New Thuggery in Chile

There are times when a single shocking incident galvanizes international opinion against an oppressive government. It happened to former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1978, when assassins murdered a respected newspaper editor. Perhaps it will now happen in Chile, where the bloody regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet hangs on despite growing popular discontent.

Recently the thugs whom Pinochet uses to intimidate his opponents have come up with a new tactic that is designed to instill terror in Chileans, who have been taking to the streets in growing numbers to demand a return to democracy. The thugs abduct one or two suspected protesters, douse them with a flammable liquid and set it ablaze. The attackers smother the flames with blankets before their victims die, however, and then abandon them. If the victims do not find help quickly, they are doomed to an agonizing death.

Chilean novelist Ariel Dorfman says that this horrifying practice has been sadly effective. Many Chilean parents are so frightened by the torchings that they discourage their sons and daughters from joining in anti-Pinochet protests. But last week Pinochet’s thugs picked the wrong victim--a resident of the United States who was visiting Chile.

Although the Chilean military has denied involvement, the U.S. government has demanded a full inquiry into the matter. Witnesses said that the men who seized the victim were in uniform. And once the victim was rushed to a neighborhood clinic for first aid, police refused to allow his transfer to a first-class hospital where he could have been treated more adequately.

The Chilean government has appointed a civilian judge to conduct an inquiry into the death, and the State Department has warned that the results of that investigation are a major test of the Pinochet regime’s human-rights record. Given the abysmal history of human rights under Pinochet, the United States should not hope for much. But it must keep the pressure on, lest this incident be forgotten like so many other tragedies in Chile under Pinochet.

More than one analyst has suggested that the example of Somoza’s Nicaragua may be more than apt in pondering Chile’s future. The United States did not dissociate itself from the hated Nicaraguan dictatorship fast enough in 1978. As a result, the revolution that followed was far more radical than it might have been with more U.S. influence. The United States is still living with the consequences of its errors in Nicaragua. It must not make the same mistakes in Chile.