw Pinochet as a Cold War hero for overthrowing democratically elected President Salvador Allende at a time when the U.S. was working to destabilize his Marxist government and keep Chile from exporting communism in Latin America.
But the world soon reacted in horror as Santiago's main soccer stadium filled with political prisoners to be tortured, shot, disappeared or forced into exile.
Pinochet's dictatorship laid the groundwork for South America's most stable economy, but his crackdown on dissent left a lasting legacy: His name has become a byword for the state terror, in many cases secretly supported by the United States, that retarded democratic change across the hemisphere.
Pinochet died with his family at his side at the Santiago Military Hospital on Sunday, a week after suffering a heart attack.
"This criminal has departed without ever being sentenced for all the acts he was responsible for during his dictatorship," lamented Hugo Gutierrez, a human rights lawyer involved in several lawsuits against Pinochet.
"Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile represented one of most difficult periods in that nation's history," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. "Our thoughts today are with the victims of his reign and their families."
Chile's government says at least 3,197 people were killed for political reasons during Pinochet's rule, but courts allowed the aging general to escape hundreds of criminal complaints as his health declined.
The mustachioed Pinochet left no doubt about who was in charge after the Sept. 11, 1973 coup, when warplanes bombed the presidential palace and Allende committed suicide with a submachine gun Fidel Castro had given him.
"Not a leaf moves in this country if I'm not moving it," Pinochet said.
But he refused for years to take responsibility his regime's abuses, blaming subordinates for killings or tortures.
Only on his 91st birthday last month did he take "full political responsibility for everything that happened" during his long rule. But the statement made no reference to the rights abuses, and said he had to act to prevent Chile's economic and political disintegration.
Born Nov. 25, 1915, the son of a customs official in the port of Valparaiso, Pinochet was appointed army commander just 19 days before the coup by Allende, who mistakenly thought Pinochet would defend constitutional rule.
The CIA had worked for months to destabilize the Allende government, including financing a truckers strike that paralyzed the delivery of goods across Chile, but Washington denied having anything to do with the coup itself.
Soon after Pinochet's seizure of power, soldiers carried out mass arrests of leftists. Tanks rumbled through the streets of the capital, and many detainees were herded into the National Stadium, which became a torture and detention center. Other leftists were rounded up by death squads, and the "Caravan of Death" to Chile's forbidding Atacama desert left victims buried in unmarked mass graves.
Pinochet disbanded Congress, banned political activity and crushed dissent. In addition to the dead, more than 1,000 victims remain unaccounted for. Thousands more were arrested, tortured and forced into exile.
Pinochet defended his authoritarian rule as a crusade to build a society free of communism. He even claimed partial credit for the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
"I see myself as a good angel," he told a Miami Spanish-language television station in 2004.
He showed no mercy to his perceived enemies. When investigators uncovered coffins that had been stuffed with two bodies each in the aftermath of the coup, he dismissed it as a "a good cemetery space-saving measure."
Pinochet seized power at a time when Chile's economy was in near ruins, partly due to the CIA's covert destabilization efforts and partly to Allende's mismanagement.
He launched a radical free-market program that at first triggered a financial collapse and unprecedented joblessness. But it laid the basis for South America's healthiest economy, which has grown by 5 percent to 7 percent a year since 1984.
Pinochet lost an October 1988 referendum to extend his rule and was forced to call an election. He lost to Patricio Alywin, whose center-left coalition has ruled Chile since 1990.
Pinochet avoided prosecution for years after his presidency. He remained army commander for eight more years and then was a senator-for-life, a position guaranteed under the constitution his regime wrote.
It took a Spanish judge to remove Pinochet's cloak of invincibility, and inspire Chileans to make their own efforts to hold him to account. He was in London for back surgery in 1998 when the judge asked Britain to extradite him to Spain for human rights violations. British authorities ruled he was too ill to be tried, and sent him back to Chile, where ghosts of the past were coming forward.
More than 200 criminal complaints were filed against him and he was under house arrest at the time of his death, but courts repeatedly ruled he could not face trial because of poor physical and mental health.
Even longstanding Pinochet allies abandoned him in 2004, when a U.S. Senate investigative committee found Pinochet kept multimillion-dollar secret accounts at the Riggs Bank in Washington. Investigators said he had up to $17 million in foreign accounts, and owed $9.8 million in back taxes. He, his wife and several of his children were indicted on tax evasion charges.
During his final years, Pinochet lived in seclusion at heavily guarded Santiago mansion and his countryside residence.
He is survived by his wife, Lucia, two sons and three daughters.
The army said Pinochet will lay in state Monday and Tuesday at the Military Academy in Santiago. The government of President Michelle Bachelet — whose father died in Pinochet's prisons — said he would not receive the state funeral usually due former presidents.
His body was to be cremated. Pinochet's son Marco Antonio said his father feared a tomb would be desecrated by his enemies.
Opponents of former Gen. Augusto Pinochet stand next to burning barricades in downtown Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. Pinochet, who ruled Chile after a military coup from 1973 to 1990, died Sunday from heart complications. He was 91. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)
Gee ...
