Pinochet

     The discovery near Concepción of mass graves of Pinochet's victims will increase pressure on the Chilean government to bring him to trial. Hugh O'Shaughnessy, author of Pinochet, the Politics of Torture published by New York University Press, has demanded that he be brought to trial, although he simply wants him formally condemned, not punished. Many WAISers like Sal Bizzarro want at least that. On the other hand, some, like Dwight Peterson who ran a bank in Chile and Carlos López of Chile, who knew the situation from inside Chile, are more understanding of what happened in Chile. A WAIS expert on Chile, James Whelan, who is completing what may become the definitive book on Pinochet, once shared the platform with Margaret Thatcher at a meeting defending him. It is hard after the end of the Cold War to understand the mentality of Chileans deeply concerned that their country was being run by a Quixotic character for whom visiting Fidel Castro was his Dulcinea. Don Quixote was dismayed when Dulcinea turned out to be a peasant girl who smelt of garlic. Allende did not live to smell Fidel's garlic. Nor to hear Pinochet´s gunshots.

Ronald Hilton - 3/26/00