DATE=10/18/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-240381
TITLE=CHILE / PINOCHET REACT (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=JONATHAN FRANKLIN
DATELINE=SANTIAGO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THE CHILEAN GOVERNMENT HAS DISPATCHED A PROMINENT DIPLOMAT
TO LONDON SUNDAY, IN AN EFFORT TO PERSUADE BRITISH AUTHORITIES TO
RELEASE FORMER DICTATOR, GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET, FROM CUSTODY.
AS JONATHAN FRANKLIN REPORTS FROM SANTIAGO, THE DETENTION OF THE
RETIRED GENERAL HAS REVIVED OLD WOUNDS IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN
NATION.
TEXT: THE DETENTION OF FORMER CHILEAN DICTATOR AUGUSTO PINOCHET
IN LONDON HAS SHOCKED HIS COUNTRYMEN IN SANTIAGO. BOTH
SUPPORTERS AND OPPONENTS OF THE RETIRED GENERAL REACTED WITH
DISBELIEF AT THE NEWS THAT SCOTLAND YARD HAD PLACED THE 82 YEAR
OLD STRONG MAN UNDER ARREST PENDING HIS POSSIBLE EXTRADITION TO
SPAIN. THE CHARGES AGAINST GENERAL PINOCHET STEM FROM AN
INVESTIGATION CARRIED OUT BY TWO SPANISH JUDGES INTO THE PRESUMED
MURDERS OF SPANISH CITIZENS DURING THE PINOCHET DICTATORSHIP. AN
ESTIMATED FOUR THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE KILLED AFTER 1973, WHEN
GENERAL PINOCHET LED A MILITARY JUNTA THAT OVERTHREW THE MARXIST
GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT SALVADOR ALLENDE.
NEWS OF THE DETENTION HAS ALREADY GENERATED STRONG REACTION. ON
SUNDAY, THOUSANDS OF PINOCHET SUPPORTERS MARCHED ON THE HOME OF
THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR AND ALSO THE SPANISH EMBASSY -- WHERE THEY
PELTED THE BUILDING WITH EGGS, CLASHED WITH RIOT POLICE AND WERE
REPEATEDLY DRENCHED BY WATER CANNONS. ONE OF THE PROTESTORS,
ILSE CAROZZI, TOLD THIS REPORTER -- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.
THE REASON YOU SEE SO FEW PEOPLE IS THAT WE ARE THE WORKING
CLASS, NOT LIKE THE MARXISTS AND DELINQUENTS. YET MOST OF THE
DEMONSTRATORS APPEARED TO BE RELATIVELY AFFLUENT, WITH SOME
CARRYING CELL PHONES.
AT THE SAME TIME, OPPONENTS OF GENERAL PINOCHET MARCHED ON
SANTIAGO'S CENTRAL CEMETERY TO HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE TO THE
VICTIMS OF THE DICTATORSHIP. THEIR VIEWS ON THE FORMER DICTATOR
WERE SUMMED UP BY 20 YEAR OLD UNIVERSITY STUDENT RODRIGO ALVEAR,
WHO TOLD THIS REPORTER: HE IS AN ASSASSIN, HE DESERVES PRISON.
MEANWHILE, THE CHILEAN GOVERNMENT HAS SENT A PROMINENT DIPLOMAT
TO LONDON TO URGE BRITISH AUTHORITIES TO RELEASE THE FORMER
DICTATOR. THE ENVOY WILL ARGUE THAT GENERAL PINOCHET IS
PROTECTED FROM ARREST BY DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. BUT BRITAIN HAS
REJECTED THE CLAIM, SAYING HIS DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT DOES NOT
SHIELD HIM FROM QUESTIONING BY A SPANISH JUDGE. (SIGNED)
NEB/JF/WFR
18-Oct-98 10:49 PM EDT (0249 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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