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Dec 11, 2006, 11:41 GMT
A file photograph dated 11 September 2003 which shows former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet Ugarte in his mansion La Dehesa in Santiago de Chile. on Tuesday 25 October 2005. EPA/Leo Marcazolo
Santiago - The death of former dictator Augusto Pinochet was met in Chile with tears as well as champagne as human rights groups lamented that he failed to hear a guilty verdict read out against him for a raft of human rights abuses committed during in 17 years in power.
Many world governments, meanwhile, focussed on the progress a democratic Chile has made since his dictatorship as they reacted to his death Sunday at the age of 91, a week after he had suffered a heart attack.
The reaction in Chile illustrated the deep divide that still exists in Chilean society over Pinochet's rule. His supporters sang the national anthem and carried pictures of the general outside the military hospital in Santiago where he died while Pinochet opponents gathered at the presidential palace to celebrate his death, shouting with joy and waving flags of leftist parties and organizations.
The US government went from supporting the 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power to calling his dictatorship 'one of the most difficult periods' in Chile's history.
'Our thoughts today are with the victims of his reign and their families,' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said after Pinochet died Sunday at the age of 91.
'We commend the people of Chile for building a society based on freedom, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,' Fratto added.
The coup 33 years ago overthrew the elected government of socialist president Salvador Allende, but recently, Latin American countries have elected a wave of leftist heads of state. One of them, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said late Sunday that Pinochet was a symbol of 'a dismal period' in South American history, a 'long night' during which the 'lights of democracy were snuffed out by authoritarian blows' across the region.
Another leader in a leftist government in the region, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, said he has 'respect for death and the dead' but added, 'Death sealed Pinochet's immunity.'
At the time of his death, Pinochet was facing prosecution in three human rights cases and a fourth for corruption.
An estimated 2,000 opponents of his right-wing regime were killed during his 17 years in power, and tens of thousands more detained, tortured or driven into exile.
Human rights groups called for Chile to continue to see that justice would be done for Pinchet's victims.
'Augusto Pinochet's death must not close the darkest chapter in Chile's history,' Amnesty International said, urging Santiago to overturn a law that gave amnesty to perpetrators.
' inochet's death should be a wake-up call for the authorities in Chile and for governments everywhere, reminding them of the importance of speedy justice for human rights crimes, something Pinochet himself has now escaped,' it said in a statement.
Viviana Diaz, leader of the Group of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared, lamented that Pinochet was not condemned 'for all of his crimes' before he died while the president of the Argentine organization Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which fights to clarify what happened to the missing opponents of Argentina's own military regime, called Pinochet's death 'a relief' for everyone.
'Nobody applauds a death, but for Chile, Latin America and the entire world, it is a day of relief that Pinochet has ceased to belong to the world,' said Estela Carlotto, who nevertheless lamented that 'justice was never served.'
Human Rights Watch said, however, that although the court cases against Pinochet never resulted in guilty verdicts, they would have a lasting impact.
'inochet's greatest legacy may be the wake-up call to cautionary lesson he provides for dictators everywhere,' said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the group's Americas director. 'His case showed the world that even the most powerful human rights abusers can be made to face justice.'
In Santiago, relatives of the victims of Pinochet's regime gathered at the memorial to president Allende at the presidential palace as one of Allende's daughters, Congresswoman Isabel Allende Bussi, condemned Pinochet from Madrid, saying he 'headed the most ferocious dictatorship that we've ever known.'
Among the international community, one voice mourned the late dictator. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said through a spokesman that she was 'greatly saddened' by the death of the leader who backed Britain during its Falkland Islands conflict with Argentina.
Thatcher had campaigned for Pinochet's release in 1998 after he was arrested in London in Spain's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prosecute him for human rights crimes.
While he garnered plenty of criticism, Pinochet also continued to enjoy loud support from a large group of supporters within Chile who lauded the military ruler from protecting Chile from communism and returning stability and prosperity to the country.
The divide in Chilean society provoked disturbances Sunday. The most serious were in Santiago, where more militant Pinochet opponents tried to force their way into the plaza outside the presidential palace, clashing with police who used teargas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators.
'I don't know if authentic reconciliation is possible or if it will ever come,' Isabel Allende Bussi said. 'For now, what interests me is justice.'
Another high-profile victim of Pinochet's regime did not issue a statement on Pinochet's death - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who was detained and tortured under Pinochet's rule before being forced into exile her family. Her father was tortured to death.
Her government said only that Pinochet would not receive a state funeral.
?2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur |
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发表于 2006-12-11 20:13:15