CHILE: Chileans wait for latest medical developments of former strongman Augusto Pinochet.

The latest health crisis for Chile's ageing former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, means dozens of human rights abuse and tax fraud cases against him will probably never be concluded, inflaming his opponents who wanted to see him brought to justice. Pinochet, 91 and ailing for years, had a heart attack at the weekend and was in serious condition on Monday (December 4) after surgery to open an artery. Some 50 protesters gathered in front of the military hospital where doctors say he will stay for at least another 10 days. "He continues being the same assassin, continues being the same thief, continues being the same person that tortured people in this country," one protester, Daniel Manourcherhi, said. The protesters clashed with supporters of Pinochet, who have been holding vigils outside the hospital. Pinochet, a retired general who ruled from 1973-1990 and is the best known of a generation of Latin American strongmen, faces dozens of human rights charges and is also accused of embezzlement related to $28 million he hid off-shore. Pinochet was placed under house arrest just last week, charged with masterminding the murders of two guards of former Marxist President Salvador Allende in 1973, at a time of hundreds of political killings. Pinochet stepped down in 1990 and as the country made a transition to democracy, the former dictator remained untouchable and feared in Chile until his 1998 arrest in London on an international arrest warrant for human rights crimes. Britain sent Pinochet home after 17 months but the arrest emboldened Chilean judges who began their own investigations into assassinations of political opponents and tens of thousands of torture cases. He has been arrested several times since 2000 and every time he has been released on appeal, which is what happened again on Monday (December 4) - the appeals court granting him provisional freedom after the payment of a $1 million bond. Human rights watchers in the country have been left exasperated. "Pinochet is not any type of victim - from misfortune or from the persecution of this plaintiff. What he is, is a criminal who committed the most horrible crimes that can be accounted in our history," said human rights lawyer Hugo Gutierrez. Pinochet's defence team has long argued their client is too ill -- he has diabetes, heart problems and frequent mini-strokes have caused mild dementia -- to face charges. On Monday those claims remained unchanged, and his lawyers denounced assertions that Pinochet's health problems were a farce. "There are many infamies that have been cast over this matter, have made (Pinochet) out to be a faker, made him out to be a hypocritical person. It is typical of political language to denigrate a person, to tear him down, to persecute him, that is to ruin his political image," said Pinochet's lawyer Pablo Rodriquez. The former Chilean president remained in hospital on Monday, visited by his family. His son, Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, spoke of the death of his father as more than a possibility, but something for he was preparing for. "It does not matter if one is prepared for it, one is never prepared for what will come. He has courage but we will see how he lives in the moment," Hiriart said. Pinochet's daughter Lucia was also photographed on her way to visit her father, while a handful of Pinochet supporters continued to wait outside the military hospital for news of the man who dominated Chilean life for two decades and who still polarizes opinion in this country of nearly 16 million people.

ITN Source | December 5, 2006

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