Home Tags Posts tagged with "augusto pinochet"
augusto pinochet
Ricardo Izurieta, Chile’s ex-army commander, has passed away at his home aged 71.
Gen. Ricardo Izurieta succeeded Augusto Pinochet as army commander in 1998, during the country’s difficult transition towards democracy.
In a statement, the army praised Ricardo Izurieta for uniting Chilean society.
He helped set up a human rights commission to investigate serious abuses committed during military rule.
The commission’s work led the military to admit that it had dropped the bodies of political prisoners into the sea during the dictatorship.
Lieutenant-General Ricardo Izurieta took over from General Augusto Pinochet as commander-in-chief of the Army in March 1998
Ricardo Izurieta took over from Gen. Augusto Pinochet as commander-in-chief of the Army in March 1998 and stayed in the post until 2002.
Augusto Pinochet had seized power in a coup in 1973 and stood down as president in 1990. But remained as army commander for another eight years.
During the 1973-1990 period Augusto Pinochet led the brutal persecution to supporters of the deposed Socialist President, Salvador Allende.
According to official figures, 40,018 people were victims of human rights abuses in the Pinochet years and 3,065 were killed or disappeared.
Ricardo Izurieta was appointed to replace Augusto Pinochet as army commander by Chile’s democratically-elected President, Eduardo Frei.
“He united the army and the whole Chilean society, without excluding anyone,” the army said in a statement.
The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, also praised Gen. Ricardo Izurieta role in Chile’s democratic transition.
“He was someone I could rely on in difficult times,” said Jose Miguel Insulza, who was forced to leave Chile after the 1973 coup.
Ricardo Izurieta will be buried at the Military Academy in Santiago on Tuesday. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Augusto Pinochet died in hospital in December 2006, aged 91.
In October 1998, he was arrested while on holiday in London.
The Spanish government sought to put Augusto Pinochet on trial in Madrid over the deaths of its citizens in Chile, but he was released and returned to Santiago in March 2000.
Ricardo Izurieta was at the Air Force base in Santiago to welcome his former commander.
[youtube O8jYAatvMLU 650]
Six victims of Augusto Pinochet’s military government have been reburied in Chile more than 40 years after they were killed.
The remains of the six men were discovered in an unmarked grave in 1992.
The men were among dozens of people killed by a military unit in late 1973, just weeks after General Augusto Pinochet came to power in a coup.
His officials flew around the country in helicopters, and executed political prisoners by firing squad.
Carlos Berger, Carlos Escobedo, Luis Moreno, Hernan Moreno, Mario Arguelles and Jeronimo Carpanchay were killed in the northern Chilean city of Calama.
Journalist Carlos Berger was murdered on October 19, 1973, by the infamous Caravan of Death during General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (photo MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images)
Carlos Berger, a lawyer and journalist, had been arrested on September 11, 1973, after refusing to broadcast a government message at the radio station where he worked.
His and the other men’s remains were identified after extensive forensic tests in Europe, and finally buried in a ceremony at the main cemetery in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
The six men were murdered by what became known as the Caravan of Death, in one of the most notorious episodes of the Pinochet government.
General Augusto Pinocher sent the “delegation” of military men to Chile’s provincial towns because he was reportedly annoyed that some commanders there had been “soft” on political opponents.
The Caravan of Death is thought to have killed 97 opponents of the military coup.
According to official figures, 40,018 people were victims of human rights abuses during the 1973-1990 Pinochet government and 3,065 were killed or disappeared
Michelle Bachelet has won Chilean presidential election for a second time, defeating her run-off rival Evelyn Matthei by a wide margin.
With nearly 90% of the vote counted, leftist Michelle Bachelet had 62% to 38% for Evelyn Matthei, a former minister from the ruling centre-right coalition.
Michelle Bachelet first served as president between 2006 and 2010, after which she was obliged by electoral laws to stand down.
She narrowly missed out on outright victory in the first round last month.
“I am happy with the result and victory and I shall be a president for everyone in Chile,” Michelle Bachelet, 62, said as she received a congratulatory telephone call from outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, according to Reuters.
At a speech to supporters, Michelle Bachelet said: “I am proud to be your president-elect today. I am proud of the country we’ve built but I am even more proud of the country we will build.”
Michelle Bachelet has won Chilean presidential election for a second time, defeating her run-off rival Evelyn Matthei by a wide margin
She is now set to become the first leader in Chile to serve two terms since the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet in 1973 to 1990.
Upon hearing the news, her supporters have been celebrating on the streets by waving flags and sounding car horns in the capital Santiago.
“It is clear at this point. She won. And we congratulate her. Later on, I will go speak with her personally,” Evelyn Matthei, 60, told reporters.
Official results of Sunday’s run-off are expected soon. Turnout appears to have been lower than expected.
A pediatrician by training, Michelle Bachelet won 47% of the vote in the first round on November 17. Evelyn Matthei secured 25%.
Michelle Bachelet leads an alliance of her Socialist Party, Christian Democrats and Communists and has campaigned on policies designed to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
Chile is one of the richest countries in Latin America, but millions have staged protests over the past few years to push for a wider distribution of wealth and better education.
