Word: pinochets
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...this town because people think you run this town," Gabriel Byrne tells Albert Finney's gang-boss character in "Miller's Crossing." The same was true, in the end, for Chile's General Augusto Pinochet. While the mass torture and killing of opponents that accompanied his seizure of power in the coup of 1973 was very real, the immunity from prosecution he'd awarded himself upon stepping down in 1990 was sustained only by an illusion of power. And that illusion was finally shattered Tuesday when Chile's Supreme Court stripped the former dictator of his immunity, opening...
...Chilean court's decision may be the ultimate vindication of Judge Balthazar Garzon, the Spanish activist prosecutor who authored Pinochet's arrest pending extradition in Britain two years ago. Until then, putting Pinochet on trial in Chile had seemed unthinkable, with the military having only allowed a return to civilian rule in exchange for immunity. But the general's detention in Britain for 18 months, followed by the election of center-left prime minister Ricardo Lagos, who had once been a political prisoner under Pinochet, emboldened his accusers. Indeed, the general eluded a Spanish courtroom only by convincing a panel...
...spell was broken two years ago in London, when British police arrested Pinochet for extradition to Spain on charges of kidnapping and torture. Although Britain eventually sent the Chilean strongman home on grounds of ill health, his sojourn there emboldened Chilean human rights advocates to press for Pinochet to be tried at home. Although the high court hasn't yet publicized its ruling, lawyers for both sides told reporters Wednesday it had gone against Pinochet. The general's problem is that, stripped of his power, he's no longer of much importance to any sector of Chilean society, and prosecuting...
...Suharto's brutal 32-year reign ended two years ago, when the army that had kept him in power ordered him to step down in the face of economic collapse and social tumult. But the military also facilitated Suharto's departure by guaranteeing him immunity from prosecution. But like Pinochet, Suharto may be a victim of the shifting balance of power, although the balance hasn't shifted quite as far in Indonesia, which is still beset by ethnic violence and fierce infighting among both the political and military elites - and that's worked to Suharto's advantage. Even if convicted...
...message of Pinochet and Suharto's plight is plain to see for all who rule by force: As long as you're holding the guns, people will cut you a deal, but if you've committed crimes against humanity, don't expect them to keep their end of the bargain once you've lost your power. In other words, tyrants planning on retirement are well advised to take some acting classes and work on doing a believable senile dementia...