>Lagos and the Chilean socialist party want to see Pinochet free because they
>have capitulated to neo-liberalism since they joined the Concertacion in
>Chile's first post-dictatorship "election". See the book "Democracy in Chile"
>by Petras, and Veltmayer, Westview Press 1994. The socialist party of Chile
>contains a number of former MIR militants who were given membership in the
>party in return for informing the government on the past activities of former
>comrades. Disgusting. Aylwin's finance minister Ominami was a former MIR
>militant who used to advocate "armed struggle" but in government he
praised the
>free market for its benign effects on the poor.Some socialist. With the
ongoing
>efforts to see Pinochet tried, I'm curious as to why activists are
spending so
>much time and energy on one man. To be sure, I would swim to Spain to see
>Pinochet hang, but in my time in Chile i found a lot of Nazi's and there are
>many individuals in the military and the Chilean establishment who hold more
>extreme views than Pinochet and would be more than willing to take his place.
Quick correction: the book is Democracy *and Poverty* in Chile, by Petras and Fernando Leiva (nephew of Orlando Letilier), with Henry Veltmeyer. The "and poverty" is significant, as they throw the economic "miracle" into question on a number of counts. Your comment on capitulation is right on: disgusting. And now they all jockey for shrinking middle ground, which requires saluting the flag daily and calling for the return of Pinocho.
On your last point, I'd suggest that giving Pinocho as hard a time as possible will help with the larger process of "de-nazification" of Chile, by reopening history to critical interpretation, revisiting crimes, and concretely prosecuting the big bastard for what he (and the rest of his neo-nazi crowd) considers honorable conduct in the service of la patria. (Just months ago Pinochet stated he'd do it all again if he had to.)
BTW: de-nazification is not an overstatement. It is well established that nazis and neo-nazis played an important role in the architecture of repressive institutions (espceilly the DINA), murder and repression.
Tom
Tom Kruse Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia Tel/Fax: (591-4) 248242 Email: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net