CHILE: Pinochet opposition holds memorial for missing prisioners as supporters continue to pay respects to former dictator

Family members of the missing prisoners during Augusto Pinochet's repressive 1973-1990 rule held a memorial on Monday (December 11) as supporters of the former dictator flocked to a military college in Santiago where the former dictator's body lay in state. "The dictator's death can only strengthen our movement --that's our win after his death. And we'll use that renewed strenght to continue fighting for our missing prisioners, for our executed loved ones, for our political prisioners," leader of the Missing Prisioners Association, Mireya Garcia said before the Memorial that honours the missing in Santiago's Cementerio General. Pinochet, who polarized Chile during his seventeen year rule when more than 3,000 people were killed in political violence, died on Sunday (December 10) after suffering a heart attack. News of his death prompted some Chileans to dance in the streets and others to weep, more than three decades after he swept to power in a swift and violent coup. Many of those now taking the streets were toddlers, or not even born yet, when Augusto Pinochet's military rule ended in 1990. But many young Chileans are just as fiercely polarized as their parents over the man's legacy. Some Chileans say the general saved their country from communism while others regard him as a murderer who escaped justice and should have been tried for human rights abuses. President Michelle Bachelet said there would be no official mourning and the general would be given a military but not a full state funeral. The President also called for reconciliation at a news conference on Monday. Meanwhile, minor clashes between pro- and anti-Pinochet groups continued as emotions ran high. Bachelet, who survived one of Pinochet's most notorious detention centres, will not attend Tuesday's (December 12) funeral but her defense minister Vivianne Blanlot will. During Pinochet's rule some 28,000 people were tortured and hundreds of thousands of Chileans went into exile. The general's supporters say his coup was necessary to save Chile from chaos and possible civil war. They also highlight the free-market reforms of the Pinochet era, saying they lay the foundations for the country's long-term political stability and strong economy rare in South America. As well as facing charges of murder and torture, Pinochet was more recently accused of tax fraud and embezzlement related to $27 million stashed in foreign bank accounts. But he died without being brought to trial as his defense lawyers argued he was too ill to face charges.

ITN Source | December 12, 2006

Tags:. .tax. .survived. .defense. .born. .attend