Pinochet’s widow, children arrested in Chile

A judge ordered the arrest Thursday of the widow and five children of former military strongman Augusto Pinochet on corruption charges stemming from more than $20 million found in Pinochet’s U.S. bank accounts.

Also ordered detained were five retired generals, half a dozen ex-colonels and other officers, several lawyers and ex-diplomats, and the former personal secretary of the late general, who was among the most notorious of South America’s late 20th century dictators.

The action targeting Pinochet’s family and members of his former military entourage stunned the country and brought Pinochet’s divisive legacy back to center stage in Chilean politics.

“No one is above the law,” said President Michelle Bachelet, a former political prisoner and exile during the 17-year rule of Pinochet, who died in December at 91.

Judge Carlos Cerda told reporters that he ordered the arrests based on evidence that the 23 people cited had taken part in the “misuse of fiscal funds.”

Defense lawyers immediately criticized the ruling and said it would be appealed.

Pablo Rodriguez, a Pinochet family lawyer, called the court order illegal and “contrary to the essence of the fundamental rights of the person.”

Pinochet’s widow, Lucia Hiriart, 84, entered a military hospital Thursday after a rise in blood pressure and asked to remain under arrest there, Rodriguez said.

The ex-dictator’s children and the other suspects were reportedly taken to several detention sites.

The corruption case seems certain to raise tensions among restive ex-military officials in Chile, where supporters of the Pinochet regime are angry about pending charges against more than 500 ex-officers, including 50 retired generals.

“This case is like a cluster bomb that spreads and activates another series of legal processes, another series of threats,” said Walter Sanchez, a political analyst.

Human rights activists hailed the action as a blow against impunity surrounding the deaths and disappearances of more than 3,000 people in Chile’s “dirty war” against leftists.

“The death of Pinochet only ends his criminal responsibility, but it doesn’t extinguish the responsibility of the collaborators, accomplices and cover-up artists who acted in concert with him,” said Hugo Gutierrez, an attorney specializing in rights cases.

Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990, had been facing corruption and human rights charges when he died.

The arrests ordered Thursday stemmed from the revelation in a U.S. Senate hearing three years ago that Pinochet had accumulated a fortune of more than $20 million in the former Riggs Bank in Washington.

The Pinochet family says the money came from legitimate donations and investments. Law enforcement authorities suspect it came from kickbacks.

The corruption allegations shocked many in Chile, where ordinary citizens and officials alike boast of a relatively graft-free country compared with corruption-riddled South American nations such as Argentina, Peru and Brazil.

Pinochet liked to describe himself as a patriot who “saved” his homeland from communism by staging a coup on Sept. 11, 1973, against democratically elected leftist President Salvador Allende. U.S. Senate hearings later implicated the Nixon administration in a campaign to undermine the Allende government.

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patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Special correspondent Vergara reported from Santiago and Times staff writer McDonnell from Buenos Aires.