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WHEN someone dies, there is usually an attempt to paint them in a good light and to highlight some of their better qualities.
But in the case of Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 16 years, that's almost impossible. He was brutal, arrogant, and even as he approached death there was no sign of remorse.
In his final television interview, he described himself as an "angel" after running a military government that during 16 years killed some 3000 political opponents and tortured more than 28,000, according to official government investigations.
Having lived and worked as a journalist for five years in Chile, my main reaction to the news of his death was a sense of relief.
Hopefully now this South American nation can get on – try to unify – and one day emerge from his long, dark shadow.
But as the violent clashes between police and people celebrating his death demonstrate, the country has a long way to go.
Like most foreigners, when I arrived in Chile in the middle of 2000, my view of Chile was dominated by General Pinochet.
I had seen the footage of him having afternoon tea with the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and celebrating as he returned home after 17 months of house arrest in Britain.
What struck me when I arrived in the capital, Santiago, was the large number of Chileans who said they were Pinochet supporters.
It seemed almost every second taxi-driver wanted to tell me how Pinochet had saved Chile from communism and that those who were killed were "bad people".
Wealthier supporters of Pinochet used to tell me that Chile's miracle economy today was only possible because of Pinochet and his reforms.
But by the time I left Chile in late 2005, his reputation in Chile was in ruins.
It was publicly embarrassing to be associated with him and his former allies were running for cover. What killed his reputation in his homeland was evidence of corruption, with millions of dollars stored away in secret offshore accounts.
He and his family had more than 100 foreign bank accounts and Pinochet himself had four false passports.
On top of this, there was further evidence of the regime's brutality with the release of the national report into torture. There was horrific evidence of how the regime abused prisoners with details of methods used such as burning, electric shock treatment and sexual abuse – including of children.
One of the most impressive people I met in Chile was a woman, Laura Elgueta, whose brother was murdered. She was tortured but survived. She spoke of the cold, stinking detention centre where she was chained to the wall and where women were serially raped. Horrific stuff.
Most impressively, she was getting on with her life, had a good job and was still fighting for justice.
There were thousands of others like her in Chile whose lives had been shattered by Pinochet's military government.
But as a journalist, covering the legal cases against the general, I never thought the "smoking gun" would emerge directly linking him to murder. After listening to hours of evidence a picture emerged of a ruthless, manipulative leader who was much too cunning to be directly linked to "dirty work".
The galling thing is that Pinochet lived as a free man until the end in a sprawling mansion in outer Santiago, even though many of his lieutenants were found guilty and imprisoned.
There were times when he was placed under house arrest but he always got his freedom back.
He was charged several times with crimes against humanity but never convicted and never jailed.
Justice never caught up with Augusto Pinochet. |
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