It was formally announed today that the former president of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet, is once again under house arrest. There is much to say about the strange story of Pinochet, his assets, how he came to power, and the violence his regime sponsored in Chile and in other countries (including the US) in the 1970s and 80s. Here are some links in case you want to read further.
The Guardian's report of the house arrest.
Several articles about Pinochet's increasing culpability in The Jurist at the University of Pittsburgh, USA.
If you want to get studious, read a detailed account of Pinochet's rule, and see the declassified documents that tie the Nixon administration directly to Pinochet's installment in place of the democratically-elected President Allende, check out Peter Kornbluh's The Pinochet File. The introduction to the book is downloadable and you can even go to see the documents yourself next time you are in DC. Little of this is really contested, its just that no one is pursuing it.
Christopher Hitchens explores the US connection to Chile and other nations in that period in the angry and sparkling book, The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
If you and a friend or date are looking for a sobering documentary, check out The Trials of Henry Kissinger, based partly on the book of the similar name.
The legal actions currently pending against Pinochet are for the most part contained within the domestic law of Chile. However, the International Criminal Court may be of some promise in other such cases in the future, if more nations - to name one, a country located between Canada and Mexico - accept its jurisdiction.
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Hi Jesse, I'm glad you posted this, I had missed the news that Pinochet was back under house arrest. We just screened Patricio Guzman's "The Battle of Chile" this weekend so I've been thinking a lot about Chile. Parts I and II of "The Battle of Chile" are fantastically heart-breaking and inspiring (III's a little redundant). Guzman smuggled the footage of the coup out of Chile with Swedish diplomats and edited it in Cuba. Have you seen it? Here's a review: www.h-net.org/mmreviews/showrev.cgi?path=65
Maybe some institution near you will have it on VHS. Good wishes to you in Cairo!
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