MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pinochet momentarily “stable and in good condition”

Former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack on Sunday and has undergone a bypass operation which his son said brought him back from the brink of death. Pinochet was rushed to a military hospital in the Chilean capital Santiago around 2 a.m. (0500 GMT).

Surgeons operated on him and seven hours later, a doctor reported that the 91-year-old retired general was stable, conscious and breathing without assistance.

"At the moment he's stable ... he's conscious and he's in a good condition", hospital doctor Juan Ignacio Vergara said.

Pinochet's relatives and friends rushed to his bedside. His former personal secretary Monica Ananias was in tears as she arrived at the clinic. Pinochet's son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, said his father was in a "pretty serious state".

"A bypass was practiced, a medical procedure to all effects to bring him back from death. We're in the hands of God and the doctors," he told reporters.

Pinochet marked his birthday last week by issuing a statement in which he accepted "political responsibility" for acts committed during his rule. However, he said his only motive was to make Chile "a great country and prevent its disintegration".

"Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancour towards anybody, that I love my country above all" he said in the statement read by his wife Lucia.

Two days later he was placed under house arrest in connection with the murder of two bodyguards of former Marxist President Salvador Allende -the man he overthrew in a bloody military coup in September 1973.

Human rights lawyers have complained in the past that Pinochet's health deteriorates every time he is detained.

Despite Pinochet's dismal human rights record, some Chileans love him and insist he saved the country from the hands of Marxism.

Ricardo Lagos Weber spokesperson for the Chilean government brushed aside questions about funeral arrangements in the event of Mr Pinochet's death given his condition of former head of state.

"It is of bad taste to talk about funerals when the person is still alive", said Lagos Weber who added that the matter was in the hands of the Ministry of Defence.