I just heard about this over the news today. It does seem that Chile is trying to clean up her image and bring some justice to their citizens.


http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041128/w112864.html

Chilean leader announces compensation for victims of torture under Pinochet
02:56 PM EST Nov 29
EDUARDO GALLARDO



SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - President Ricardo Lagos on Sunday announced compensation for thousands of victims of illegal imprisonment and torture during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

He said he made his decision after studying a gruesome report on torture during Pinochet's 1973-90 rule prepared by a commission that heard testimony from 35,000 people. The testimony of 28,000 of them has been accepted as true by the commission.

Lagos called the report "an experience that has no precedent in the world."

He announced he will ask Congress to approve compensation to the victims, including pensions for life equivalent to $225 Cdn a month. In addition, the victims and their relatives will receive special education, housing and health benefits from the state.

Politicians both pro government and from the opposition anticipated support for the presidential proposal in congress.

There was no immediate reaction from Pinochet or his associates. But when Lagos received the report earlier this month, retired Gen. Guillermo Garin, the former dictator's spokesman, said the report would "reopen wounds in our society."

The president did not disclose details of the testimony included in the report, which will be published on the Internet, but he called the details "shocking."

He said virtually all 3,400 women interviewed by the commission claimed to have suffered some kind of sexual abuse.

Published reports have disclosed some of the torture methods described by the victims, including widespread use of electricity, sexual abuse including the use of animals, beatings, simulated firing squads, and many others.

"How can we explain such horror?" Lagos asked. "I do not have an answer."

Pinochet's right-wing dictatorship fiercely suppressed leftists, dissidents and others perceived as opponents, imprisoning, exiling, torturing and killing thousands. Many of them simply disappeared.

The report on torture was the second to be compiled since the restoration of civilian rule in 1990. A 1991 examination focused on the abductions and deaths of dissidents, stating that 3,197 people died for political reasons during the Pinochet regime.



© The Canadian Press, 2004


Heres another article I found:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/10292052.htm?1c

Pinochet's right-wing dictatorship fiercely suppressed leftists, dissidents and others perceived as opponents, imprisoning, exiling, torturing and killing thousands. Many of them simply disappeared.

Are you sure this article is about Pinochet and not I Choke You?

Funny guy! :new_tomat

Although I know thers some on the left whose incline to do the same in return.

I think in a perfect world Pinochet wouldn't have had to go to such extreme measures to save Chile from Stalinism...but alas, it isn't perfect.

Please tell me you are taking the piss.
I cant tell anymore.

Nope, ICY is that stupid.

As I remember, he once had a fit because Osiris deleted and edited his posts to make a point on the evil of power abuse...I wonder how our resident nazi would feel if a member of his family was abducted and never came back.

None of my family members are communists.

I'm not saying what the Pinochet regime did was a good thing, but I think it was in response to a REAL threat.

What you do seem to be saying however is that it was neccisary and right for him to do what he did.

None of my family members are communists.

I'm not saying what the Pinochet regime did was a good thing, but I think it was in response to a REAL threat.

Ah, but someone in your family could be friends with a communist. Which amounts to the same. And quite frankly, there was no threat greater than Pinochet there.

I think the possibilty for instability and civil war would've been amplified greatly if not for Pinochet. I view Pinochet's regime as a necessary evil and Pinochet himself as less of a monster than the left would like him to be. I think he was too harsh, but not to such an extent that it would've been better to have an ongoing civil war like Nicaragua did.

ICY,

I can stand all kind of political debates and theories, but claiming Pinochet as "necessary evil" makes me puke.

Your political views are comparable to the RBSD nuts: change negroes for commies, democrats for homeless, inmigrants for jews and so on.

Got the idea?

I despair.
I could understand if you were just plain ignorant, but you're articulate, you're aware of the issues and still you think that Pinochet was justified.... I have no idea whats going through your mind and can not begin to argue with you.
I submit to the willfull stupidity.

Ok, I will try again. I think Pinochet stopped a bigger bloodbath, even more horrific than the one he did end up causing. The socialists wouldn't have been allowed to remain in power unchallenged, but without a strongman, it would've been chaos instead of just a brutal dictatorship.

, but without a strongman, it would've been chaos instead of just a brutal dictatorship.

How do you know?

I obviously don't, that's just my opinion...but thanks for the needless silly attempt to catch me there, keeps me on my toes.

There are two modes of thinking:
The End justifies the Means.
The Means Justify the End.

Everyone has to make their choice.