Gen. Augusto Pinochet died earlier this month. The former Chilean dictator was, of course, the spiritual father of South American fascism. Like Milosevic before him, Pinochet needed the divine intervention of death to escape human justice.
His regime was guilty of politicide, as is well-known. But in addition to being responsible for mass murder, he was accused by police of being corrupt, of being a thief. Pinochet was both a special class of criminal and a common one.
Because his dictatorship "disappeared" (ie: killed) tens of thousands of Chileans without any legal procedure whatsoever, tortured many others and instilled a merciless reign of terror over the country, you might think that the general was a macho, tough guy. But it turns out that he was really a sensitive, fragile flower in touch with his emotions.
A posthumous letter from the despot was published recently.
He noted, "I have left no room for hatred in my heart."
How very kind of him. Fortunately for his family, the old man himself was not "disappeared" so they could hold proper ceremonies for him. The families of the thousands of Pinochet's victims who did not have that privilege might still have a little room left in their heart for the killer, unrepentant and defiant to the end.
He claimed that had his military not interverned to topple the democratic socialist government of the day, "the military action would have resulted in many years of negative, extremely painful consequences for the people."
Well thank goodness the Chilean people were spared 'many years of negative, extremely painful consequences.'
I'm sure Chile's current president, thrown in Pinochet's Gulag when she was a young girl, is thrilled to have avoided 'negative, extremely painful consequences.'
But there is one comment that stuck out:
"My destiny is a kind of banishment and loneliness that I would have never imagined, much less wanted," sniffed the butcher.
I'm not sure which word most accurately describes the above wail: clueless, pathetic or galling.
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