Word: pinochets
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General Augusto Pinochet's fate had once seemed to hold Chile on a knife edge; now it looks more like a non-event. The former dictator flew home Thursday after Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw ended extradition proceedings on torture charges and said Pinochet was free to leave. But the generalissimo will return to a country no longer in his thrall. When he left Chile in September 1998 it was as self-appointed senator-for-life and a self-satisfied former military ruler who had deigned to allow civilians once again to govern. When his plane lands in Santiago...
...Pinochet's absence failed to produce the military backlash some had feared, and even his supporters now favor the general's retirement from public life. Being shamed in Britain, which excused him from standing trial for crimes against humanity only because of his ailing health, has been deeply humiliating for the renowned Anglophile, and his ordeal may not be over. Chilean judge Juan Guzman is currently considering some 59 lawsuits brought against Pinochet, and the judge wants more medical tests to establish his fitness to stand trial. Of course Pinochet has plenty of legal grounds to hold off the prosecutors...
...past month, the Chilean air force has had a plane waiting at a British airfield to take General Augusto Pinochet home; right now, the former dictator might as well unpack his bags. Britain's High Court Tuesday overruled Home Secretary Jack Straw's decision to keep Pinochet's medical records secret from countries seeking his extradition, compelling Britain to make them available - in confidence - to Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and France. The results of a series of medical tests ordered by the British government prompted Straw last month to announce he was "minded" to send Pinochet home on compassionate grounds rather...
...decision, since it is common for medical reports that are being used as grounds to dismiss a court case to be made available to both sides," says TIME London bureau chief Jef McAllister. "Straw had been accused of keeping the records out of the hands of those pushing for Pinochet's extradition to make it easier to get the general out of the country. Now his stay will be prolonged, reviving the government's greatest concern - that Pinochet dies in Britain." The medical records that prompted Straw to conclude that the general's physical and mental health won't stand...
...arrest of Pinochet has reminded the world that the atrocities of dictators are not confined to one nation, but are a worldwide threat to fundamental human rights. If attempts to re-examine Pinochet's medical condition fail, he may still face prosecution in Chile, but his conviction there would be unlikely. Although the wounds from Pinochet's regime will never completely heal, Isabel Allende and many other Chilean citizens would be able to rest a little easier knowing that justice is finally being served...