Museum to Chile's Pinochet sickens victims

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Museum to Chile's Pinochet sickens victims
Fri Dec 12, 2008 9:29pm GMT

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Family and friends of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet quietly inaugurated a museum in his memory on Friday, replete with uniforms and medals he wore, to the horror of victims of his rule.

Among items displayed at the new Pinochet Foundation museum in an upscale quarter of the capital, Santiago, are the last uniform he used as commander in chief of the Chilean Army along with dozens of his medals.

"I am happy because this is a way of doing some justice to what he represented and what he did," said Lucia Hiriart, his widow, flanked by family and some former ministers and retired military. The event was low-key.

Pinochet led a bloody coup against the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973, ushering in 17 years of dictatorship in which 3,000 people died or disappeared and around 28,000 were tortured.

Victims of his rule, some of whom complain the wheels of justice turn too slowly in Chile, were disgusted.



Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4BB6TH20081212?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[Judi Lynn]

1. Images of Nixon/Kissinger's Chilean ally, dictator Augusto Pinochet:

Kissinger, left, with Pinochet (facing camera)

http://www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us.nyud.net:8090/156220111411543190/lib/156220111411543190/pinochet_junta.jpg

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com.nyud.net:8090/files/images/pinochet_coffin.jpg

Pinochet funeral

http://laspoliticas.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2007/10/pinochet.jpg

http://www.lasegunda.com.nyud.net:8090/especiales/AlbumDe/vida_enfotos/pinochet/3a.jpg http://www.lanacion.cl.nyud.net:8090/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20050810/asocfile/ASOCFILE2020050810123814.jpg

Pinochet, and his lovely wife, Lucia Hiriart

[amdezurik]

2. so, Lucia, he "represented"

death, treason, rape, drug smuggers and clid murder...and you are proud of that?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

11. You forgot increased the gap between the rich and poor and trashed their economy

[Judi Lynn]

3. How to Remember Pinochet

Published on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
How to Remember Pinochet
by Katherine Roberts Hite and Eliana Loveluck
\
~snip~
General Augusto Pinochet’s ashes have barely been scattered and already the debate in Chile has begun over how he should be
Even major US newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal counsel that while the man who ran Chile for seventeen years was no friend of human rights, he nevertheless “righted” the country. They ask us to consider a more “complicated” story of Pinochet’s place in history. These newspaper editorials claim that thanks to Pinochet, democracy now flourishes in Chile. According to their argument, somehow the renowned dictator paved the way for the democrats that followed his 17-year rule.

But consider the following:

The Chilean government denied Pinochet a state funeral because he was under indictment—and house arrest at the time of his heart attack—for the murders of Chilean men and women and for the embezzlement of tens of millions of dollars. Chilean president Michelle Bachelet said that a state funeral for Pinochet would be an assault on the Chilean conscience.

While Pinochet supporters mourned the dictator at his service at the Military College, thousands of other Chileans participated in an alternative commemoration and protest at the monument to Salvador Allende, Chile’s democratically-elected president overthrown by Pinochet in a bloody coup d’etat. As they mourned the death of democracy those many years ago, they also resurrected the memory of Pinochet’s victims.

Who were the victims? The musician, Victor Jara, whose hands were broken at the Chile Stadium, where thousands of prisoners were held in those first few weeks of terror after the coup, who was then shot and killed, his body dumped unidentified in a morgue. The university professor who taught subject matter incomprehensible to the military junta, subjects such as journalism, sociology, and political science. The schoolteacher whose student denounced her because he knew she was an Allende sympathizer. Doctors, professionals, workers, students.

