A Dictator Demoted to a General
// Augusto Pinochet to Receive Only Military Honors at His Funeral
A funeral will be held today in Santiago for General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years after overthrowing the country's elected government in a military coup. General Pinochet's death saddened nearly everyone who had ever crossed paths with him: some expressed their condolences yesterday to his family, while others mourned the fact that they will now never see the ex-dictator behind bars.
"Luis Corvalan is Happy"
"We are all very satisfied. Only one thing saddens us: that he died without being convicted. That man deserved to be put on trial, and it is too bad, of course, that he never answered for his crimes." The voice of Lily Castillo de Corvalan was joyful even as she apologized that her husband, the legendary Luis Corvalan, could not speak with Kommersant's correspondent. The 90-year-old former leader of the Chilean Communist party had left several days earlier for a vacation in the south of the country, and he has no mobile telephone.
The following conversation was had with his wife by telephone:
"Luis Corvalan said that his dream was to outlive Pinochet. How did he react to the news of his enemy's death?"
"Luis Corvalan is happy. But are you calling directly from Moscow? Luis will be upset when he hears that he could have spoken with you."
"Yes, directly, from Moscow. Do you think that Pinochet's popularity may increase after his death?"
"How is he popular? As a murderer? I don't think that a murderer could have many followers."
"But what do you think about the clashes that have begun in Santiago and the actions of Pinochet's supporters?"
"I am certain that everything will be fine. The army is calm, and there will be no revolts. As a whole, the people are very content," she said.
Thousands of Chileans have met the death of Augusto Pinochet with similar optimism. The inhabitants of Santiago slept outside on the streets, opened bottles of champagne, and scattered confetti. Many of General Pinochet's opponents gathered to celebrate ecstatically on the city's main square. On the other hand, however, mourners chanting "Long live Pinochet!" surrounded the hospital where the ex-dictator died.
Both crowds were overcome with emotion. The police used water cannon and tear gas to break up skirmishes between supporters and opponents of the deceased general, and during the clashes around a hundred people were arrested and more than 40 policemen were wounded.
Within several hours of the announcement of Pinochet's death, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet convened a session of the government. As everyone knows, her father died in prison in 1975, a victim of Augusto Pinochet's military junta, and a young Ms. Bachelet and her mother spent a year behind bars before friends of the family helped them flee the country. Though she has grounds for desiring personal revenge against the deceased dictator, Ms. Bachelet did not make any kind of official announcement of his death, preferring to state through her press secretary that Augusto Pinochet will not receive a state funeral and that no period of mourning will be declared. Nevertheless, the government has decided that the deceased dictator will receive full military honors at his funeral.
Yesterday the coffin containing the general's body was displayed in the Military Academy in Santiago. The flags at all military institutions were flown at half mast.
Margaret Thatcher is "Deeply Saddened"
Many of yesterday's commentaries on the death of Augusto Pinochet noted that the outrages committed during the period of his dictatorship remained unpunished and that he himself was never brought to trial. "The death of the former dictator of Chile, who was never convicted [of human rights abuses], demonstrates that the international court of human rights should move more quickly. It is disappointing when such people die and thus escape trial," said Spanish judge Balthazar Garzon, pointing out that former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic also died without being convicted of any crime.
It was Balthazar Garzon who exerted the most energy to put Augusto Pinochet behind bars. Judge Garzon issued the international search and arrest for the Chilean general, accusing him of the murder of Spanish citizens in Chile during the military junta's rule, that lead to the general's detention by British police in 1998 when he went to London for surgery. Augusto Pinochet then spent almost 16 months under arrest in London and only narrowly escaped extradition to Spain. The former Chilean leader's savior from criminal prosecution was former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who campaigned for permission for General Pinochet to return home. He returned to Chile on March 2, 2000. The British government's behavior on that occasion riled not only Spain but also many in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany.
Nor did Mrs. Thatcher change her tune after the ex-dictator's death. Yesterday she released a statement through her press secretary saying that she was "greatly saddened by the death of Augusto Pinochet" and sending her "deepest sympathies to the Chilean general's widow and other members of his family." Speaker of the British House of Commons Jack Straw, another direct participant in the infamous release of the former Chilean leader – he was the British Home Secretary at the time – also released a statement yesterday. In his statement, Mr. Straw defended his participation in the "Pinochet affair" of six years ago by saying that he had no choice by to allow General Pinochet to return quietly to Santiago. "I appointed four outside medical experts who, I was told, were amongst the toughest and most experienced of forensic medical experts in the country. They presented me with clear and unanimous conclusions that Pinochet would be unfit to stand trial in the UK. In those circumstances I had no option but to release him," said Mr. Straw.
In Paris, from where the French government once sought Augusto Pinochet's extradition from London in order to turn him over to the court of human rights, the general's death was met with disappointment. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin expressed his regret that the former Chilean dictator did not face trail before he died. "We can only regret the absence of a trial verdict that would have given the Pinochet regime's victims their due," said Mr. de Villepin on the radio station France Inter, adding that the death of General Pinochet "has turned over a tragic page in the history of Chile."
The most unexpected statement came from Washington, whose government not only helped Augusto Pinochet seize power by overthrowing Chile's Marxist government but also sponsored the general's authoritarian regime for many years. "The dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet was one of the most difficult moments in Chile's history. Today our thoughts are with the victims of the Pinochet dictatorship and with their relatives," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
"Pinochet Brought Stability to the Country"
The Russian authorities, unlike their American or British counterparts, had no official reaction to the death of Augusto Pinochet. Nevertheless, the deceased general had a long and complex relationship with Moscow. During the Soviet era, he was considered to be one of progressive humanity's greatest enemies, and his name was practically a vulgar epithet. In the early 1990s, however, the Chilean dictator, who had already been deposed by that time, began to garner a significant number of followers in Moscow. Like those of Augusto Pinochet before him, many of Yegor Gaidar's free-market economic reforms were based on the ideas of the American economist Milton Friedman. During the early years of Vladimir Putin's tenure in the Kremlin, many observers often said that the new Russian president should make use of the Chilean dictator's experience. "Pinochet brought stability to the country. He had very concrete ideas," said Alfa Bank head Petr Aven. "That definitiveness of his is lacking in Russia today." Andrei Illarionov, a former economic advisor to the Russian president, even invited the authors of Pinochet's reforms, Jose Pinera and Arnold Harberger, to Moscow.
However, in recent years Kremlin insiders have grown wary of mentioning Pinochet's name in their public appearances. Instead, the former dictator's name has been taken up by the Russian government's most vehement critics: several months ago, the Washington Times, a conservative American newspaper, published an article that mercilessly criticized the Kremlin under the headline "Putin and Pinochet."
Mikhail Zygar and Vladimir Solovyov
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 12, 2006
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