MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cheeky old dictator.

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet managed plenty of limelight during the recent commemoration of the September 11 thirtieth anniversary when he violently toppled elected Socialist president Salvador Allende imposing a 17 year military dictatorship.

A Santiago newspaper surfaced a 2001 interview of the old dictator by James Whelan an American historian who's writing his biography.

Among the most derogatory remarks are those referred to the first two democratically elected presidents while Pinochet was Commander in Chief of the Army: Mr. Patricio Aylwin (1990-94) described as "Chile's worst president ever, he's a bastard", and Mr. Eduardo Frei who the retired dictator defines as "inoffensive and silly".

When asked how president Allende felt when finding out that his most trusted military officer and commander of the Army was leading the coup against him in September 1973, Mr. Pinochet laughed saying, "Of course?I never told him, even when I was the commander of the Army of his choosing".

"And do you know who proposed me?" asked Pinochet, "the Communist Party. They certainly were wrong with me".

Insisting with former president Aylwin, Mr. Pinochet said "the bastard was always conspiring with the Christian Democrats in degrading my government and achievements". This in spite of the fact that Mr. Aylwin in 1973 justified the military coup saying the bloodshed could have been avoided if "president Allende had convened a referendum on his administration".

As to "silly" Mr. Frei Pinochet recalls that "you'd go and see him to inform about a situation, he would keep silent and ended the conversation by saying he would think about it and would later give a reply".

In reference to his 503 days arrested in the United Kingdom in 1998 when Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón wanted him extradited to Spain to face human rights abuse charges, Mr. Pinochet said "they wanted to destroy me, but I eluded them". However the toughest while in Britain was "when several European countries began fighting over my body". The UK government finally released him on "humanitarian reasons" and on March 3 of 2000 he was flown back to Santiago where a massive concentration of followers received him.

"Judge Garzón is a very ambitious man, he comes from very poor backgrounds and it's understandable that he should be so ambitious", added Pinochet in reference to the Spanish magistrate.

The former dictator insists he was not involved in the so called "death caravan", a military group that immediately after the coup travelled north of Chile killing opponents and protestors.

"I had nothing to do with that, Chilean courts only have deductions against me". Similarly with the killing in Buenos Aires in 1974 of the former Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army, General Carlos Pratts and his wife when a bomb went off in their car.

"I swear on the memory of my parents I had nothing to do with that", stressed Pinochet.

Nevertheless Mr. Pinochet complained of the vileness of Chilean courts. "I never expected Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia to be so vicious against me. And I named him a high court judge! What a wild beast?I believe he has a French wife that is Socialist?."

The published interview had immediate reactions. Socialist Senator Jaime Gazmuri said "I've always had the worst opinion of Pinochet since he betrayed Allende. I can still see him acting with deference, respect and faithfully, but then it turned out he was leading the coup; he's an outright traitor".

Andrés Zaldívar, president of the Chilean Senate was less passionate: "we know what he stands for: his government had some economic successes but was a complete failure because it conducted Chile to destruction, division, hatred, rancour and left the country littered with tortured and dead bodies".

Socialist Senator Ricardo Núñez pointed out that the interview reveals a "perverse soul" and if the date is 2001 "it is quiet clear Pinochet was not mentally alienated or ill but in full capacities and should have stood for trial".

"Pinochet lives in the past and has yet to understand he was defeated by democratic forces. President Aylwin belongs to the great history of this country, the man who pacified Chile, that not only defeated the dictatorship but set the foundations for an integrated, more united and solidarity sensitive Chile", indicated Senator Jorge Pizarro.

Communist representative Gladys Marín simply remarked that Pinochet "represents the worst of humanity and to keep talking about him, no longer matters".

Government spokesperson Francisco Vidal, the only member of the current administration to comment Pinochet interview said "he reflects a hatred and rancour that belong to the past, and they certainly don't represent the Chilean people's affections".