MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile marks its own Sept. 11

Chile on Wednesday marks its own Sept.11, that of 1973, when the presidential palace La Moneda was bombed and the long Pinochet dictatorship, known worldwide mainly for wholesale abuse of human rights, began.

Chile and the United States "are united on this date by tragedy and sadness on this date," said presidential spokeswoman Maria Eliana Arntz. Noting the coincidence of Chile's "9/11" with the one-year anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, the Chilean government announced that President Ricardo Lagos would attend a ceremony Wednesday at the U.S. Embassy honouring those who were killed in the terrorist strikes. "It is 29 years since our country lost its democracy and one year since the attacks," Arntz said, describing the occurrences as "two historical events joined by a common date." In Chile, the legacy of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 regime included more than 3,000 executed opponents - 1,197 of them still listed as "disappeared" -, nearly 60,000 victims of torture and half a million political exiles. Moreover, the constitution imposed by Pinochet in 1980 created redoubts of authoritarianism that remain in force a dozen years after the restoration of democratic government. The passing years have also failed to lessen the polarization between opponents and supporters of the bloody 1973 coup, which ended 150 years of constitutional democracy and led to the death of socialist head of state Salvador Allende amid the flames of La Moneda, the presidential palace. Under the banner of national reconciliation, the military have recently revived earlier demands for a "full-stop" amnesty law that would block any current or future prosecutions for human rights violations under the dictatorship. "I agree that it is necessary to expedite this entire process and to end it as soon as possible. This does not mean, however, a full stop," said Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza on the aspirations of the military. Insulza told Radio Coperativa that the courts should be allowed to hear cases "as they are doing." "It is true that court cases cannot remain open forever. But they should end in a natural way and not in an artificial manner," stressed Insulza, although concurring with army chief Gen. Juan Emilio Cheyre that the military need not apologize for the 1973 coup. The minister added, however, that the armed forces must stop celebrating the anniversary of the coup. "What I ask for is sincere recognition that what happened was bad, that it should never have happened. It is not a matter of going around apologizing, but of admitting that what happened was terribly wrong and should not be celebrated," Insulza said. In fact, Cheyre has decided on a considerably toned-down observance for Sept. 11. During Pinochet's rule, the army celebrated the anniversary of the coup with parades, combative speeches and interminable fawning over the now-retired former dictator. On Wednesday, the army will mark the anniversary with a Mass to remember fallen comrades. But in a departure from previous years, the service will be held behind closed doors, without reporters or special guests. The Augusto Pinochet Foundation announced plans for a members-only ceremony, while the former strongman, who is nearing 86 and living out his political twilight in illness and court-certified dementia, will spend the day in seclusion on his coastal estate. The government will hold a Mass to commemorate Allende and the others killed in 1973 at La Moneda. For the first time since his inauguration in 2000, President Lagos will attend. Leftists will honor Allende with wreaths of flowers, while relatives of the victims of the dictatorship will light candles at the site of former detention camps and torture centers. Some groups marked the anniversary in advance with a noisy rally at Allende's tomb that degenerated into disturbances, which ended with 23 people under arrest and some minor property damage. The government believes that for Chileans, the 29th anniversary of the coup should signify "a reaffirmation of the commitment to democracy and human rights and a time to bolster peaceful coexistence," spokeswoman Arntz said.

Expectation in Chile for imminent Pinochet ruling

Though the former dictator has been deemed "demented" and unfit for trial, many Chileans awaited anxiously Tuesday an appeals court ruling that would allow Augusto Pinochet to be formally charged with the murder of an exiled Chilean general and his wife. The Santiago Appeals Court reportedly ruled, during a plenary session Tuesday, on a request for the removal of the 86-year-old retired general's immunity from prosecution, something he enjoys as an ex-president. Pinochet is a suspect in the murder of former Chilean army commander Gen. Carlos Prats, in September 1974 in Buenos Aires. Prats' wife Sofia also died in the explosion of the car bomb detonated by military intelligence agents of the then-year-old Chilean dictatorship. The ruling will not be announced until two judges who did not attend the plenary session Tuesday are notified of the decision and the other 21 magistrates who did participate sign the resolution. Additionally, the parties in the case will also be notified before the ruling is made public, they said. In the event Pinochet is stripped of his immunity, he could be indicted by Argentine Judge Maria Servini de Cubria, who is supervising the investigation of the Prats case in Buenos Aires. Servini de Cubria, who filed the request to remove Pinochet's immunity, has accused the former dictator with criminal conspiracy and is only awaiting the removal of Pinochet's immunity to depose him before issuing a formal indictment. Carlos Prats - who had preceded Pinochet as head of the army - and wife Sofia Cuthbert were assassinated on Sept. 30, 1974, in the Argentine capital, where they were living in self-imposed exile. Known as a "constitutionalist," Prats was pushed out as army commander because of his opposition to overthrowing socialist President Salvador Allende, and left Chile within days of the September 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power. On July 1, 2002, the Supreme Court ruled Pinochet "irretrievably demented" and dismissed charges against him of concealing 75 slayings by the so-called "Caravan of Death," a military squad that travelled through Chile after the coup summarily executing political opponents. On Aug. 8, 2000, the Supreme Court had stripped Pinochet of his legislative immunity. On Jan. 29, 2001, Judge Juan Guzman indicted the retired general on charges of masterminding the 57 murders and 18 abductions carried out by the Caravan of Death in October 1973, but later reduced the charges to concealment of the crimes. The appellate court's ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court, which is the court of last resort. Pinochet retained immunity after he resigned his lifetime senate seat on July 4 thanks to a special regulation protecting former presidents from prosecution