[Editorial] Unresolved justice and the death of Augusto Pinochet

The death of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet forever denies the victims of his iron fist the opportunity to see justice served.

Pinochet closed his eyes for one last time without ever uttering even the slightest apology for the many human rights violations committed during his rule, which began when, with support from the United States, he violently overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1974. It was he who initiated South America's era of dictatorial governments when he attacked the presidential palace and herded thousands of political prisoners into a stadium, killing nearly all of them. He placed himself in power and stayed there until 1990, while his secret police organization eliminated political enemies and leftists. In 2004, Chile's truth and reconciliation commission found that during Pinochet's rule, more than 3,200 people were executed or "disappeared," and that 28,000 were tortured.

Numerous crimes against humanity cry out for justice. Torture at Villa Grimaldi, kidnapping and murder during operations Colombo and Condor, and the "caravan of death" that removed political enemies immediately after the coup are among these crimes. Recently, it was alleged that Pinochet was also involved in the secret sale of drugs and weapons, and that he hid US$28 million in overseas bank accounts. Manuel Contraras, the man that had overseen political executions and torture as head of the intelligence organization DINA, once admitted that Pinochet had approved of everything. It was a confirmed fact that Pinochet had been involved in crimes against humanity, but never once was he made to stand before a court.

The U.S. and the United Kingdom have a lot of responsibility to bear for the fact Pinochet was never prosecuted. The British government had the London police arrest him on the request of a Spanish court, but after a year-and-a-half of letting the case drag on, London sent him back to Chile instead of to Spain. In 2000, the Clinton administration ascertained that Pinochet had been involved in the assassination of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Leteier, but left the Bush administration to decide whether to issue an indictment.

Pinochet's departure for the next world needs to awaken us to the need for expeditious justice in cases of crimes against humanity. Augusto Pinochet will clearly be found guilty in the court of history, but official justice will never be possible.

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