A Times Editorial

Pinochet at his people's mercy

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 6, 2000

When the British government lifted his house arrest and allowed former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet to leave London for Chile, many human rights campaigners felt the decision was a cop-out. The British courts had established that heads of state can be prosecuted for torture and murder, yet here was Pinochet, probably responsible for the deaths of thousands of his own people, avoiding trial and going home.

This may, in the end, be a positive result. Far from being thrown back into his preferred briar patch, Pinochet has landed in a country that no longer fears him or his acolytes in the army. A Chilean court, supported by the democratically elected socialist government (members of the party the CIA helped overthrow in 1973), has stripped Pinochet of his immunity. The general is appealing the ruling to the Chilean Supreme Court, but there's a good chance he will lose.

Added to that, prosecutors in the United States say they have enough evidence to charge Pinochet with conspiracy to murder Chilean socialist Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., in 1976. Pinochet moved to take away the exiled leader's Chilean citizenship just days before a car bomb killed him on Embassy Row, demonstrating how threatening he had become to the junta. More damning still, Manuel Contreras, former head of the Chilean intelligence service and the man eventually convicted of the crime, has provided evidence that Pinochet masterminded the whole thing.

Whether or not Pinochet is put on trial for more than 17 years of atrocities largely depends on the doctors. He has a heart condition and has suffered several strokes. He may be declared medically unfit for the courtroom. But whether or not Pinochet serves time in prison for any one of the 59 criminal counts brought against him is almost irrelevant. What's important is the principle that has been established by courts from Spain to Britain, and from Washington to Santiago: No one is above the law. Even heads of state who kill or conspire to kill will be brought to justice. Pinochet -- and all the other dictators who thought they were immune -- can no longer hide from the truth of their crimes.

And Chile, once a nation where the idea of democracy barely survived the poison injected by the CIA and Pinochet's military, has been transformed forever. The people there won't tolerate another Pinochet, or the interference of another Kissinger. They command their own destiny now.

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