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5 March, 2000
Pinochet is back home.
The closest I have been to him was in 1991 when he happened to stay at the same hotel in Lisbon, the Hotel Meridien, where the IMF was holding its Central Committee meeting.
It was a strange feeling, one of disgust. When we learned about his presence, we protested, but of course without result.
He should have been put on trial back then, but he was still going strong and conditioned the political life of Chile.
It would have been fair and certainly just to see one of the most cruel dictators this world has ever known standing before a court and trying to explain all his crimes. It is important, not only for his victims and their families but also for the coming generations in Chile and the rest of the world, to judge his regime - not just Pinochet himself, but all his fellow generals and army officers who are hiding somewhere in Chilean society.
The Spanish judge who started the whole process, Sr. Garzón, and all those fighting for human and trade union rights have won the battle on human rights. The fact that a judge, no matter where he or she is, asks another government to extradite someone suspected of crimes against humanity for the purpose of putting them on trial is a great victory in itself.
The Rome Convention of 1998 -- for the creation of an International Court within the UN system -- is also a great achievement, making it possible to chase political criminals wherever they may be hiding, and without giving them any possibility of immunity from their crimes.
The mighty Pinochet will probably never be put on trial, if it is true that he is senile. In such case, it could not be a fair trial.
One can ask, then, why we should be fair with somebody who, himself, did not care about fairness and had slaughtered everyone who was opposed to him. But this is exactly what makes us democratic people different from those who are not democratic.
The Chilean people recently chose a new president, after a democratic campaign and elections which gave the Left and its coalition partners a majority of the votes. On March 11, the new president, Ricardo Lagos, will take over. He is the third democratically elected president in the 12 years since the end of the dictatorship.
Mr. Lagos was very close to Salvador Allende. He will be the best guarantee for the democratic development of Chile.
He has promised to put Pinochet on trial. This would be fair to all the victims of the fascist regime that Pinochet represents.
But more important is to make sure that the truth of what happened to every one of the "desaparecidos" emerges and will be included in the books of history, so that coming generations will have to read about and learn from our own mistakes.
The closest I have been to him was in 1991 when he happened to stay at the same hotel in Lisbon, the Hotel Meridien, where the IMF was holding its Central Committee meeting.
It was a strange feeling, one of disgust. When we learned about his presence, we protested, but of course without result.
He should have been put on trial back then, but he was still going strong and conditioned the political life of Chile.
It would have been fair and certainly just to see one of the most cruel dictators this world has ever known standing before a court and trying to explain all his crimes. It is important, not only for his victims and their families but also for the coming generations in Chile and the rest of the world, to judge his regime - not just Pinochet himself, but all his fellow generals and army officers who are hiding somewhere in Chilean society.
The Spanish judge who started the whole process, Sr. Garzón, and all those fighting for human and trade union rights have won the battle on human rights. The fact that a judge, no matter where he or she is, asks another government to extradite someone suspected of crimes against humanity for the purpose of putting them on trial is a great victory in itself.
The Rome Convention of 1998 -- for the creation of an International Court within the UN system -- is also a great achievement, making it possible to chase political criminals wherever they may be hiding, and without giving them any possibility of immunity from their crimes.
The mighty Pinochet will probably never be put on trial, if it is true that he is senile. In such case, it could not be a fair trial.
One can ask, then, why we should be fair with somebody who, himself, did not care about fairness and had slaughtered everyone who was opposed to him. But this is exactly what makes us democratic people different from those who are not democratic.
The Chilean people recently chose a new president, after a democratic campaign and elections which gave the Left and its coalition partners a majority of the votes. On March 11, the new president, Ricardo Lagos, will take over. He is the third democratically elected president in the 12 years since the end of the dictatorship.
Mr. Lagos was very close to Salvador Allende. He will be the best guarantee for the democratic development of Chile.
He has promised to put Pinochet on trial. This would be fair to all the victims of the fascist regime that Pinochet represents.
But more important is to make sure that the truth of what happened to every one of the "desaparecidos" emerges and will be included in the books of history, so that coming generations will have to read about and learn from our own mistakes.