Press Memorandum: Pinochet's and the Chilean Military's Tarnished Legacy

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Council On Hemispheric Affairs
Monitoring Political, Economic and Diplomatic Issues Affecting the Western Hemisphere
Memorandum to the Press 04.74

Word Count: 1650

Tuesday, 19 October 2004

 

COHA OPINION:
This essay was authored by COHA Senior Research Fellow Rebecca Evans, PhD. Dr. Evans is also on the Politics and International Relations faculty at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA.

 

Pinochet’s and the Chilean Military’s Tarnished Legacy

Chilean Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet is a former exile and daughter of a legendary air force general who was tortured to death by the Pinochet regime for opposing the coup. On September 30, she participated in a solemn ceremony marking the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of another general killed by the military regime, former commander-in-chief Carlos Prats. Bachelet joined Chile’s current commander in chief, General Juan Emilio Cheyre, who has been widely praised for proclaiming that the military must “never again” allow political enemies to be slaughtered and for declaring that the military was not the heir of any particular regime. While General Cheyre has gone further than other high-ranking military officials in admitting military culpability for systematic human rights violations under the dictatorship, he has simultaneously sought to put the past behind in the mind of the nation while restoring the military’s reputation. The past, however, refuses to easily fade away, as can be clearly seen in renewed efforts to bring former dictator Augusto Pinochet to trial. Whereas Pinochet was able to artfully avoid standing trial in the past, his prospects appear much weaker this time around and regardless of his legal fate, the general’s historical legacy is certain to be justly tarnished by the scrolling of his human rights violations and corruption charges that can only serve to smirch him.

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This analysis was prepared by Rebecca Evans PhD, COHA Senior Research Fellow.

October 19, 2004

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