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Author Topic: Chilean amnesty law thrown out; Pinochet et al to face charges
'lance
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Babbler # 1064

posted 17 November 2004 09:22 PM      Profile for 'lance     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
SANTIAGO - Chile's Supreme Court has struck down an amnesty law that former dictator Augusto Pinochet passed in 1978, shielding military and police officers in the country from prosecution for human rights violations during the early years of his rule.

It's estimated more than 3,000 people were kidnapped and murdered from 1973 to 1978, the first five years after the right-wing Pinochet staged a coup to take over Chile.

The ruling means cases involving the disappearance of more than 1,200 of Pinochet's political opponents during those five years can finally go ahead.


More.


From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
Scott Piatkowski
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posted 18 November 2004 12:07 AM      Profile for Scott Piatkowski   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm sure he can find sanctuary in Alberta
From: Kitchener-Waterloo | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
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posted 18 November 2004 01:57 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hah. Anyway, I just saw this! Oh my god! Woot! *throws hat in air, dances the happy dance*

Now to hope that Pinochet doesn't have an inconveniently timed heart attack.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 18 November 2004 07:23 AM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Pinochet is too old to have to do any hard time, but this can mean the Pinochet family losing any fortune derived from the dictatorship - and there are a lot of other culprits who are still considerably younger than he.

Now if only Kissinger could face trial for his role in Operation Condor in Chile, Argentina and elsewhere...


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 18 November 2004 09:52 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lagatta:
Now if only Kissinger could face trial for his role in Operation Condor in Chile, Argentina and elsewhere...

I finally got a chance to to read Christopher Hitchens' book The Trial of Henry Kissinger (in the middle of it now), and I couldn't agree more. I like to think this decision closes the net a little bit tighter around that scumbag Kissinger.

I also like to imagine that this latest bit of news gave him the sensation of skeletal hands reaching up from the earth, up to clutch around his black, evil heart and drag him down into endless torment. I hope the miserable fucker never, ever again gets a full night's sleep without waking up screaming and pissing the bed...


From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 18 November 2004 12:20 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Getting back to Chile (not to forget Kissinger)... that is not the only recent progressive change in Chile. Divorce has also finally (!!!) been recognised there.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4019955.stm
As in Spain, Italy and Portugal that particular brand of "Cathofascism" resulted in great hypocrisy and the destruction of many people's lives. (I guess here in Québec under Duplessis it was sort of "Cathofascism lite" - not a violent counterrevolution but a similar kind of Grande Noirceur in social relations...

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
jeff house
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posted 18 November 2004 01:21 PM      Profile for jeff house     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I agree with everything Lagatta says, with one exception. I do not think Chile really was an example of Cathofascism.

Spain and Portugal definitely were. Argentina was, too. But in Chile there was always a substantial Catholic opposition, including the "Christian Left" (which was a part o0f Allende's coalition and was quite significant), and the Vicaria de Solidaridad, which did the most of anyone to assist political prisoners.

I'm glad all my Chilean friends can get divorced now, though.


From: toronto | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 18 November 2004 02:04 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You are certainly right about the progressive and human rights Chilean Catholics, Jeff. But didn't Pinochet present himself (like his Argentinean counterparts) as a defender of Christianity as well as fighting "Communism"?

There are many, many liberation theology types in the Brazilian PT as well - but ... my memory of this is fuzzy - wasn't Opus Dei or some other far-right Catholic movement involve in the Brazilian coup of 1964?

I confess I was making a bit of an analogy (questionable, as all such analogies are) with the current talk of "Islamofascism".

There are many other differences between the dictatorships of the Southern Cone and European fascist movements, of course.


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged

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