Judges' ruling opens Chile's old wounds

[Matthew Townsend]

>Elizabeth Love in Santiago
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>THE British law lords' ruling that Augusto Pinochet is not immune from
prosecution sparked dancing in the streets, cheers and hugs among hundreds
of delighted Chileans last week, while the former dictator's supporters
angrily vowed to continue fighting to bring the ageing general home.
> President Eduardo Frei said the Chilean government would fight the Spanish
extradition request in court. Santiago's position is that a Chilean citizen
cannot be tried in a foreign court for acts committed in Chile, and that
Pinochet held diplomatic immunity. Its defence of the senator would
concentrate solely on legal issues and not address the charges filed against
him by a Spanish judge for the deaths, tortures and disappearances during
his 17-year rule.
>Meanwhile the spotlight has fallen on the British Home Secretary, Jack
Straw, who has until December 11 to decide whether to give his consent for
extradition proceedings to begin or to let Gen Pinochet return home.Chile's
foreign minister, Jose Miguel Insulza, was dispatched to London and Madrid
to argue his government's position. He is lobbying to secure Gen Pinochet's
return by claiming that he will face charges in Chile relating to torture,
deaths and disappearances. But it became clear this week that the 11
lawsuits against him are not being pursued with any vigour. Few commentators
in Chile believe they will result in him having to defend himself in court.
>Gen Pinochet's arrest has polarised Chilean society, which had prided
itself on a relatively smooth transition to democracy after a 1990 plebiscite.
>In a central Santiago plaza last week more than 500 students, human rights
activists and Pinochet opponents cheered and clapped when a youth appeared
dressed as a law lord, in a black sheet and a wig fashioned from rolls of
cotton.
>"You can't imagine the joy I am feeling right now, I've been waiting for
this for so many years," said Doribia Luengo, aged 71, whose son was
executed by the military regime in 1986. "I said to myself I just can't die
until I see that justice is done."
>Chileans clustered around televisions throughout the city tohear the
ruling, which was broadcast live. Many opened champagne and sang the
national anthem.
>Across town, glum-faced Pinochet supporters gathered at the Pinochet
Foundation, wiping away tears and angrily vowing to bring their hero home.
Pinochet's son Augusto told them: "Today there is no doubt that a sectarian
political group has triumphed, but this is just one battle and not the war."
>The supporters milled about wearing badges that said "Thank you General
Pinochet". They held portraits of the grey-haired general which bore one
word, "immortal".
>"I find the ruling unfair," said Andrea Etcheverry, a businesswoman. "I
regret the deaths that occurred early in the Pinochet government but he also
brought well-being, peace and progress to the nation."
>Behind the scenes the United States is quietly putting pressure on Britain
to allow Gen Pinochet to return to Chile. The US secretary of state,
Madeleine Albright, has raised the issue twice in recent weeks with the
Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, according to Foreign Office sources.
>Washington has kept a low profile since Gen Pinochet's arrest and
maintained publicly that it is a legal issue, but in private the US has
expressed concern that the affair is destabilising democracy in Chile. US
involvement has added to the Government's dilemma.
>Most experts believe the law lords' ruling that the former dictator does
not have immunity from prosecution leaves Mr Straw with little room for
manoeuvre. Theoretically, the Home Secretary can only let him go home on
humanitarian grounds.
>Although he is aged 83 and recently had an operation on his back, Gen
Pinochet is not thought to be unwell. Indeed Grovelands Priory hospital in
Southgate, north London, asked him to leave on Monday. The psychiatrist,
Geoffrey Lloyd, concluded that the general was not suffering from any
psychological problems. "He could have left weeks ago," said a source. He is
expected to move to Virginia Water, Surrey.
>Washington's concern cannot be easily dismissed. The US is sensitive to the
furore because it sees Latin America as its own backyard, and because of
lingering embarrassment over the alleged role of the CIA in the fall of
President Salvador Allende.
>In television interviews last Sunday, Mr Insulza pressed Britain to accept
a deal to let Gen Pinochet go. He said the former dictator might be forced
to disclose details of what had happened during the coup and its aftermath
if he went back to Chile. "The only real chance to have some kind of justice
and some kind of truth is in Chile, where the events happened," Chile's
foreign minister said.
>Chile does not want Gen Pinochet to face what it regards as a "show trial"
in Spain, where he would not be jailed even if he were convicted. Nobody
over the age of 75 is imprisoned in Spain.However, Chile's intentions are
viewed with scepticism. A letter from the all-party Parliamentary Human
Rights Group to Mr Straw urges him to resist the Chilean calls. The group,
the vast majority of its 150 members Labour MPs, hints at a strong Labour
rebellion if Gen Pinochet is sent back.
>The Guardian Weekly Volume 159 Issue 23 for week ending December 6, 1998,
Page 1
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Matthew Townsend
Barrister & Accredited Mediator
Lecturer in Environmental Law, Victoria University of Technology
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