||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||| ||| ||| A N T I F A ||| ||| ||| ||| I N F O - B U L L E T I N ||| ||| _____ ||| ||| ||| ||| * News * Analysis * Research * Action * ||| ||| ||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ***** ||/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\||/\|| || * -- SPECIAL -- * October 22, 1998 * -- EDITION -- * || ||\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/||\/|| * SPECIAL EDITION * * * * _________________________________________________________________ THE PINOCHET COUP: `EXPORT USA' _________________________________________________________________ * * * CONTENTS ------ 1. (NSA) NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE: Chile and the United States - Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, 1973-1976 2. (GRD) THE GUARDIAN [London]: Secret Files Bury Facts of CIA Dirty Tricks Against Allende's Regime 3. (IND) THE INDEPENDENT [London]: The Pinochet Affair - The Origins of a Dictatorship 4. (AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS: Investigative Judge Cites Grim Cases in Arrest Order Against Pinochet 5. (IPA) INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY: Pinochet Arrest Raises New Questions in Washington * * * AFIB EDITOR'S NOTE: Pinochet's October 16 arrest in London provides us with an opportunity to expose active US involvement in the creation of Chile's terror state. It opens a window onto an historical period hidden from the American people, one characterized by decades of US collaboration with nazi war criminals, international narco- traffickers and right-wing terrorists. Against a backdrop of corporate greed and ideological fanaticism, Chile's economy -- and people -- were "made to scream," in Richard Nixon's words. Below are a selection of documents and articles outlining US moves against the democratically-elected Allende government and subsequent maneuvers to conceal the US role. * * * * THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE * The Gelman Library, George Washington University 2130 H Street, NW, Suite 701 Washington, DC 20037 E-mail: nsarchiv@gwu.edu Web: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/ Tel: 202-994-7000 Fax: 202-994-7005 ----- http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm _________________________________________________________________ CHILE: DECALSSIFIED U.S. DOCUMENTS ON PINOCHET AND THE 1973 COUP _________________________________________________________________ By Peter Kornbluh * * * September 11, 1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. The violent overthrow of the democratically-elected Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende changed the course of the country that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda described as "a long petal of sea, wine and snow"; because of CIA covert intervention in Chile, and the repressive character of General Pinochet's rule, the coup became the most notorious military takeover in the annals of Latin American history. Revelations that President Richard Nixon had ordered the CIA to "make the economy scream" in Chile to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him," prompted a major scandal in the mid-1970s, and a major investigation by the U.S. Senate. Since the coup, however, few U.S. documents relating to Chile have been actually declassified -- until recently. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, and other avenues of declassification, the National Security Archive has been able to compile a collection of declassified records that shed light on events in Chile between 1970 and 1976. These documents include: * Cables written by U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry after Allende's election, detailing conversations with President Eduardo Frei on how to block the president-elect from being inaugurated. The cables contain detailed descriptions and opinions on the various political forces in Chile, including the Chilean military, the Christian Democrat Party, and the U.S. business community. * CIA memoranda and reports on "Project FUBELT" -- the codename for covert operations to promote a military coup and undermine Allende's government. The documents, including minutes of meetings between Henry Kissinger and CIA officials, CIA cables to its Santiago station, and summaries of covert action in 1970, provide a clear paper trail to the decisions and operations against Allende's government. * National Security Council strategy papers which record efforts to "destabilize" Chile economically, and isolate Allende's government diplomatically, between 1970 and 1973. * State Department and NSC memoranda and cables after the coup, providing evidence of human rights atrocities under the new military regime led by General Pinochet. * FBI documents on Operation Condor -- the state-sponsored terrorism of the Chilean secret police, DINA. The documents, including summaries of prison letters written by DINA agent Michael Townley, provide evidence on the carbombing assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington D.C., and the murder of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires, among other operations. These documents, and many thousands of other CIA, NSC, and Defense Department records that are still classified secret, remain relevant to ongoing human rights investigations in Chile, Spain and other countries, and unresolved acts of international terrorism conducted by the Chilean secret police. Eventually, international pressure, and concerted use of the U.S. laws on declassification will force more of the still-buried record into the public domain -- providing evidence for