Those are the types of scumbags we are supposed to feel sorry for???
A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a rally for Pinochet's death in downtown Santiago December 10, 2006. Ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973-1990 and spent his old age fighting human rights, fraud and corruption charges, died on Sunday, a week after suffering a heart attack, a military doctor said. REUTERS/Cristobal Saavedra (CHILE)
Careful , Boys!
Meanwhile in Cuba ... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1751394/posts
Opponents of former Gen. Augusto Pinochet set up a barricade in downtown Santiago, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. Pinochet, who ruled Chile after a military coup from 1973 to 1990, died Sunday from heart complications. He was 91. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)
Damn I thought 1992 LA Riots were back they are worst in Chile
Smearing an honest democracy loving man. /sarcasm
Chilean supporter of former Gen. Augusto Pinochet reacts after the announcement of Pinochet's death outside the Santiago Military Hospital, Sunday Dec. 10, 2006. Pinochet, who ruled Chile after a military coup from 1973 to 1990, died Sunday from heart complications. He was 91. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez)
Supporters of former Gen. Augusto Pinochet react after the announcement of Pinochet's death outside the Military School in Santiago, Chile,Sunday Dec. 10, 2006. Pinochet, who ruled Chile after a military coup from 1973 to 1990, died Sunday from heart complications. He was 91. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez)
It always comes to this when the left gets too much power.
I wonder if the MSM, after Castro dies, will begin its eulogy/story ....."After almost a half century of terrorizing his dictatorship's political opponents and enslaving Cuba's people, Fidel Castro........"
Somehow I doubt it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
If punks like this ever gained power, they would have executed many more than Pinochet ever could have dreamed of.
A demonstrator celebrates the death of
former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
in downtown Madrid December 10, 2006.
(Susana Vera/Reuters)
The pic above doesn't say if she was for him or against him.. hmmm?
Why would someone drink champagne if someone they cared about died?
Set up a barricade? Looks more like they're looting.
For the life of me, I'll never understand why any news, good or bad, brings about things like this.
Pinochet prevented Chile from becoming another Cuba.
Exactly.
I think your doubt is well-founded.
good question.
To celebrate their life and rejoice in their passing, out of respect and not rancor. or maybe it's a wake.
Amen.
To toast them into the afterlife.
To true, the entire article was basically an indictment of both Pinochet and the US.
But this was a gem of sorts:
He showed no mercy to his perceived enemies. When investigators uncovered coffins that had been stuffed with two bodies each in the aftermath of the coup, he dismissed it as a "a good cemetery space-saving measure."
Allende may have been a chavez before there was a Chavez.
...and those clashes are just the ones on FR by the ignoramus pro-Allende brigades.
BUMP!
How odd that his supporters are peaceful and his detractors are rioting.
Pinochet was OK. He saved his country, at least for while. Like many heroes, he was inadequately appreciated. If he had been like the "heroes" of the left, he would have surpressed his opponents harshly, and thereby would have gained the respect of people like Jimmy Carter (the admirer of Castro, Chavez, and -- for all we know -- Mugabe).
The persecution of Pinochet shows the nature of the communistis and the hypocritical liberals (pardon the redunt expression). He had courage, though. I forgive him for being slightly rough on some opponents, most of whom received less than they would have dealt out to others, had they had the chance.
Where can I get a nice picture of Gen. Pinochet to hang on the heroes' wall of my office?
May he rest in peace.
Pinochet: better than the alternative--not that that's saying much. The trick is to not let your country get the point where it's a choice between a Pinochet or an Allende.
By the standards of 20th century dictators, 3,197 deaths wouldn't even put Pinochet in the Top 50. The only people he was "terrorizing" were terrorists, the same murdering Commies who were taking over governments all over Latin America, and much of the rest of the world, at that time.
And they weren't voluntarily turning over prosperous economies to the democratic process the way Pinochet did.
I feel about as sorry for them as I do for the Al Qaeda bums we are killing now. I'm glad these bloodthirsty leftists will never get a chance to stage any show trial of Pinochet. Apparently, he didn't kill enough of them.
Well I got Fidal for next year I think Fidal castro going be number one pick on Dead pool for 2007 Norm count on it mark it that Troy Smith got Heisman winner choice and get drafted maybe Oakland raiders LOL!
Fidal going died
I knew it I knew it
he is backkkk LOL!
Hey Monk what upzz I knew he was show up
People who show up at riots wearing masks should be shot on the spot.
Or as the liberal dweeb who wrote the article euphemized it,
"[Pinochet] retarded democratic change across the hemisphere."
Hey why they carry me off Monk? ROFL
LOL. Glad you can translate the code, Yardstick!
Chuck Norris for President of Chile !
The Case of Pinochet
by Jeffrey Hart
THE DARTMOUTH REVIEW
1/29/2001
Though Augusto Pinochet, with the armed forces behind him, could have held on to power in Chile, he made a deal to bring about a peaceful transition to civilian rule. In return for resigning as head of state, he would not be prosecuted for alleged crimes during and after the coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende and, in addition, he would have a Senate seat for life.
