Narrow win in Chile against Pinochet

Chris Burford cburford at gn.apc.org
Sun Jan 16 23:42:09 PST 2000


With all the qualifications, it is heart warming news.

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.



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