future judicial, and historical accountability. * * * _________________________________________________________________ CHILE AND THE UNITED STATES: DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE MILITARY COUP, 1973-1976 _________________________________________________________________ Department of State, U.S. Embassy Cables on the Election of Salvador Allende and Efforts to Block his Assumption of the Presidency, September 5-22, 1970: This series of eight cables, written by U.S. Ambassador to Chile, Edward Korry, record the reaction and activities of the U.S. Embassy after the election of Salvador Allende's Popular Unity coalition. Known as "Korrygrams," his reports contain some of the most candid, and at times undiplomatic, opinions and observations ever offered by a U.S. Ambassador. With titles such as "No Hope for Chile," and "Some Hope for Chile," Korry provides extensive details about political efforts to block Allende's ratification by the Chilean Congress. The cables report on the activities of Chile's political institutions in response to Allende's election and provide Korry's explicit assessments of the character of key Chilean leaders, particularly the outgoing president, Eduardo Frei. CIA, Notes on Meeting with the President on Chile, September 15, 1970: These handwritten notes, taken by CIA director Richard Helms, record the orders of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, to foster a coup in Chile. Helms' notes reflect Nixon's orders: l in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!; worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy; $10,000,00 available, more if necessary; full-time job--best men we have; game plan; make the economy scream; 48 hours for plan of action. This presidential directive initiates major covert operations to block Allende's ascension to office, and promote a coup in Chile. CIA, Genesis of Project FUBELT, September 16, 1970: These minutes record the first meeting between CIA director Helms and high agency officials on covert operations -- codenamed "FUBELT" -- against Allende. A special task force under the supervision of CIA deputy director of plans, Thomas Karamessines, is established, headed by veteran agent David Atlee Phillips. The memorandum notes that the CIA must prepare an action plan for National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger within 48 hours. CIA, Memorandum of Conversation of Meeting with Henry Kissinger, Thomas Karamessines, and Alexander Haig, October 15, 1970: This memcon records a discussion of promoting a coup in Chile, known as "Track II" of covert operations to block Allende. The three officials discuss the possibility that the plot of one Chilean military official, Roberto Viaux, might fail with "unfortunate repercussions" for U.S. objectives. Kissinger orders the CIA to "continue keeping the pressure on every Allende weak spot in sight." CIA, Operating Guidance Cable on Coup Plotting, October 16, 1970: In a secret cable, CIA deputy director of plans, Thomas Karamessines, conveys Kissinger's orders to CIA station chief in Santiago, Henry Hecksher: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup." The "operating guidance" makes it clear that these operations are to be conducted so as to hide the "American hand," and that the CIA is to ignore any orders to the contrary from Ambassador Korry who has not been informed of Track II operations. CIA, Cable Transmissions on Coup Plotting, October 18, 1970: These three cables between CIA headquarters in Langley, VA., and the CIA Station in Santiago address the secret shipment of weapons and ammunition for use in a plot to kidnap the Chilean military commander, General Rene Schneider. "Neutralizing" Schneider was a key prerequisite for a military coup; he opposed any intervention by the armed forces to block Allende's constitutional election. The CIA supplied a group of Chilean officers led by General Camilo Valenzuela with "sterile" weapons for the operation which was to be blamed on Allende supporters and prompt a military takeover. Instead, on October 22, General Schneider was killed by another group of plotters the CIA had been collaborating with, led by retired General Roberto Viaux. Instead of a coup, the military and the country rallied behind Allende's ratification by Chile's Congress on October 24. National Security Council, Options Paper on Chile (NSSM 97), November 3, 1970: A comprehensive secret/sensitive options paper, prepared for Henry Kissinger and the National Security Council on the day of Allende's inauguration, laid out U.S. objectives, interests and potential policy toward Chile. U.S. interests were defined as preventing Chile from falling under Communist control and preventing the rest of Latin America from following Chile "as a model." Option C -- maintaining an "outwardly cool posture" while working behind the scenes to undermine the Allende government through economic pressures and diplomatic isolation -- was chosen by Nixon. CIA operations and options are not included in this document. CIA, Briefing by Richard Helms for the National Security Council, Chile, November 6, 1970: This paper provides the talking points for CIA director Richard Helms to brief the NSC on the situation in Chile. The briefing contains details on the failed coup attempt on October 22 -- but does not acknowledge a CIA role in the assassination of General Rene Schneider. Helms also assesses Allende's "tenacious" character and Soviet policy toward Chile. Intelligence suggests that Chile's socialists, he informs council members, "will exercise restraint in promoting closer ties with Russia." National Security Council, National Security