This could not affect the charges brought against him by a Spanish judge in a British court, which led to a period of house arrest in England; but it now seems that the Chilean justice system itself is ignoring the original agreement altogether and embroiling him in a variety of charges, notably "kidnapping," that is, the abduction and disappearance of many people during the coup.
It looks as if those who hate Pinochet will stop at nothing to harass him. They speak of "justice," of course, but apparently care little for the agreement with Pinochet that led to the return of civilian democratic rule. I think it is too often characteristic of the left that some notion of "justice"--usually loosely defined--cancels out all considerations of process and prior agreements. Thus Jesse Jackson threatens to "take to the streets" to protest the injustices of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, saying that George W. Bush is an "illegitimate" president. For Jackson, "justice" means the election of his man, Al Gore.
Surprisingly few voices have been raised to say a good word for the octogenarian and now ill Pinochet. Margaret Thatcher is the only one who comes to mind as defending him, though I imagine Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman would agree with her. It was Friedman's graduate students from the University of Chicago, after all, who reformed and reinvented the Chilean economy while Pinochet was in power--and, not incidentally, gave that country a Social Security system superior to anything now suggested by the American leadership.
As it happens, I paid pretty close attention to developments in Chile during the Allende regime and after his fall, and I spent an interesting couple of weeks in Chile a year or so after the military coup. I concluded then and continue to believe that Pinochet deserves the thanks of his country. His coup and authoritarian regime laid the basis for Chile's current prosperity and democratic stability.
Of course, he overthrew the "democratically elected" Allende. But Allende won power in a three-way race in which the votes for his opponents were split. A minority president, he sought the rapid "Castroization" of the country in the teeth of massive strikes by truckers who tied up transportation and by thousands of women who descended on Santiago, Chile, banging on pots and pans for hours in protest of what he was doing to the economy. He was also muzzling the opposition press through his control of the printers' union and unconstitutionally restricting travel within Chile by its own citizens. Not long before the coup, the Chilean Parliament came within a few votes of impeaching him. The coup occurred when he tried to put pro-Allende officers in key positions in the military.
Allende, a revolutionary throughout his adult life, was a leader of the Chilean Socialist Party. Despite its title, that party was to the left of the regular Communist Party. Its goals were no different, but it was more audacious. In its publications, the regular Communist Party warned Allende that he lacked a "revolutionary situation" in Chile. In communist jargon, that meant he lacked the support or at least neutrality of the police and the armed forces. Allende believed in the Castro model, that you make a revolution by going ahead and doing it. You "create facts."
The regular communists were right. The air force shot a couple-dozen rockets into the presidential palace, destroying it. Then the troops stormed it and cornered Allende in his office. He put a machine gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The gun was an engraved gift from Fidel Castro. His wife and daughter fled to Cuba. The daughter married the head of the Cuban KGB. Just democrats, you understand.
I was able to make appointments with government, media and opposition figures, and even had a couple of hours with Pinochet himself in his office atop a new skyscraper called the Diego Portales, which was used as his headquarters while the palace was being rebuilt.
I had a luncheon interview with the editors of the daily El Mercurio, which had the format and editorial policy resembling our Wall Street Journal. Allende had tried to close it down. It supported the Pinochet government. I also interviewed the editors of a weekly that looked exactly like our Time magazine. It was democratic-socialist in the Western European way and sharply critical of Pinochet. It published unhindered.
About the coup itself, I have seen no higher estimate of those killed than 3,000. In view of the fact that this was, in essence, a civil war, and that the Communist Party and its Allende socialist allies were, per capita, the largest revolutionary grouping in Latin America, I would say that 3,000 casualties is remarkably light.
Pinochet saw it as his job to maintain order while his economists revamped the economy. I'd say that he maintained order. I had rented a tiny Fiat, and when I tried to enter a "parking garage" near the Diego Portales, a solider waved a machine gun and yelled, "No, no se–or!" The parking garage was full of tanks. There would be no riots. The lobby of the Diego Portales was full of rather runty little soldiers who all looked about 16 years old, all with machine guns. I had hoped no car would backfire outside.
Up in his rooftop office, wearing a blue suit and white socks, Pinochet struck me as a typical barracks solider. He had little concern about the nuances of politics. He wanted to "improve his image." He did not laugh when I advised that he proclaim himself a socialist, praise Willy Brandt, but change none of his policies.
Pinochet kept order. The real work was done by a team of young economists from the University of Chicago. It was exciting to sit with the economists behind the large windows of the best club in Santiago, gaze at the sunset on the snowy Andes behind the city, smoke cigars and drink pisco sours (a pleasant sort of daiquiri), while the economists conversationally dismembered the inefficient, politicized, and subsidized industries, restructured the economy and modernized Chile.
These young men were the genuine revolutionaries, and they had a wonderful élan.
It might be regrettable, but the Romans knew that a "dictator" sometimes is indispensable when things are spinning out of hand. Indeed, the Romans invented the word dictator. Pinochet did what had to be done when his country required it. The left and the liberals (is that a redundancy?) will never forgive him.
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