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Council On Hemispheric Affairs
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Monitoring
Political, Economic and Diplomatic Issues Affecting the Western Hemisphere
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Memorandum to the Press 04.74
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Word Count: 1650
Tuesday, 19 October
2004
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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.
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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.
TO READ THE ENTIRE TEXT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE, CLICK HERE
This analysis was
prepared by Rebecca Evans PhD, COHA Senior Research Fellow.
October 19, 2004
The Council on Hemispheric
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