- guardian.co.uk,
- Wednesday January 12 2000 12:16 GMT
The dictator must be laughing in his luxury mansion, no doubt reminiscing about the ignominious glory days when he ordered the secret police to kill, torture, rape and maim. He must be cruelly smiling, the same way he did when we were violently thrown into a smelly, claustrophobic armoured vehicle to be driven to a concentration camp. Blindfolded, our hands and feet bound with barbed wire, we thought the military were going to execute us. Amidst the unbearable heat we could clearly make out a distant cry, a friendly whisper, a lonely tear. We could touch the tearing memories of our childhood, the pouring rain, the amazing wind blowing through the plum trees, our first kiss behind the church doorway. We could smell life amidst death, but we were not in control of our destinies, because for 17 years Pinochet held sway over the Chilean people's lives.
Our sole dream was to have a waterfall full of sparrows and blue butterflies. Instead we got torture centres. All we wanted was a rainbow kissed by silver seagulls and red toucans. Instead, we got death squads. We got Pinochet.
The British government has accepted "unequivocal and unanimous" medical evidence that Pinochet is unable to stand trial in Spain on charges of torture. The British government is not alone: its Chilean counterpart has been fighting to have the dictator released ever since he was arrested in London in October 1998. In fact, in the traditional address to Congress in May last year, President Eduardo Frei promised MPs and the Chilean people at large that Gen Pinochet would be released before the end of his mandate in March 2000. What did President Frei know seven months ago that ordinary people did not?
Whatever negotiations were under way at the time, when Jack Straw announced his decision Frei proudly declared: "We have done our job". Shame on him, shame on all those who have defended the dictator with more passion and devotion than they have devoted to defending his victims. It is not only preposterous, but also utterly monstrous that the man who ordered the disappearance of thousands of our brothers and sisters is returning home. He will be able to enjoy the summer breeze, the green ocean and the scent of apricots, while the disappeared have no shadow, no eyes, no past or future.
Their dreams were shattered by the dictator's assassins; by all those who remained silent while the whole country was bleeding to death. Joaquín Lavín is one of these. He is the rightwing candidate standing for president at next Sunday's elections. His political alliance has striven to distance itself from Gen Pinochet in order to capture the popular vote. That is no doubt why their reaction to the dictator's impending liberation has so far been very cautious. There have been no street celebrations or arrogant public statements.
This will change, of course, if Pinochet returns after the elections, for then Lavín and the right will have no qualms about showing their true nature. Until now Lavín has been sold to the electorate as a detergent: the whitest, the purest and most efficient, ecological and biodegradable. During the two-month campaign he has dressed as a peasant, a miner, a worker and a fisherman. He has sung, danced and given away a thousand smiles. He was - and still is - a clown, but a very dangerous one, for in a matter of seconds he can turn into a trapeze artist, an acrobat, a contortionist, a juggler or a lion tamer simply to go on deceiving our people. But make no mistake, Joaquín Lavín was and is an active supporter of Gen Pinochet and his dictatorship.
Ricardo Lagos, the ruling party presidential candidate, was a well known opponent of the military. However, as part of the ruling coalition he has defended Gen Pinochet's right to return home. In fact, the dictator's release as a direct result of Chilean government intervention may hamper his chances of maintaining the slight advantage over Lavín that he obtained during the first round of voting in December. Many leftwing electors who voted for Lagos - a liberal social democrat - to prevent Lavín from winning, may think twice before giving their vote away to someone who has helped to release the man who killed, tortured or kidnapped their relatives and friends.
To appease his supporters Lagos said that if a crime had been committed, Pinochet should be tried in Chile. Nonetheless, and despite the fact that 55 lawsuits against the dictator are currently being investigated by the Chilean judge Juan Guzmán, very few people believe that Pinochet will ever be brought to justice in our country. He is far too powerful. Besides, he is still a senator of the republic and therefore immune from prosecution, although human rights lawyers have begun legal proceedings to get his immunity lifted.
The most likely scenario is that Pinochet will retire from public life. But no matter what he does when he gets to Chile and whatever the British home secretary says, he is not innocent. He is being sent home on "humanitarian" grounds, not because he has been tried and found not guilty. He may be 200 years old and sit in a wheelchair, but I have no compassion for him; as long as he breathes, as long as his heart beats, as long as blood runs through his veins, we will strive for justice. Then and only then can we paint the sky with the colours of a new beginning.
Tito Tricot
Chile
January 2000
