Pinochet Shakes Up Chilean Cabinet, Indicates He Won’t Run for President

President Augusto Pinochet on Friday named eight new Cabinet members, replacing his powerful interior minister in the process, and then indicated he will not run in an open election for the presidency next year.

Both actions were seen as a response to Pinochet’s defeat in an Oct. 5 referendum that would have extended his rule to 1997.

“I will hand over my post to the person that citizens elect freely, secretly and in an informed fashion on Dec. 14, 1989,” Pinochet said.

It was the first time he had addressed the issue of whether he would be a candidate next year.

The 72-year-old Pinochet has ruled Chile since September, 1973, when he led the coup that ousted the elected government of Marxist President Salvador Allende.

Pinochet named eight new Cabinet members, all civilians, and shifted one minister to another post. The most important change was the naming of Carlos Caceres, a 48-year-old technocrat, to replace Sergio Fernandez as interior minister, whose ouster had been demanded by the opposition.

But Pinochet said Friday he was not surrendering to opposition demands. Instead, he was reported to be furious with Fernandez, among others, for “tricking” him into believing he would win the referendum.