Decision Memorandum 93, Policy Towards Chile, November 9, 1970: This memorandum summarizes the presidential decisions regarding changes in U.S. policy toward Chile following Allende's election. Written by Henry Kissinger and sent to the Secretaries of State, Defense, the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Director of Central Intelligence, this memo directs U.S. agencies to adopt a "cool" posture toward Allende's government, in order to prevent his consolidation of power and "limit [his] ability to implement policies contrary to U.S. and hemisphere interests." The memo states that existing U.S. assistance and investments in Chile should be reduced, and no new commitments undertaken. Furthermore, according to Kissinger's memo, "close relations" should be established and maintained with military leaders throughout Latin America to facilitate coordination of pressure and other opposition efforts. CIA, Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970, November 18, 1970: The CIA prepared a summary of its efforts to prevent Allende's ratification as president and to foment a coup in Chile -- track I and track II covert operations. The summary details the composition of the Task Force, headed by David Atlee Phillips, the team of covert operatives "inserted individually into Chile," and their contacts with Col. Paul Winert, the U.S. Army Attache detailed to the CIA for this operation. It reviews the propaganda operations designed to push Chilean president Eduardo Frei to support "a military coup which would prevent Allende from taking office on 3 November." Department of State, Memorandum for Henry Kissinger on Chile, December 4, 1970: In response to a November 27 directive from Kissinger, an inter-agency Ad Hoc Working Group on Chile prepared this set of strategy papers covering a range of possible sanctions and pressures against the new Allende government. These included a possible diplomatic effort to force Chile to withdraw -- or be expelled -- from the Organization of American States as well as consultations with other Latin American countries "to promote their sharing of our concern over Chile." The documents show that the Nixon administration did engage in an invisible economic blockade against Allende, intervening at the World Bank, IDB, and Export-Import bank to curtail or terminate credits and loans to Chile before Allende had been in office for a month. Defense Intelligence Agency, Biographic Data on General Augusto Pinochet, August/September 1973: This DIA biographic summary covers the military career of the leader of Chile's military coup, General Augusto Pinochet. The DIA, an intelligence branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, routinely collects "Biographic Data" on all high military officials around the world. The heavy deletions are likely to conceal Chilean sources providing information on Pinochet, his own contacts with U.S. officials, and commentary on his character, reputation, political orientation and actions during his career. Department of Defense, U.S. Milgroup, Situation Report #2, October 1, 1973: In a situation report, U.S. Naval attache Patrick Ryan, reports positively on events in Chile during the coup. He characterizes September 11 as "our D-Day," and states that "Chile's coup de etat [sic] was close to perfect." His report provides details on Chilean military operations during and after the coup, as well as glowing commentary on the character of the new regime. Department of State, Chilean Executions, November 16, 1973: This memo, sent to the Secretary of State by Jack Kubisch, states that summary executions in the nineteen days following the coup totaled 320 -- more than three times the publicly acknowledged figure. At the same time, Kubisch reports on new economic assistance just authorized by the Nixon administration. The memo provides information about the Chilean military's justification for the continued executions. It also includes a situation report and human rights fact sheet on Chile. Department of State, Kubisch-Huerta Meeting: Request for Specific Replies to Previous Questions on Horman and Teruggi Cases, February 11, 1974: This telegram, written by Ambassador Popper and directed to the U.S. Secretary of State, reports on a meeting between Assistant Secretary of State Jack Kubisch, and Chile's foreign minister General Huerta on the controversy over two U.S. citizens -- Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi -- executed by the military after the coup. Kubisch notes that he is raising this issue "in the context of the need to be careful to keep relatively small issues in our relationship from making our cooperation more difficult." Department of Defense, Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) Expands Operations and Facilities, April 15, 1975: This heavily excised Intelligence Report from the Defense Attache in Santiago Chile, describes the growth of DINA, the national intelligence arm of the Chilean government and "the sole responsible agency for internal subversive matters." Many of the excised portions provide details about the strained relations between DINA and the Chilean Armed Forces because of DINA's exclusive power. The report states that the head of DINA, Colonel Manuel Contreras, "has reported exclusively to, and received orders only from, President Pinochet." National Security Council, Disarray in Chile Policy, July 1, 1975: This memorandum, from Stephen Low to President Ford's National Security Advisor, General Brent Scowcroft, conveys concern about wavering U.S. policy toward Chile in light of reports of human rights violations. The memo reveals a division within the U.S. embassy