Chile’s Cast-Out ‘Angel’

The indictment of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights violations Monday serves justice, even though his age and frail health may keep him from actually serving time in jail. The onetime tyrant faces a barrage of legal cases and is increasingly isolated at home. Even his reputation as an “honest dictator” lies shattered by corruption accusations.

Monday’s action marks the third time the ex-general has been indicted for human rights crimes. This time, he’s charged with nine kidnappings and one homicide carried out during “Operation Condor,” a 1970s plan launched jointly by the military governments of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay, with approval from the CIA, to abduct and smuggle dissidents for torture, imprisonment or execution.

Pinochet, 89, has long gotten away with murder, arguing he suffers from “mild dementia” and using his immunity from prosecution as a former head of state. Now, stripped of his immunity and having been ruled competent to stand trial, he is under attack on three flanks. Along with the charges related to Operation Condor, he is being investigated for the murder of former Chilean army chief Carlos Prats and his wife in 1974 and faces a probe over alleged money laundering at the Washington-based Riggs Bank. An internal bank memo uncovered by U.S. Senate investigators hints that Pinochet’s secret fortune may exceed $50 million.

Life in Chile under Pinochet was a nightmare for those who opposed him, but his administration built what is now Latin America’s big economic success story and his fiscal reputation was a source of pride for his followers. Now even that bit of legacy is unraveling and neither the armed forces nor his political base is coming to his defense. For Pinochet, who calls himself Chile’s “patriotic angel,” that’s got to hurt more than whatever happens in the courtroom.