Untried for the crimes related to his dictatorship, Augusto Pinochet got full military honors on Monday, as followers streamed past his open casket and his victims' relatives marched to keep his infamy alive.
President Michelle Bachelet, whose mother, father and herself were tortured under the 1973-1990 regime, denied the late dictator a state funeral but let the former general receive the military tribute.
Pinochet, who died on Sunday one week after a heart attack and two weeks after his 91st birthday, was mourned by followers who filed in silence past his body clad in a grey general's uniform at Santiago's Military School.
PHOTO: AP
Outside, some 5,000 mourners queued in the hot sun for their turn to bid their last farewell to Pinochet.
"He was the best president Chile ever had," said an old woman under a parasol.
At three other locations around Santiago, thousands of friends and relatives of 3,000 people killed or missing during the Pinochet years, marched in silence to make sure the dictatorship's macabre legacy was not forgotten.
Even after his death, Pinochet continued to divide Chile, as Bachelet sought to explain why she denied the late dictator a state funeral.
"In any society, in any country that lacks norms or predetermined laws for a particular situation, it is up to the leaders, the government, to make decisions in the best interests of the people," Bachelet said.
"Over the past several hours we have seen divisive acts that we don't like, but as a society and as a country we have to have the ethical strength to overcome this challenge," the Socialist leader said.
Thousands of people celebrated Pinochet's death in Santiago on Sunday as hooded radicals clashed with police, who later reported 99 arrests and 43 police officers injured in the violence.
Pinochet's youngest son, Marco Antonio, criticized the lack of a national funeral for his father, who, he said, "was totally committed to his country and took it out of indescribable chaos."
Others said a military funeral was too much. Bachelet "forgets the tyrant ordered other armed forces commanders to be put to death," Angel Hoces, head of the Socialist Party of Chile in Mexico, said in the Mexican capital.
High ranking military officers who died under Pinochet's regime include Bachelet's own father, Alberto Bachelet, an air force general who was tortured and died in prison in 1975.
While leftist politicians have slammed Pinochet's 17-year rule, the right recalled his economic policies that it said led to the "Chilean miracle."
Human rights groups and newspapers across the world expressed disappointment that Pinochet died without ever facing trial for the killings and torture committed under his rule.
On his 91st birthday, Nov. 25, Piochet assumed "full responsibility" for all that happened under his regime, but vowed never to apologize, according to his wife, Lucia Hiriart.
Most disappointed over Pinochet's death are all those who tried to bring him to trial for the many human rights violations that took place under his regime.
"The criminal died without every knowing the meaning of being convicted for all his horrible crimes," said Hugo Gutierrez, a lawyer for some of the victims of the regime.
While Pinochet has escaped trial, his wife and five children are still facing charges of stashing millions of dollars in state funds in accounts outside Chile, including in Washington's Riggs Bank.
Amnesty International said Pinochet's death underscored the importance of swiftly prosecuting human rights abusers.
"General Pinochet's death should be a wake-up call for the authorities in Chile and governments everywhere, reminding them of the importance of speedy justice for human rights crimes, something Pinochet himself has now escaped," the human rights group said.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS