Chile’s Augusto Pinochet Dies at 91
Chile’s former fierce anti-communist dictator Augusto Pinochet died Sunday from heart complications. He passed away without having been convicted for bloody crimes of his regime. However, his rule is still subject to controversy.
Gen Pinochet died at the Santiago Military hospital. His poor health had been rumored for a while. Pinochet made his last public appearance on November 25 in a wheelchair when he turned 91. The general’s statement, read by his wife, made the rumors more grounded. For the first time ever, he accepted responsibility for crimes of his ruled and admitted that he had used dictator methods. Seizing power in a coup in 1973 and ruling the country for 17 years, Pinochet had persistently denied his guilt. The confession words were taken as a sign of an approaching demise.
The former dictator suffered a heart attack on Sunday and was taken to the Military hospital to undergo heart surgery. Augusto Pinochet’s family insisted that he receive the last rites from a Catholic priest. Afterwards court released the general from his house arrest which had been imposed two days after his 91st birthday on charges of plotting murders of Salvador Allende. The ex-dictator died without having been sentenced.
His ruling in Chile is a subject of controversy. Russia has long been interested in Chile’s economic model created under Pinochet. Pinochet’s supporters argue that he “saved the nation” and showed ways to modernize society under authoritarian policy. Not everyone is of this opinion, though. The country’s incumbent president Michelle Bachelet thinks otherwise. Osvaldo Puccio, head of the staff of Bachelet’s predecessor Ricardo Lagos, told Kommersant that Chile “had to bear the brunt of Pinochet’s military rule for the last 15 years.” “One may say that Pinochet carried out some economic reforms, and the country saw a certain economic growth under his rule, but a dear price was paid for it,” Puccio said. “3,000 people died and went missing during the dictatorship. 30,000 were tortured. One million Chileans, or every 15th Chilean, have emigrated. Pinochet annihilated Chile’s middle class, throwing half of the country into poverty. He has left the country with deep moral and social wounds.”
Gennady Sysoev and Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 11, 2006
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