Former Chilean Dictator Pinochet Dead At 91
Posted December 10, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Pinochet led the military coup that saw leftist President Salvador Allende ousted from office and killed in 1973. The former general ruled Chile with an iron fist until 1990 and was under house arrest at the time of his heart attack earlier this month for his alleged role in the death of two of Allende’s bodyguards.
Many Chileans view him as a brutal dictator who forced thousands of citizens to flee the country, fearing punishment for their allegiance to Allende, while others credit him for saving the South American nation from Marxism.
Doctors at a Chilean military hospital said Pinochet died surrounded by his family.
The former military ruler had been in ill health for several years. He was diabetic and underwent bypass surgery following a Dec. 3 heart attack. Accusations of human rights abuses, fraud and corruption followed him into old age and on his birthday last month, apparently aware his end was near, he issued a statement accepting “political responsibility” for the acts committed during his rule.
There were lengthy efforts to bring Pinochet to trial for alleged human rights violations during his 17-year hold on power, but his lawyers successfully argued he was too frail to face the charges.
The former leader stepped down as president in 1990 but remained Commander-In-Chief of the military until 1998. When he finally relinquished that post he then created a new position for himself in the Chilean government as senator for life.
Pinochet was arrested a year later in London and held in detention for a year after Spain issued an extradition request. He returned to Chile in 2000 and in 2001 a Chilean court ruled the former dictator was fit to stand trial for human rights abuses, but that decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
In 2004 it was revealed that he had apparently stashed some $27 million in secret off-shore accounts. That allegation was still being investigated at the time of his death.
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