Britain Gets 9-Day Extension in Pinochet Case

Citing the “historic” nature of the case, a judge Friday gave Britain’s government nine extra days to decide whether to allow Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s extradition to Spain to face charges including genocide.

The 83-year-old former Chilean dictator will learn his fate when British Home Secretary Jack Straw announces his decision at a Dec. 11 court appearance.

Meanwhile, Chile’s foreign minister, Jose Miguel Insulza, met with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in London, arguing that Pinochet should be allowed to return home.

Cook issued a statement after the meeting saying Insulza had expressed his government’s “strong view” that Pinochet should be returned home.

Cook said he assured Insulza--who himself lived in exile under Pinochet’s regime--that neither the ex-dictator’s arrest nor subsequent actions by the British government had been “politically motivated.”

“We both expressed our shared commitment to maintaining good relations between our two countries,” Cook said.

Also Friday, Britain closed its consulate in Valparaiso, Chile’s second-largest city, and canceled a visit by a British warship at Chile’s request because of rising tensions over Pinochet’s arrest, the British Embassy said in a statement.

Tension between Chile and Britain over the arrest, which has enraged Chilean rightists and military officers, is seen as costing London military orders. Chile is the second-biggest buyer of British defense goods in Latin America after Brazil.

Pinochet, who is sought by Spanish authorities on charges of genocide, torture and terrorism committed during his 17-year rule, is under police guard at a London hospital.