By Tito Drago
SANTIAGO, Jan 30 2001 (IPS)

Chilean prosecuting Judge Juan Guzmán ordered the prosecution and house arrest of former dictator Augusto Pinochet Monday as the intellectual author of 57 homicides and 18 kidnappings of political prisoners committed by the so- called “death caravan” shortly after the 1973 coup.

The judge’s decision “is the most important achievement of our 27-year struggle,” said a visibly moved Viviana Díaz, president of the Group of Families of the Detained-Disappeared (AFDD). “Justice has begun to be done.”

The order for the prosecution and arrest of Pinochet “marks a watershed in the history of human rights,” said socialist parliamentary Deputy Juan Bustos, who is also one of the plaintiffs in the case against a special army mission, the “death caravan.”

The international watchdog Human Rights Watch also stated, at its New York headquarters Monday, that the prosecution of Pinochet constituted a “historic contribution to international justice.”

Pinochet ruled Chile with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990, after overthrowing the constitutional government of socialist president Salvador Allende. When he stepped down as army chief in 1998, the retired general immediately swore in as life senator. However, the Supreme Court stripped him of his parliamentary immunity late last year, thus paving the way for his prosecution.

Last Tuesday, Guzmán interrogated the 85-year-old former de facto leader, thus completing all of the requisite steps prior to the decision of whether or not to prosecute, a week after Pinochet underwent extensive psychiatric and neurological exams.

The controversial diagnosis of “slight to moderate vascular dementia” issued by seven of the eight professionals who examined Pinochet did not constitute grounds on which to declare the retired army chief unfit to stand trial, Guzmán stated in his resolution Monday.

Pinochet’s defence lawyers are preparing to appeal the judge’s decision. If the Appeals Court upholds the resolution, the former dictator’s defence counsel will take the case all the way to the Supreme Court. And the plaintiffs will do the same if the Appeals Court overrules the judge’s decision.

Guzmán’s resolution basically contains the same arguments with which he first ordered Pinochet’s arrest and prosecution on Dec 1 – a decision that was revoked by the Supreme Court, which instructed him to first order medical exams for Pinochet, and to question the retired general.

The numeration of the 18-page resolution handed down Monday by Guzmán begins at 5,868 – an indication of the size of the file on the “death caravan” case.

Pinochet declared himself innocent of all charges when he testified before the judge on Jan 23. His statements, however, were refuted by retired General Joaquín Lagos who, in an interview with public TV, urged the former dictator to assume responsibility for the events in question.

Guzmán concluded that the former dictator was directly responsible for the crimes committed by the “death caravan”, a special army mission that visited several Chilean cities in September and October 1973 under the command of General Sergio Arellano.

As official delegate of the commander-in-chief of the army – Pinochet – Arellano ordered the shooting and clandestine burial of 79 political prisoners. However, 18 of the bodies have never been found, and those cases have been legally classified as “kidnappings.”

In his testimony last week, Pinochet said the heads of the military divisions who, due to the state of siege, had authority over the detainees and the barracks and prisons where they were held, were responsible for the fate of the 79 opposition leaders.

However, the judge ruled that Arellano, as Pinochet’s official delegate, simply bypassed the division chiefs, which meant responsibility for the disappearances and murders of the political prisoners – who had been seized from the local military chiefs by the members of the “death caravan” – fell squarely on the shoulders of Arellano and Pinochet.

Due to the peculiar characteristics of the mission, it was impossible that Pinochet was unaware of the torture and murders committed by Arellano and his men, argued Guzmán in his resolution – especially since the then-commander-in-chief of the army was notified of the crimes in a timely manner by General Lagos, head of the Second Army Division in northern Chile at that time.

The former dictator’s son, Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, said the decision was only to be expected. “I believe the route of vengeance simply continued to be followed – the most logical route against a defenceless elderly, ill person.

“This is Chile’s payment, crucifying a man who gave himself entirely to a country that had hit rock bottom, and many other officers as well. I believe the thirst for vengeance remains strong, and it was sought based on a reasoning that distorts history,” he added.

“This is the payment given the man who kept communism out of Chile,” said retired General Luis Cortés Villa, executive secretary of the Pinochet Foundation, who issued a public call for support for the former dictator.

Pinochet heard the news of Guzmán’s decision in his country house in Bucalemu, some 80 kms west of Santiago, where he was taken by helicopter Saturday after being discharged from the Military Hospital, where he was under observation due to a strong headache.

Guzmán’s resolution was loudly celebrated by around 100 members of the AFDD who gathered around the courthouse. Díaz, the head of the human rights group, said “Jan 29 will go down in history as the day in which dictator Augusto Pinochet was prosecuted.

“For all of our companions who were executed, and for those bodies that have not yet been handed over to their families, this is a start,” added Díaz.

“This ruling is historic. It shows that everyone is equal before the law, and that no one is exempt from being brought to justice,” commented socialist Deputy Isabel Allende, the late president Allende’s daughter.

José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Americas, said Guzmán’s decision demonstrates “that no one is above the law in Chile,” and gives testimony to “the strength of Chilean democracy.”

The resolution “is a tremendous stride for justice” in the world, added Vivanco, who said “Judge Guzmán’s tenacity is admirable. He made every effort to be fair. No one can question the respect the courts showed for the rights of the accused in this case.”

In Spain, meanwhile, a source close to Judge Baltasar Garzón, who issued the arrest warrent for Pinochet that led to his 503-day house arrest in London from 1998 to 2000, told IPS in Spain that “this is what had to happen. If we had confidence in Spain’s justice system, there was no reason not to trust Chile’s.”

Spanish Judge Joan Garcés, who served as an adviser to Allende, and continues to preside over the case first filed against the former Chilean dictator in Spain in 1996, told IPS that “the lawsuits brought against Pinochet in Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Argentina helped prod Chilean authorities to pursue the crimes he committed.”

Trinidad Jiménez, secretary of international relations of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), phoned Isabel Allende to express her “immense joy” over Guzmán’s decision, and to reiterate her party’s support and solidarity.

Guzmán’s resolution “is a historic landmark for Chile,” which will put an end to impunity for dictators everywhere, Jiménez told IPS, adding that she believed Pinochet would be condemned, and that in the end, it did not matter if he actually went to prison or not.

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