In the press this week there was an image of a woman, a mother, kissing a skull. She was one of the few whose relatives’ remains had been identified, and she could kiss his skull to express her love. So many other Chileans will never be able to say goodbye to their loved ones even in this cruel manner, for there are still 1100 Chileans who remain disappeared at the hands of Pinochet’s men, including hundreds who were taken in helicopters, had their stomachs slashed open, and then were dropped into the Pacific Ocean.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0103-50.htm

[Sal Minella]

4. Karl can pick up some tips here on how to burnish DimSon's "legacy" and how to design the "Library."

[Judi Lynn]

5. They need to include an exhibit for his notorious chief torturer, Osvaldo Romo:

Last Updated: Wednesday, 4 July 2007, 19:42 GMT 20:42 UK
Infamous Pinochet-era agent dies

One of the most notorious figures from the regime of former military ruler of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet, has died in prison, officials have said.
Osvaldo Romo, who was serving 15 years in jail for killing three dissidents during Gen Pinochet's rule, died of heart and respiratory problems.

Known as "El Guaton" (The Fat One), he was awaiting trial for human rights abuses committed between 1973 and 1990.

Romo fled to Brazil afterwards, but was eventually extradited back to Chile.

A former officer in the feared Dina secret police force, Romo was accused by his victims of being a sadistic torturer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6271462.stm

http://www.purochile.org.nyud.net:8090/Lauriani.jpg http://www.ulibros.cl.nyud.net:8090/reportaje/img_libros/romo.gif

If you can stand it, an interview with subtitles of Osvaldo Romo. Photo of this creature in old age portrays a man who was very ill with diabetes. For some reason that photo has scattered around on the internet for ages, placed there, probably, by people who felt a need to see a towering fiend brought very low by time itself, presumably:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsUmU2aAVbY&NR=1

[Judi Lynn]

7. This is a longer look at Romo from a paper published in the States:

Confessing Evil: A Performative Approach to Perpetrators= Confessions and Chilean Memory Politics
Leigh A. PayneDepartment of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
[e-mail]
Presented at the XXIV International Congress of the Latin American Studies AssociationDallas, TX, 27-29 March 2003

http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/lasa2003/payneleigh.pdf


