Not just fade away
Augusto Pinochet: Tea with Mrs Thatcher
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1915-2006) led the military junta that overthrew the socialist government of President Salvador Allende of Chile on 11 September 1973. He headed Chile's military government from 1974 to 1990.
Pinochet finally stepped down as president in 1990, but he remained commander of the armed forces until March 1998. Even then he did not retire, instead taking up a seat in Parliament as a life senator, a position he had had the foresight to create for himself in the 1980 constitution.
However, events took an unscripted turn when, while recovering from back surgery in London in October 1998, he was arrested. A Spanish court had requested his extradition in connection with the death and torture of Spanish citizens in Chile under his rule. Lengthy legal and political contortions ensued. In the meantime, Pinochet moved into a house in Virginia Water, Surrey, where he was able to return the hospitality of Mrs Thatcher – she had already had him to tea.
Eventually the Law Lords ruled that Pinochet's status as a former head of state did not give him immunity from prosecution. But he was then found – rather conveniently, some thought – to be medically unfit to stand trial.
The entire saga was subsequently more or less re-enacted in Chile, with the court stripping Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution, instituting proceedings for his role in the murder of more than 70 political opponents and then, in July 2002, pronouncing him mentally unfit to stand trial. Pinochet resigned as a senator shortly afterwards.
However, in May 2004, in a decision that provoked surprised gasps and cheers, a Chilean court stripped Pinochet of his immunity to prosecution. Then, in August, the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling, so paving the way for the former dictator’s prosecution. The following month, he was interrogated by investigating judge Juan Guzman about the kidnapping and torture of some 19 Chileans during Operator Condor, a coordinated campaign of six Latin American regimes to kill left-wing opponents in the 1970s and 1980s.
The legal process began to speed up. In November, as Pinochet celebrated his 89th birthday, his assets were frozen. In December, he was: stripped of legal immunity in the case of the car-bomb murder of his predecessor as army chief, General Carlos Prats; placed under house arrest on human rights charges; and declared mentally fit to stand trial. By the end of January 2005, the Supreme Court had ruled that he should stand trial on murder and kidnapping charges. This was later reversed because of his ill health, but then his immunity against prosecution was again denied, this time in a human rights case to do with six dissidents who had ‘disappeared’ in late 1974.
Meanwhile, in October 2004, Chile’s tax service had filed a lawsuit against Pinochet on charges of fraud and tax evasion. A year later, he was given immunity against these charges, but this was rapidly followed by further charges of tax fraud, as well as charges against his children, wife, daughter-in-law and personal secretary.
On 30 October 2006, Pinochet was charged with 23 counts of torture and one of murder, for the torture and disappearance of opponents during his regime. A month later, on his 91st birthday, he issued a statement: 'I assume the political responsibility of all that has been done.'
However, 15 days later, on 10 December, he had a heart attack and died without ever facing trial. Massive celebratory street demonstrations erupted throughout Chile, and the grandson of one of his victims spat on his coffin during the public viewing at a military academy.
Find out more
Remember Chile
www.remember-chile.org.uk
A site put together by opponents of Pinochet at the time of his detention
in England.
Timeline: The Pinochet case
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/
1209914.stm
BBC News’ guide to the key landmarks in Pinochet’s legal battle.
Transnational Institute: Pinochet Watch
www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?&publish=Y&int02=&pub_niv=&workgroup=
&text02=&text03=&lang=en&text10=pin-watch_watch&menu=05g
Regular updates on the campaign to bring Pinochet and others to justice over the 1976 car-bomb assassination in Washington DC of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier, an outspoken critic of Pinochet, and the American fundraiser Ronni Moffitt.
