Don't cry for Pinochet
Mott, Stephen De
Stephen De Mott DON'T CRY FOR PINOCHET Rescuing the general The arrest in London last October of Chile's aging former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, has, if nothing else, revealed some disturbing...
...Meanwhile, in Florida, comfortably retired Salvado-ran generals Eugenio Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo Garcia, both cited in the case of the rape and murder of two Maryknoll sisters, an Ursuline sister, and a lay mis-sioner in 1980, must also be anxiously watching the news on Pinochet...
...In contrast to Kabila, both are graduates of the U.S...
...Looming over the case of Pinochet is the troubling question of what to do about other dictators and human-rights abusers whose crimes against humanity transcend the boundaries of the countries in which they were committed...
...Whereas Pinochet defends his actions saying he was at war with armed Communists, bodies are found with hands tied behind their backs and bullet holes in the back of their heads...
...Even under civilian rule their question has not been answered satisfactorily...
...The protesters, mostly women, carried pictures of loved ones on placards with the words, "Where are they...
...As with any dictator, Pinochet would never have agreed to relinquish power without some guarantee of immunity...
...Meanwhile, lawyers, activists, politicians, cardinals, and even the pope are arguing over his fate as well as related issues of national sovereignty and impunity for human-rights abusers...
...Medina is an old friend of Pinochet, and even received a pectoral cross from the general...
...Thanks to their efforts the remains of some of the disappeared have, in recent years, been dug up from common graves...
...The others are Cardinals Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state and former nuncio in Chile (1978-88), Joseph Ratzinger, Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, and Eduardo Martinez Somalo...
...If victims cannot achieve some measure of justice in this case and under these circumstances, then, we must ask ourselves, in what other case and under what other circumstances...
...Faces were familiar to me from the years I had served in Chile as a Maryknoll missioner...
...I have long considered the Families of the Detained-Dis-appeared the conscience of Chile...
...Stephen De Mott, M.M., is publisher and executive editor o/Mary-knoll magazine...
...They have marched, fasted, prayed, and gone to jail...
...This situation shows us the other side of the church," said Dr...
...The survivors of Pinochet's reign of terror know, sadly, that justice will never be achieved in Chile, at least not under the present constitution, written by the general himself...
...will suddenly allow the convalescing octogenarian to go home for "humanitarian reasons...
...That left Chilean society, as the saying goes in Spanish, "between a wall and a sword...
...45 percent say it's a bad thing, and 11 percent express no opinion...
...State Department would be understandably reluctant about any trial that might bring to light even more embarrassing connections to humanCommonweal IO March 26,1999 rights abuses in Latin America...
...Meanwhile, abusers have been put on notice...
...When Congo's Laurent Kabila was planning a recent trip to Belgium, he sent an advance party to find out if anyone was looking to arrest him...
...Perhaps, the U.K...
...That's why his victims now look to England and Spain...
...They also demanded an end to impunity...
...Army School of the Americas and at least have the reassurance that the U.S...
...But Chile's deal with the devil not only ignores understandable international concerns about what to do about dictators, but also leaves unanswered the legitimate claims of torture victims and relatives of the disappeared who have seen justice delayed for more than a quarter-century...
...Rome might at least have remained silent until Pinochet was brought to trial and his victims were given an opportunity to tell their stories...
...While noting the heroism of church leaders like Santiago's now retired Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez, she said, "Angelo Sodano, who did nothing to save lives [during the dictatorship], now wants to save the dictator...
...Or what about those who, like Pinochet, will never be brought to justice in their own homelands...
...It seems to contradict John Paul II's eloquent defense of the dignity and rights of the human person—especially the poor, marginalized, and politically powerless...
...One can't help but wonder if Henry Kissinger, who was part of the CIA strategy that destabilized Chilean society prior to 1973 and helped pave the way for Pinochet, isn't also doing some extra pretravel investigations...
...One of them is Cardinal Jorge Medina Esteves, formerly bishop of Rancangua, Chile, and now prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship...
...But as evidence piles up about the unspeakable things Pinochet did to his enemies, that option grows less acceptable...
...Stephen De Mott DON'T CRY FOR PINOCHET Rescuing the general The arrest in London last October of Chile's aging former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, has, if nothing else, revealed some disturbing political fault lines that reach around the globe and even crisscross the Vatican...
...Having seen their loved Commonweal 9 March 26,1999 ones arrested by authorities of the state, they have endured official denials, threats, and persecution in their quest for the truth...
...Under a gritty, gray sky, in the heart of the downtown shopping district, only blocks away from the site of Pinochet's bloody 1973 coup d'etat, I walked alongside a demonstration organized by the Families of the De-tained-Disappeared...
...As they marched, they shouted their support for the Spanish judge who is trying to bring Pinochet to justice...
...The Vatican's apparent decision to allow concern for the principle of national sovereignty to override justice for the victims of gross human rights abuses is most troubling...
...Joaquin Navarro-Vails, spokesman for the Vatican Information Office, acknowledged that the Holy See did appeal to the British government on Pinochet's behalf...
...Pinochet, then, is not the only one biting his nails...
...In mid-January, I returned to one of the epicenters of this quake: Santiago, Chile...
...While 64 percent think Pinochet is guilty, according to a December opinion poll, only 44 percent think it's a good thing he was arrested...
...There is merit to the Chilean government's argument that Pinochet be allowed to return home out of respect for its national sovereignty and its ongoing process of return to full democracy...
...Given England's extradition process, one of the longest and most arduous in the world, Pinochet may die before it ends...
...The letter, according to The Tablet, was signed by Sodano with the approval of John Paul II...
...After torturing, killing, and exiling his enemies (more than 3,000 died under his command), Pinochet granted himself immunity from prosecution, named himself senator-for-life, and stacked Chile's congress with designated senators to ensure that the constitution is never changed...
...Fanny Pollarolo, a psychiatrist and member of Chile's Socialist party...
...In February, The Tablet of London carried a story that five cardinals were alleged to be seeking the pope's mediation on behalf of Pinochet's release...
...Navarro-Vails said, however, it was motivated by a request from the Chilean government, "consisting of a Christian Democratic and Socialist coalition, which has made its claim for sovereignty...
...The governments of Britain, Spain, Chile, Congo, the United States, and the Vatican are no doubt all wishing this case would go away...
...What refuses to die, however, is the disconcerting question of the role of international law regarding notorious human rights abusers and those who commit crimes against humanity...
...The eighty-three-year-old senator-for-life endures house arrest in a posh English country home awaiting the outcome of extradition hearings that may land him in a courtroom in Spain...
...These questions will remain with us long after Pinochet is gone...
...If Pinochet, whose agents tortured and killed citizens of many nationalities and carried out assassinations well beyond Chile's borders, including in Washington, D.C., is immune from international prosecution, then who is not immune...
...The average men and women on Chile's street corners, however, remain divided on what to do...
Vol. 126 • March 1999 • No. 6
