U$ backed fascist gets heros welcome in Chile

General Augusto Pinochet returned to Chile on receiving a hero's 
welcome from the army and protests condemning his murderous 
military dictatorship from the people.

Pinochet led the CIA-backed coup which overthrew popularly elected 
President Salvador Allende in 1973. What followed was a brutal 
military dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands of 
people, particularly political activists identified as leftists or 
communists.

Sixty lawsuits prosecuting Pinochet for human rights violations 
during his rule of Chile failed to keep him in Europe because 
doctors judged him too sick to stand trial. In Chile, Pinochet 
retains a senate seat for life and so can not be prosecuted for 
any crimes committed while in government. An appeals court in 
Chile is currently considering repealing Pinochet's parliamentary 
immunity.

The Chilean people support making Pinochet stand trial. Such a 
trial may conclude what everyone already knows: the Pinochet 
dictatorship was a brutal, murderous regime. But even locking up 
Pinochet will not rectify the damage done by years of u.$.-backed 
terror.

MIM would put the U$ on trial alongside Pinochet for crimes 
against humanity. But such a trial will only be held after the 
people take power and put into place a true justice system.

Note: Boston Globe, 5 March 2000, p. A3.