Crowds in Santiago greeting Lagos started to chant for Pinochet to be put on trial. He repeated that Chilean courts were capable of doing this.
Now the Chilean people may be able to settle accounts with fascism.
The narrowness of the win, shows up how rigid is the left dogmatist position on the state exhibited by Carrol about Pinochet. The fact that Pinochet has been held in gilded house arrest in London for over a year, possibly to be released only on the grounds that he is dementing, helped thousands of victims in Chile to stand up, to talk for the first time about their torture, and their own medical evidence!
An extra 2% voted for Lagos, and that two percent matter because the "middle class" are usually more likely to vote than the "working class".
The harrassment of the old torturer by the cumbersome development of bourgeois international civil rights law, is yes, bourgeois - suprise surprise! - and YES, a victory for the people of Chile and the people of the world!
Chris Burford
London.
__________________________
Monday, 17 January, 2000, 02:31 GMT
BBC
[extracts]
Pinochet opponent wins Chile poll
Chile's presidential election has been won by the
socialist candidate, Ricardo Lagos.
His right-wing rival Joaquin Lavin acknowledged
defeat and personally congratulated Mr Lagos on
his victory in the second and final round of the poll.
Thousands of Chileans took to the streets of the
capital Santiago to celebrate.
With nearly all the votes
counted, Mr Lagos had a
lead of more than 2%.
He will also be Chile's first socialist president since
General Augusto Pinochet took power in 1973.
Pinochet factor
Mr Lagos is an opponent of the
former military dictator, and was
imprisoned briefly by the general
in the mid-1980s.
He supported efforts to get General Pinochet
released from detention in London, saying he should
be tried in Chile.
The run-off vote came just five days after the UK
said it might release General Pinochet - arrested in
London in October 1998 on charges of torture - on
health grounds.
Mr Lagos limited himself
to a brief attack on Mr
Lavin, saying it was a
good thing Mr Lavin did
not wish to discuss the
past, because the past so
clearly condemned him.
Mr Lavin was once an
adviser to the former
military ruler.
The poll contest was the tightest in many years. The
presidential run-off was called after the first round in
December produced no clear winner - with only
0.5% separating the two men.