or HTML version:
~~~~ link ~~~~

[santamargarita]

6. Make sure they hang pictures of the Goddamn Republicans that put him there!

:-{

[Judi Lynn]

8. That would be a superior idea. He most clearly didn't get there by himself, did he?

The Chile Coup: The U.S. Hand
by Peter Kornbluh
iF magazine, November / December 1998

Twenty-five years ago, tanks rumbled through the streets of Chile, terrified civilians were lined up before firing squads at the National Stadium, the elected president was dead.

Yet, at Richard Nixon's White House, the events were a cause for celebration, a culmination of three years of covert operations, propaganda and economic sabotage.

Newly declassified U.S. government records put Washington's role in the Chilean coup in sharper focus than ever before. The papers also shed light on corners of the story that previously had been suspected, but not proven.

The documents describe how an angry Nixon demanded a coup, if necessary, to block the inauguration of Marxist Salvador Allende following his victory in the 1970 Chilean elections.

The documents reveal that an early coup plan -- known as "Track II" -- continued through the assassination of pro-constitutional Chilean Gen. Rene Schneider, who was gunned down by military plotters on Oct. 22, 1970.

The fuller documentary record contradicts the long-standing claim by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that "Track n" was shut down a week before Schneider's murder.

After Allende's inauguration, Nixon did not give up. The documents detail what his administration did to make the Chilean economy "scream," how the CIA spread "black" propaganda, and how Washington finally goaded the Chilean army into the coup of 1973.
The Chilean coup leader, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, held power for the next 17 years, relinquishing control in 1990 only after arranging immunity for himself and his top generals.

Until Oct. 16, Pinochet had escaped all punishment for his actions which left thousands dead and Chile a bitterly divided nation.

More:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Terrorism/Chile%20Coup_USHand.html

[Peace Patriot]

12. "...relinquishing control...only after arranging immunity for himself and his top generals."

Sound hauntingly familiar?

How did "impeachment" get taken "off the table"?

------------

"After Allende's inauguration, Nixon did not give up. The documents detail what his administration did to make the Chilean economy 'scream,' how the CIA spread 'black" propaganda, and how Washington finally goaded the Chilean army into the coup of 1973. // The Chilean coup leader, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, held power for the next 17 years, relinquishing control in 1990 only after arranging immunity for himself and his top generals." // Until Oct. 16, Pinochet had escaped all punishment for his actions which left thousands dead and Chile a bitterly divided nation."

Is our economy not 'screaming'?
Are we not inundated by 'black' propaganda (--the continual rightwing bilge of the corporate 'news' monopolies)?
Have torture and murder not been rampant in our government--the signatures of fascist rule?
Did we not suffer a fascist coup in 2000, and a repeat in 2004, with the military committing mass murder for oil?
And where is accountability for torture, unjust war, massive looting, domestic spying, using government powers against dissenters, shredding of the Constitution, outing CIA agents and other crimes?

NO accountability!

So, have these Bushwhacks not done just what Pinochet did--bargained for immunity with the promise to leave the White House when the time comes?

That's my theory, anyway. Cuz, when Pelosi abruptly announced that "impeachment is off the table," after the Democrats won the 2006 elections, I was wondering: WHAT "table"? And I'm still wondering.

[DBoon]

9. and don't forget Milton Friedman's role in this

nt

[Judi Lynn]

10. Right-wingers here still claim he really fixed things there. Consider the source.

November 17, 2006

Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire
The Road from Serfdom
By GREG GRANDIN

Milton Friedman had no idea that his six-day trip to Chile in March 1975 would generate so much controversy. He was invited to Santiago by a group of Chilean economists who over the previous decades had been educated at the University of Chicago, in a program set up by Friedman's colleague, Arnold Harberger. Two years after the overthrow of Allende, with the dictatorship unable to get inflation under control, the "Chicago Boys" began to gain real influence in General Augusto Pinochet's military government. They recommended the application of what Friedman had already taken to call "shock treatment" or a "shock program" ­ immediately halting the printing of money to finance the budget deficit, cutting state spending twenty to twenty-five percent, laying off tens of thousands of government workers, ending wage and price controls, privatizing state industries, and deregulating capital markets. "Complete free trade," Friedman advised.

Friedman and Harberger were flown down to "help to sell" the plan to the military junta, which despite its zealous defense of the abstraction of free enterprise was partial to corporatism and the maintenance of a large state sector. Friedman gave a series of lectures and met with Pinochet for 45 minutes, where the general "indicated very little indeed about his own or the government's feeling." Although he noted that the dictator, responsible for the torture of tens of thousands of Chileans, seemed "sympathetically attracted to the idea of a shock treatment."