over dealing with Chile, with a number of officials now believing that all U.S. military and economic assistance should be terminated until the regime's human rights record improves. According to Low, by reducing aid and sending "mixed signals" to the Chileans, the United States risks precipitating a crisis situation in Chile. Low concludes his memo by recommending that Scowcroft schedule a special meeting in which U.S. agencies can "clarify guidelines for future policy." National Security Council, Chilean President's visit to U.S., August 8, 1975: This memorandum, written by Stephen Low of the National Security Council, calls Scowcroft's attention to Pinochet's plans to visit the United States, and his requested meeting with U.S. President Ford. The memo states that the NSC asked the U.S. Ambassador to Chile, David Popper, to discourage the meeting by telling the Chileans that President Ford's schedule is full. Fearing that such a visit would "stimulate criticism" and foster embarrassment, Low suggests an "informal talk" with Chile's Ambassador Trucco. FBI, Operation Condor Cable, September 28, 1976: This cable, written by the FBI's attache in Buenos Aires, Robert Scherrer, summarizes intelligence information provided by a "confidential source abroad" about Operation Condor, a South American joint intelligence operation designed to "eliminate Marxist terrorist activities in the area." The cable reports that Chile is the center of Operation Condor, and provides information about "special teams" which travel "anywhere in the world... to carry out sanctions up to assassination against terrorists or supporters of terrorist organizations." Several sections relating to these special teams have been excised. The cable suggests that the assassination of the Chilean Ambassador to the United States, Orlando Letelier, may have been carried out as an action of Operation Condor. FBI, Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA), January 21, 1982: This report provides a summary of information taken from prison letters written by Michael Townley, the DINA agent responsible for the assassination of Orlando Letelier. This report includes information not directly provided to the FBI by Townley, but drawn from analysis of his correspondence with his DINA handler: details about meetings between Chilean President Pinochet and Italian terrorists and spies, codenames and activities of DINA personnel, collaboration between DINA and anti-Castro Cubans; the creation of a fake terrorist organization to take the blame for a DINA kidnapping in Argentina; DINA involvement in relations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and Townley's fear that information about kidnappings and assassinations of prominent critics of Pinochet would somehow be traced back to him. The National Security Archive is an independent non- governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). ***** _________________________________________________________________ SECRET FILES BURY FACTS OF CIA DIRTY TRICKS AGAINST ALLENDE'S REGIME _________________________________________________________________ THE GUARDIAN Wednesday, 21 October 1998 http://reports.guardian.co.uk/articles/1998/10/21/28379.html By Michael Ellison in New York The CIA has a quotation from the Gospel of St John displayed proudly in the foyer of its Washington headquarters: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But the truth of the agency's involvement in the coup which brought Augusto Pinochet's regime to power 25 years ago is still not fully known. One fact, though, is certain - when classified papers on America's involvement are finally published, the freedom of the people of Chile will not figure strongly. Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security adviser, was unequivocal about the general principle guiding United States policy. "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people," he said. Salvador Allende, the first democratically elected Marxist in Latin America when he was elected president in November 1970, presented an ideological and economic affront to the Nixon regime. The answer was to pump $8 million and 400 'special advisers' into destabilising the unruly brat in America's backyard over the next three years. Nixon tried to prevent Allende's victory by ordering the CIA to 'make the economy scream'. Later, Kissinger told the CIA that "it is firm and continuing policy that Allende should be overthrown by a coup". Three years later he had his way and Allende was dead. CIA director Richard Helms told a Senate investigating committee in 1975 that his agents tried to bribe the Chilean Congress and its military, and paid extreme right- wing groups to assassinate General Rene Schneider, Chile's chief of staff. After Allende's inauguration, it set about undermining his government by backing strikes, promoting violence and initiating media smear campaigns. The coup came in September 1973, stimulated by the agency's success in creating social unrest. US Navy ships appeared off the coast of Chile and intelligence officers kept in touch with the leaders of the military takeover. Congress, the press and the trade unions were destroyed, 'subversive' books were burned, and up to 3,000 Chileans died in the subsequent seven-year reign of terror. Allende supporters were not safe even when they fled abroad. A year after the coup, General Carlos Prats, the former chief of staff, and his wife were blown nine storeys high in Buenos Aires. The CIA was well informed about the operation and even supplied Pinochet's secret police with a computer. Two years later the former diplomat Orlando Letelier was assassinated with a car bomb