Michelle Bachelet wants to increase taxes to offer free university education and reform political and economic structures dating from the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Evelyn Matthei, 60, entered the race after two candidates of the centre-right alliance resigned earlier this year – one for alleged financial irregularities, the other one after struggling with depression. She has called for a continuation of the policies of outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, asserting that Chileans are “better off” now than when he came to power four years ago.
[youtube IeQQQmFfoaU 650]
Left-wing candidate Michelle Bachelet appears as the favorite in the presidential run-off in Chile.
She faces Evelyn Matthei, a former minister in the governing centre-right coalition.
Michelle Bachelet, who was president in 2006-10, won the first round last month, but failed to secure an outright majority.
The contenders are the daughters of air force generals, once friends, who found themselves on opposite sides when General Augusto Pinochet seized power in 1973.
Polls across Chile are due to open at 08:00 local time and will close 10 hours later.
A paediatrician by training, Michelle Bachelet, 62, won 47% of the vote in the first round on November 17. Evelyn Matthei secured 25%.
Everything suggests Michelle Bachelet will comfortably win the run-off.
She leads an alliance of her Socialist Party, Christian Democrats and Communists and has campaigned on policies designed to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
Left-wing candidate Michelle Bachelet faces Evelyn Matthei, a former minister in the governing centre-right coalition
Chile is one of the richest countries in Latin America, but millions have staged protests over the past few years to push for a wider distribution of wealth and better education.
Michelle Bachelet wants to increase taxes to offer free university education and reform political and economic structures dating from the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990.
Her manifesto this time is much more radical than before, our correspondent says.
Michelle Bachelet was constitutionally barred from serving a second successive term but was very popular when she left office.
Evelyn Matthei, 60, entered the race after two candidates of the centre-right alliance resigned earlier this year – one for alleged financial irregularities, the other one after struggling with depression.
She has called for a continuation of the policies of outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, asserting that Chileans are “better off” now than when he came to power four years ago.
As children in the 1950s, the current rivals were neighbors and used to play together on the airbase where their fathers worked.
Evelyn Matthei’s father, Fernando, rose through the ranks to run a military school.
Michelle Bachelet’s father, Alberto, who was given a job in the Socialist administration overthrown by General Pinochet, died of a heart attack in 1974.
An investigation concluded that the 51-year-old general probably died of heart problems aggravated by torture at the military academy.
A judge ruled earlier this year that General Fernando Matthei had no knowledge of or involvement in the torture.
The Chilean lower house of congress and half the senate are also being elected.
[youtube bq4MZvnXJ5M 650]
High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been cleared by Supreme Court for violating a 1977 amnesty law with his investigation of Franco-era crimes.
Baltasar Garzon had been accused by two right-wing groups of overstepping his powers by trying to prosecute crimes committed between 1936 and 1975.
He said crimes against humanity should not be subject to an amnesty.
Earlier this month, Baltasar Garzon was suspended from the bench for 11 years after being found guilty of illegal phone tapping.
Baltasar Garzon, 56, has vowed to fight that conviction. He faces a third trial, brought by private parties, which involves allegations that he took bribes.
The judge is best known worldwide for helping to secure the arrest of the former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998.
But he is a controversial figure who divides opinion in Spain, say observers.
High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been cleared by Supreme Court for violating a 1977 amnesty law with his investigation of Franco-era crimes
Baltasar Garzon’s supporters on the left view him as a champion of human rights and justice, but his detractors believe he is a politically-motivated publicity-seeker.
Seven Supreme Court judges cleared Baltasar Garzon on the basis that his investigations into Franco-era crimes were defensible in legal terms.
But although it is a significant decision in a significant case, Baltasar Garzon’s suspension from the bar in the earlier case means he will not be able to continue with the investigation.
Baltasar Garzon decided in 2008 to investigate the disappearance of tens of thousands of people during the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, including ordering the excavation of mass graves.
The move provoked fierce criticism and anger from those on the right who argued that the point of the 1977 amnesty was to allow Spain to forget the alleged crimes of that era, and move on.
Two groups – Clean Hands, and Liberty and Identity – who brought the case against him said they did so because Baltasar Garzon had “reopened wounds which we Spaniards – whatever our political beliefs – had totally recovered from”.
But some of Baltasar Garzon’s greatest supporters during his court hearing have been the relatives of those who disappeared, who had pinned their hopes for justice on his investigations.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers’ conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid.
The judge has been banned from the legal profession for 11 years.
Baltasar Garzon, 56, is best known for his efforts to extradite the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from London to face trial in Madrid.
He is also accused of exceeding his authority by wanting to investigate Franco-era disappearances.
That would violate a 1977 amnesty on crimes committed during General Franco’s rule.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers' conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid
Baltasar Garzon believes that no amnesty can cover crimes against humanity.
The judge also faces a third charge, of allegedly dropping an investigation into the head of Spain’s biggest bank, Santander, after receiving payments for a course sponsored by the bank. No date has been set for that trial.
The prosecutions have been brought by private parties.
Seven judges at the Supreme Court in Madrid have been hearing the evidence.