Friedman returned home to a firestorm of protest, aggravated by his celebrity as a Newsweek columnist and ongoing revelations about Washington's and corporate America's involvement in the overthrow of Allende. Not only had Nixon, the CIA, and ITT, along with other companies, plotted to destabilize Allende's "democratic road to socialism," but now a renowned University of Chicago economist, whose promotion of the wonders of the free market was heavily subsidized by corporations such as Bechtel, Pepsico, Getty, Pfizer, General Motors, W.R. Grace, and Firestone, was advising the dictator who overthrew him on how to complete the counterrevolution ­ at the cost of skyrocketing unemployment among Chile's poor. The New York Times identified Friedman as the "guiding light of the junta's economic policy," while columnist Anthony Lewis asked: if "pure Chicago economic theory can be carried out in Chile only at the price of repression, should its authors feel some responsibility?" At his university, the Spartacus Youth League pledged to "drive Friedman off campus through protest and exposure," while the student government, replicating their own version of the Church Commission hearings that was just then investigating US crimes in Chile, convened a "Commission of Inquiry on the Friedman/Harberger Issue." Everywhere in the press the name Friedman was paired with the adjectives "draconian" and "shock," with small but persistent protests dogging the professor at many of his public appearances.

~snip~
Critics of both Pinochet and Friedman took Chile as proof positive that the kind of free-market absolutism advocated by the Chicago School was only possible through repression. So Friedman countered by redefining the meaning of freedom. Contrary to the prevailing post-WWII belief that political liberty was dependent on some form of mild social leveling, he insisted that "economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom." ..........

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/grandin11172006.html

[Judi Lynn]

13. McCain meets Pinochet in 1985

McCain meets Pinochet in 1985
October 24, 2008 ·

Document-maven and father, John Dinges, writes in the Huffington Post and CIPER about John and Cindy’s vacation to the south of Chile to eat salmon and ride horses, to Santiago to meet with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and to Vina del Mar to celebrate the New Year. Relevant documents are here and here.

“The trip was arranged by Chile’s ambassador to the United States, Hernan Felipe Errazuriz. According to a contemporary government document obtained from Chile, Errazuriz arranged for a special government liaison to help McCain while in Chile for the “strictly private” visit, and described him as “one of the conservative congressmen who is closest to our embassy.”

“McCain, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the time, made no public or private statements critical of the dictatorship, nor did he meet with members of the democratic opposition in Chile, as far as could be determined from a thorough check of U.S. and Chilean newspaper records and interviews with top opposition leaders.”

“McCain’s visit with Pinochet took place at a moment when the Chilean strongman held virtually unrestricted dictatorial power and those involved in public, democratic opposition were exposed to great risk.”

It came also at a moment when “methods of torture reported include beatings, electric shocks to the genitals and other parts of the body and rape of women prisoners,” according to an Associated Press report.

Only 12 days later Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy was welcomed with eggs and a road blockade when he visited in a show of support to the Catholic Church and human rights groups.

More:
http://tomasdinges.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/mccain-meets-pinochet-in-1985/

[Judi Lynn]

14. Torture center operated secretly for Pinochet: "Secrets of ex-Nazi's Chilean fiefdom "

Last Updated: Friday, 11 March, 2005, 20:16 GMT
Secrets of ex-Nazi's Chilean fiefdom
By Becky Branford
BBC News

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/40917000/jpg/_40917167_schaeferold_b203_afp.jpg

Allegations that Schaefer abused
boys were persistently ignored

Paul Schaefer - a former Nazi medic, Baptist preacher and alleged cult leader - has finally been captured in Argentina after eight years on the run.

His arrest means he may face trial on outstanding charges of the sexual abuse of young boys in Chile.


~snip~
Paul Schaefer was a medic in Hitler's army during World War II. After the war, he set up an evangelical ministry and a youth home, purportedly to care for war orphans.

But he was charged with sexually abusing two boys - and in 1961 he fled to Chile, reportedly accompanied by some 70 followers.

There, in a lush valley in the Andean foothills, he set up Colonia Dignidad - now renamed Villa Baviera.

~snip~
Former political prisoners of Gen Pinochet have testified to a warren of stone-walled tunnels under the colony, where they were taken to be tortured with electric shocks to the strains of Wagner and Mozart.

The Truth and Justice Commission, which investigated human rights abuses during Gen Pinochet's rule, backs such allegations.

And despite decades of allegations concerning the sexual abuse of boys within the compound, charges were not filed against Schaefer until 1996 - six years after Chile began its return to democracy.

Thanks to Mr Schaefer's close links with Chile's ruling elite, the colony was able to operate with impunity as a "state within a state", said a Chilean congressional report.

Critics say elements within Chile's ruling establishment would still prefer to keep details of his involvement with Gen Pinochet's government concealed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4340591.stm

http://hugoorell.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2008/03/noticia_3049_normal.jpg




Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 March, 2005, 01:16 GMT
New charges for Chile cult head

Former Nazi and cult leader Paul Schaefer has been charged with the 1976 disappearance of an opponent of former Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet.
Photographer and left-wing activist Juan Maino was arrested and taken to Mr Schaefer's secret commune, Colonia Dignidad, and never re-appeared.

~snip~
He is also wanted for questioning in Germany on suspicion of the abuse and corruption of minors, and is under investigation in France.

In addition, he is wanted for questioning about the disappearance in 1985 of Boris Weisfeiler, an American-Jewish mathematics professor of Russian origin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4370607.stm