in Washington - an operation thought to be beyond Pinochet's henchmen working independently. In the United States, these matters are considered as history. In Argentina, as Allende's neice, Isabel, said recently, talk of the events of 25 years ago is taken to be in very bad taste. Copyright Guardian Media Group plc. 1998 ***** _________________________________________________________________ THE PINOCHET AFFAIR: THE ORIGINS OF A DICTATORSHIP _________________________________________________________________ THE INDEPENDENT Wednesday, 21 October 1998 http://www.independent.co.uk/stories/B2110807.html By Phil Davison EXACTLY how Chile's Marxist president Salvador Allende died during General Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup was never clear. Most people believe that he killed himself rather than surrender. But would Pinochet have let him live? A recently published book, Secret Interference, by a journalist, Patricia Verdugo, suggests that Pinochet may have wanted Allende killed. The book is based on transcripts of radio conversations between the general and his senior officers on the day of the coup. One recording was made while military jets were attacking the presidential palace. Allende remained inside, and was last seen in a photograph, wearing a combat helmet and carrying a rifle. On the tape, issued as a CD along with Ms Verdugo's book, Pinochet can be heard speaking to Vice-Admiral Patricio Carvajal, who tells the general that Allende wants to negotiate. On the tape, Pinochet replies: "Unconditional surrender! No negotiation! Unconditional surrender!" Carvajal: "Good. Understood. Unconditional surrender and he's taken prisoner. The offer is nothing more than to respect his life, shall we say?" Pinochet: "His life and . . . his physical integrity, and he'll be immediately dispatched to another place." Carvajal: "Understood. Now . . . in other words, the offer to take him out of the country is still maintained?" Pinochet: "The offer to take him out of the country is still maintained. If the plane falls, old boy, when it's in flight ..." Carvajal: (laughter) Some opponents of Pinochet were later reportedly thrown from aircraft into the ocean. A few hours after the bombardment, Carvajal reports to Pinochet that Allende has been found dead in his palace office. Pinochet at first talks of "sticking [the body] in a coffin and putting it on a plane with the family and sending it to Cuba". Later, he talks of "burying [it] secretly," which military officers eventually did. Once he has decided what to do with the body, Pinochet tells Carvajal: "Boy, even dying, this guy caused problems!" Copyright 1998 Independent Newspapers [UK] Ltd. ***** _________________________________________________________________ INVESTIGATIVE JUDGE CITES GRIM CASES IN ARREST ORDER AGAINST PINOCHET _________________________________________________________________ DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer AP.international (10-21) 22:14:47 MADRID, Spain (AP) -- In the Spanish judge's arrest order against Augusto Pinochet, the accounts are chilling. Men vanish from city streets in front of their wives and children. People are dragged from their beds. A pregnant woman is hauled off to a police station and never heard from again. With these abuses, Judge Baltasar Garzon makes a case for extraditing the former Chilean dictator from London, where he was arrested Friday, to face trial in Spain on charges of genocide, torture and terrorism. In an initial arrest warrant, Garzon cited only one specific victim. But in an addendum released Tuesday and sent to Britain, he outlined how 94 people died or disappeared at the hands of Chile's military junta leaders and Argentine cohorts from 1976-83. They were allegedly victims of Operation Condor, a campaign by South American military juntas, including Pinochet's, to crush dissent. Victims came from a variety of countries, including Argentina, the United States, Britain and others, Garzon's order says. Garzon's arrest order states that under Operation Condor, Pinochet, as head of state and the military in Chile, ``carried out criminal activities in coordination with Argentine military authorities ... issuing orders for the physical elimination of people, and the torture, kidnapping and disappearance of others.'' His case puts forward that Pinochet and the Argentine generals made a systematic, organized attempt to wipe out political opponents because of their ideological beliefs and that this amounts to genocide, according to lawyers working with Garzon. All but a few of the 94 victims cited in Garzon's document were Chileans living in Argentina, like Jose Luis Appel de la Cruz. He was kidnapped by armed civilians on Jan. 10, 1977, as he walked down a street in the Argentine town of Cipolletti with his wife, Carmen Delard, and their daughter. ``Carmen Delard disappeared at the police station in that town when she went to report her husband's disappearance,'' the arrest order says. A week later in Buenos Aires, Delard's sister, Gloria Delard, was arrested at her home along with her husband Roberto Cristi and their two children. ``Gloria Delard was pregnant with her third child. Federal Police agents took them to the Navy School of Mechanics, where they disappeared,'' the order says. That school was one of the most notorious torture centers run by Argentina's military juntas. The evidence in Garzon's order was based on the report produced by the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, appointed by former Chilean President Patricio Aylwin. The report was published in 1991 and identified 3,197 victims of state-sanctioned killings committed under the Pinochet