Posted on 08/27/2004 1:45:12 PM PDT by JesseHousman
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet can be prosecuted for rights abuses, and documents suggest that Henry Kissinger may have known of Pinochet's violations.
SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile's Supreme Court ruled 9-8 on Thursday that Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the country's former dictator, isn't immune from prosecution for his alleged role in mass murders carried out by his and other right-wing South American dictatorships that cooperated in the 1970s.
That doesn't mean the ailing 88-year-old former strongman will face trial, although his detractors responded with jubilation. The same court stripped Pinochet of immunity in 2000, but after a long legal battle, he was declared unfit for trial in 2002 because he suffered from mild dementia.
That case involved the so-called Caravan of Death, in which Pinochet's soldiers traveled Chile in helicopters to carry out summary trials and executions of opponents in the weeks after Pinochet seized power on Sept. 11, 1973.
The current case involves Pinochet's participation in Operation Condor, an effort by the region's right-wing strongmen to identify, track and kill leftists in six participating countries: Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.
Chile's court action came as the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington prepared to post a declassified U.S. document on its website that archive analysts say shows that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger knew about Operation Condor and countenanced attacks on leftists. The document will be posted today on www.nsarchive.org.
''If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. But you must get back quickly to normal procedures,'' Kissinger tells then-Argentine Foreign Minister Adm. César Augusto Guzzetti after hearing Guzzetti's complaints about Chilean ''leftist exiles'' surging into Argentina after Pinochet's coup.
The Argentine junta that Guzzetti served eradicated between 10,000 and 30,000 opponents after it took power on March 24, 1976, less than three months before Kissinger's meeting with Guzzetti.
The exchange is part of a declassified U.S. record of the meeting, obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act. The archive, a left-of-center independent institute whose analysts are among the sharpest critics of Kissinger and the military rulers of Latin America in his day, relies heavily on declassified government documents for its analyses of U.S. foreign policy.
Kissinger was unavailable for comment, an aide in his New York office said. However, William D. Rogers, a top diplomat who served under Kissinger and attended the 1976 meeting of Kissinger and Guzzetti, dismissed the archive's claim as ``poppycock.''
''The idea that we were willing to tolerate human rights violations is crazy,'' said Rogers.
Many historians think Pinochet and Argentina's military junta worked together to forge Operation Condor.
During the Chilean dictator's 17-year rule, nearly 3,200 of his regime's foes were killed or disappeared, according to government estimates.
Thursday's court ruling in Santiago puts Juan Guzmán Tapia, the investigating judge in both Pinochet cases, back in the spotlight.
Several judges in the majority that voided Pinochet's immunity urged Guzman to move quickly to give Pinochet a battery of mental tests and advance to trial.
Foes of the ex-dictator were overjoyed at the ruling.
''Pinochet will be punished,'' vowed Gladys Marín, who brought the first lawsuits against Pinochet alleging Operation Condor.
Isabel Allende, a Chilean congresswoman and daughter of socialist President Salvador Allende, whom Pinochet overthrew, said: ``In Chile, it was a terrible frustration and humiliation to feel that not all citizens are equal under the law.''
Guillermo Garín, spokesman for the Pinochet family, called the decision one of ``judicial inconsequence.''
Even if convicted, under Chilean law, Pinochet is too old to be imprisoned and would be sentenced to house arrest.
The God-less communists remaining in Chile should remind us of those that returned to Spain after the death of Francisco Franco.
Chile owes everything it is today to Pinochet and if it wasn't for him communism would be an even greater threat with power consolidation by the evil fascist states of Venezuela and Cuba.
Thanks to Jimmie Karter who certified Chavez's stolen election, a haven for muslim killers wishing to springboard to the USA has been enlarged.
Where is the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine when its been sorely needed for decades?
...and now they take their revenge through the courts' system that Pinochet reinstituted.
South and Central America could use 10-12 Pinochet's.
I've never considered myself very knowledgable about Penochet, but something does come to mind as these 'startling new facts' are aired. Like President Jimmy Carter, the press is very selective in who it targets for damnation.
For Nixon they moved heaven and earth. For Clinton they moved from the desk to the sofa. Penochet was very bad, but Daniel Ortega was a saint.
Nicaraguan government communists figthing anti-communitst insurgants was very good. El Salvadorian government fighting communist insurgents was very bad.
Our long term allie the Shah of Iran was 'a very bad man', but Fidel Castro, now there was a saint.
Carter betrayed the Shah and ushered in Ayatollah Komainie. Carter did this because the Shah 'was evil'. I guess the Moslem opression that followed wasn't as evil to Carter. Remember Vietnam? Remember Cambodia?
You see the leftists don't mind communists and dicatators killing millions. Old Joe Kennedy plead Hitler's case until he got his ass kicked out of Britain, when he was serving as our ambassador there. It's when our somewhat problematic allies kill a few measily thousands that they go rabid and they have to fix things.
Strangely, even though those fixes kill hundreds of thousands or millions, the left never looks back. They still think they have to answers to world peace.
Great response!
Thank you. It's tough knocking out a decent response on a few minutes break at work. LOL
DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!
Just yesterday, I reaffirmed on this website my support for Gen. Pinochet. He is my idol, my political hero-- a man who staedily and patriotically stood up against the tyranny of the Castro-styled Allende, saved his nation from a communist takeover, created (through the policies of the brillaint Milton Friedman) the most vibrant, open and productive economy in Latin America, and provided a strong alliance with the U.S. for 17 years.
Simply put, Pinochet is the greatest leader in Latin American history. To see these communist sons of bitches in Chile's court abuse their power --that PINOCHET'S RULE MADE POSSIBLE in the first place-- to tarnish and attack this great man makes me want to puke.
May these 9 Marxist, Maoist, Shining Path-adoring slimeballs on the court burn in hell for this.
VIVA PINOCHET!!!
You and I could be great friends.
To some extent Alberto Fujimori would be on the list of all-time greats, but the greatest was Francisco Franco!
No way man. Franco I would wager (after all, Franco and Pinochet were a lot alike if you think about it), but You're an Alberto Fujimori fan too? Awesome!
The day Peru forced Fujimori into exile was the day that Peru gave it's future over to terror. It's no coincidence the Shining Path have only recently resumed their bloody attacks on innocent civilians in the name of their "Maoist" revolution.
Peru will come to regret the day they spit on the Fujimori, one of the most unwavering, efficient, fair, capitalist and patriotic of all Latin American leaders.
I like your style, Jesse. I really do.
Bump
I did a paper on Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte in my Latin American history class. I believe he has either French or Italian ancestry besides Spanish. He did good for Chile despite his bruatality. Chile is the freest Latin American nation and one of the most in the world. South Korea also had a similar leader named Park Chung-hee. He ruled from 1961 to 1979, when he was assassinated by KCIA agents. South Korea was poor and war torn from World War II and Korean War. Park Chung-hee made South Korea an economic success story, which is why South Korea was dubbed Asian Tiger or something like that. South Korea's economic growth was in the double digits. Pinochet is very polarizing like Salvador Allende. Allende was a bad man. He ignored the Constitution and Chile experienced famine and instability. The truth is Chileans wanted law and order and Allende out. Allende won by a plurality in a razor thin margin in 1970. I've seen Chileans praising Pinochet. In fact, I have been to Amazon and they have books on Pinochet and some Chileans gave a really scathing review.
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