~~~~~~~~~~
The Torture Colony

In a remote part of Chile,
an evil German evangelist built
a utopia whose members helped
the Pinochet regime perform
its foulest deeds

By Bruce Falconer

~snip~
All this was made possible by one man, a charismatic, Evangelical preacher named Paul Schaefer, who founded the community and who, until several years ago, remained very much in charge. Tall, lean, and of strong build, with thin gray hair and a glass eye, Schaefer lived most of his adult life in Chile but possessed only a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish; like his followers, he spoke primarily in German. Although the colonos of Colonia Dignidad dressed in traditional German peasant clothes—the men in wool pants and suspenders, the women in homemade dresses and headscarves—Schaefer wore newer, more modern clothes that denoted his stature. His manner was serious; he seldom smiled. The effect only deepened the sense of mystery that surrounded him.

Few outsiders ever gained access to the Colonia while its reclusive leader remained in power. An old Chilean newsreel, however, filmed at Schaefer’s invitation in 1981, provides a rare picture of life inside the community, a utopia in full and happy bloom. The footage shows a bucolic paradise of sunshine and verdant fields set among clean, fast-flowing rivers and snowy peaks. Its German inhabitants improve the land and work their trades. A carpenter assembles a new chair for the Colonia’s school. A woman in a white apron bakes German-style torts and pastries in the kitchen. Teenaged boys clear a new field for planting. Children laugh and splash in a lake. Schaefer himself, wearing a white suit and brown aviator sunglasses, takes the camera crew on a tour. Standing next to the Colonia’s flour mill, he extols the quality of German machinery. “We bought this mill in Europe,” he says in broken Spanish. “It is 60 years old, but we have not had to do any repairs on it.” Even today, this remains one of the only known recordings of his voice. It is crisp and baritone. Back outside, Schaefer leads the television crew to a petting zoo, where the reporter feeds chunks of bread to baby deer and plays with the colonos’ collection of pet owls. The newsreel concludes with a performance by a 15-piece chamber orchestra composed of young, female colonos in flowing white skirts and colorful blouses. The music is beautiful and expertly played.

These images were a reflection of Colonia Dignidad as Schaefer wanted it to be seen. Today, a quarter century later, with Schaefer gone and his utopia open to visitors for the first time, it looks much the same. On a recent trip to Chile, I made the four-hour drive south from Santiago. The village remains an oasis of German tidiness, with blooming flower gardens and perfectly tended copses of willows and pines. As I walked through it, there were very few people on the streets, and those I encountered smiled politely, then quickly retreated indoors. They did not invite conversation. I was reminded of what a Chilean friend, a journalist, had told me as I prepared for my visit. “You will get the uneasy feeling of crossing into some sort of twilight zone,” he had said. “You will see the way they dress, their haircuts. It’s like going back in time to Germany in the 1940s. Even though it is easier to talk to the colonos than it was a few years ago, things are still a long way from being ‘normal.’ Most of them are still quite afraid of speaking openly.”

The truth, so unlikely in this setting, is that Colonia Dignidad was founded on fear, and it is fear that still binds it together. Investigations by Amnesty International and the governments of Chile, Germany, and France, as well as the testimony of former colonos who, over the years, managed to escape the colony, have revealed evidence of terrible crimes: child molestation, forced labor, weapons trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, torture, and murder. Orchestrated by Paul Schaefer and his inner circle of trusted lieutenants, much of the abuse was initially directed inward as a means of conditioning the colonos to obey Schaefer’s commands. Later, after General Augusto Pinochet’s military junta seized power in Chile, the violence spilled onto the national stage. Schaefer, through an informal alliance with the Pinochet regime, allowed Colonia Dignidad to serve as a torture and execution center for the disposal of enemies of the state. The investigations continue. In the months preceding my visit, police found two large caches of military-grade weapons buried inside the compound. Parts of cars had also been unearthed, their vehicle identification numbers traced back to missing political dissidents. Even as I stood in Schaefer’s house drinking apple juice, elsewhere on the property a police forensics unit was excavating a mass grave thought to contain the decomposed remains of dozens of political prisoners.

More:
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/au08/torture-falconer.html