regime -- including 1,102 who are still unaccounted for and presumed dead. That includes some 125 who killed abroad, mostly in Argentina but also former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier in Washington in 1976. The majority of the cases contained in the report detail killings and disappearances within Chile, but also among the victims were several Spanish citizens whose cases triggered the initial Spanish investigation. ``Thousands of people were killed under Pinochet's mandate and many of them were Spanish so why shouldn't the Spanish courts get involved?'' Isabel Allende was quoted as saying to the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguadia. She is the daughter of President Salvador Allende, who died the night Pinochet's forces staged the bloody takeover, and has the same name as her well- known cousin, writer Isabel Allende. Possibly the best-known case was that of Carmelo Soria, a 54-year-old Spaniard working for the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America. His body was found inside his car after it plunged into a canal in a Santiago suburb in 1976. Soria is believed to have been arrested on July 15, 1976, by members of DINA, Pinochet's secret police. He was taken to a house in the Andean foothills near Santiago where he died of torture. Investigators determined that Pincohet's agents tried to make the killing look like a car accident. In evidence submitted to the Spanish investigations, Spanish prosecutors said Soria was targeted because he was believed to have helped several people leave Chile to escape persecution by the regime. In 1996, a Chilean court ruled that the secret police were protected by the country's amnesty and could not be tried for Soria's killing. Pinochet, who relinquished power in 1990 to a civilian regime after 17 years of authoritarian rule, cannot be prosecuted at home because he has immunity as a senator-for-life. Garzon says, though, that Spanish law allows him to prosecute genocide no matter where it occurred or the nationality of the victims. Spain's attorney general's office, however, insists he is wrong and has lodged an objection to his arrest order and the entire investigation. The National Court that Garzon works under is expected to rule shortly on the objection and, consequently, the future of the entire case. ``If in Spain the law permits (his) trial, hopefully that will happen. It's a pity it couldn't happen in Chile,'' Allende's daughter told la Vanguardia. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. ***** * INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY * 915 National Press Building Washington, D.C. 20045 Tel: (202) 347-0020 Web: http://www.accuracy.org - Monday, 19 October 1998 - ----- _________________________________________________________________ PINOCHET ARREST RAISES NEW QUESTIONS IN WASHINGTON _________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release WASHINGTON -- The arrest of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet has focused new attention on the record of his regime, which remained in power for 17 years after the 1973 coup that toppled Chile's democratically elected government. Some pointed questions are being raised about the Washington-based Cato Institute's current embrace of Jose Pinera, who was Chile's Minister of Labor and Social Security from 1978 to 1980 and is now co-chair of the prominent think tank's Project on Social Security Privatization. "Pinera was the Pinochet dictatorship's labor minister at a time when the country's trade union movement was suffering one of its worst periods of repression," said Larry Birns, a former senior public affairs officer for the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America in Santiago, Chile. Birns recalled that "workers were seeing the dismantling of their rights." Birns added: "Pinera was a vital cog in the Pinochet dictatorship's ability to implement a draconian labor code. It is simply outrageous for the Cato Institute to have him as co-chair of its Social Security privatization effort. This is an example of crime without punishment and reflects the conservative organization's contempt for the suffering imposed on Chile's population during the Pinochet era." The London Sunday Times yesterday cited documentation that 3,197 people "were murdered for political reasons" by Pinochet's regime "and more than 1,000 are still unaccounted for. Tens of thousands were imprisoned or exiled, but often Pinochet's assassins would follow them." For further background on Pinera and his role in the Pinochet dictatorship, please contact: * LARRY BIRNS, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs based in Washington, D.C.; coha@coha.org, http://www.coha.org * JOSE PINERA, Co-Chair of the Project on Social Security Privatization, the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. For perspectives on Pinochet's regime and human rights in Chile, please contact: * KATHLEEN VICKERY, a longtime researcher on politics and human rights in Chile, where she lived from 1989 to 1995; kvickery@igc.org * CLAUDIO DURAN, a former political prisoner in Chile during the Pinochet regime and currently a Ph.D candidate at Stanford University; ceduran@leland.stanford.edu * GLORIA LOYOLA BLACK, a Chilean living in the U.S. who worked for the Organization of American States for 18 years; davidb4799@aol.com For more information, contact the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 * * * ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, material appearing in Antifa Info-Bulletin is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes. 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