Pinochet Says He Laments Violence

Declaring there was “no hatred or rancor in my soul,” Gen. Augusto Pinochet for the first time publicly lamented violence during his rule of Chile, saying in a letter that he shares the pain of those who suffered. The letter, sent from the London residence where Pinochet remains in custody, contained language unusual for the 83-year-old former dictator, whose regime left a legacy of more than 3,000 people killed for political reasons. “The pain of those who suffered was not alien to me in the past, nor now,” Pinochet wrote. “I lament all the situations of belligerence and acts of violence that caused them.” The letter was dated Sept. 11, the 26th anniversary of the bloody military coup in which Pinochet toppled Marxist President Salvador Allende. Pinochet was arrested in London 11 months ago on a warrant from a Spanish judge who wants to try him for abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship.