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.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of