Beautiful Horizons

Where the Sun Never Shines

Christmas 1997 we spent the holiday at my father-in-law's farm in Araçuaí, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The day after Christmas, my brother-in-law invited several of us to visit a friend of his who managed a lithium mine. We took a a tour of the mine, descending to a little more than 200 meters.

The mine had three shifts a day and the woro only stopped on Christmas and New Years Day. It was hot, humid to the point of being difficult to breath (I grew up in Miami, FL without airconditioning and this was much worse), had an unpleasant small and was filled with dust. We wore goggles, earplugs, earmuffs, boots, etc, but it was still deafening. It was steady work in a poor part of one of the richer states in Brazil; a state whose name means General Mines.

I left the mine with the following conclusion: given the risks and the conditions in which they work, you cannot pay miners enough and I don't ever want to enter a mine again.

That makes me all the more happy about this. I also agree with Marc here. I long for the day that as much attention is given by the MSM to Chile's election this year as was given to this story and the earthquake in Chile. The same goes for Haiti, also facing an election shortly. The only time it seems to have come up recently was when Wyclef Jean announced his candidacy.

We all deserve better.

It Never Seems to End

Just when you thought the last chapter had been written on how thoroughly vile and reprehensible Richard Nixon's and Henry Kissinger's foreign policy was, something new crops up:

President Richard M. Nixon discussed with Brazil’s president a cooperative effort to overthrow the government of Salvador Allende of Chile, according to recently declassified documents that reveal deep collaboration between the United States and Brazil in trying to root out leftists in Latin America during the cold war.

The formerly secret memos, published Sunday by the National Security Archive in Washington, show that Brazil and the United States discussed plans to overthrow or destabilize not only Mr. Allende but Fidel Castro of Cuba and others.

Mr. Nixon, at a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 9, 1971, said he was willing to offer Brazil the assistance, monetary or otherwise, it might need to rid South America of leftist governments, the White House memorandum of the meeting shows.

Mr. Nixon saw Brazil’s military government as a critical partner in the region. “There were many things that Brazil as a South American country could do that the U.S. could not,” Mr. Nixon told the Brazilian president, Gen. Emilio Médici, according to the memo.

If Nixon and Kissinger were looking for someone thoroughly brutal to do their bidding, they couldn't have found a better person than Emílio Garrastazu Médici, the third of six military presidents during the twenty-one year military dictatorship.

During Médici's rule, the cruelest aspects of AI-5, passed under his predecessor, went into effect: torture was institutionalized and used with an intensity bordering on alacrity.

During the AI-5 the dictatorship developed some of its most creative and cruel forms of torture and the number of disappeared—those secretly killed by the state—multiplied. Among the favorite methods of torture there were the coroa-de-Cristo (Christ's crown) and the pau-de-arara (macaw's stick). Coroa-de-Cristo was a metal hoop attached to the victim's head that kept being pressed by a wicket until it smashed the skull. A Brazilian invention, the pau-de-arara is a monument to the national sadistic impulses. The technique still used nowadays around the country to torture common prisoners consists of a metal bar placed over two wooden horses. The victim is tied to the bar by the wrists or the kneecap. After being immobilized the prisoner used to get hit over the kidney with a broom or receive electrical shocks. Other simpler methods used consisted in introducing a broom stick in the prisoner's anus or throwing cold water on the victim keeping him or her awake for days or simply taking someone in a car to a deserted area and threatening to kill him there.

Habeas corpus was suspended for "political" offenses.Political meetings were banned. Even the largely powerless congress was abolished. One could make a compelling argument that Pinochet took some of his inspiration from Médici.

If there's any hope to be taken from any of this it's this bit of cold comfort:

But after word of the conversation between Mr. Nixon and General Médici found its way to the Brazilian military, a C.I.A. memo suggests that not all military officers were happy with the arrangement.

Gen. Vicente Coutinho, commander of Brazil’s Fourth Army, said the United States wanted Brazil “to do the dirty work.”

I think Peter Kornbluh absolutely nails it when he calls for Lula to open Brazil's military archives. I don't have much hope, however, as Brazil has been very reluctant to address much of the human rights abuses that took place during the dictatorship. Here's a link to the national Security Archive's section on this.

A Couple of Passings

I always liked The Band of Gypsys album by Jimi Hendrix, notwithstanding the fact that I was always very lukewarm towards Buddy Miles, and that was primarily because I saw him live once and he performed his one major hit, Them Changes, three times. Nevertheless, I was saddened to hear that he had passed away this week. I was also surprised to hear that his was the voice of the old California Raisins commercials. Rest in peace.

I was deeply saddened to hear that Patricia Verdugo had died more than a month ago (hat tip to Tomas Dinges). She was one of the most compelling chroniclers of Augusto Pinochet's reign of terror, her most famous work being Los Zarpazos del Puma (translated into English as Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death), documenting the helicopter tour of Sergio Arellano Stark, who traveled via Puma helicopter to several locations in Chile immediately after the 1973 coup, leaving a trail of some 75 executed political prisoners and numerous others tortured.

It was personal for her as well. Her father was tortured to death through a form of torture known as the submarino and his body was tossed into the Rio Mapocho along with numerous other victims of Pinochet. It's truly tragic that she did so young, but her body of work was invaluable in setting the historical record straight on what Pinochet knew, when he knew and what really happened. She will be missed.

Good News: Times Are Even Tougher For Some

Former Pinochet-era general, Raúl Iturriaga, whose flight from a conviction for atrocities committed during the dictatorship I wrote about here, has been caught:

Former Gen. Raul Iturriaga Neumann, 69, was arrested without incident in an apartment in the resort town of Viña del Mar, on Chile's Pacific coast, officials said.

Once a high-ranking figure in the military's feared intelligence service, Iturriaga is one of the best-known convicted human rights abusers from the dictatorship of the late Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. His case drew attention to right-wing discontent with human rights prosecutions.

This may be the best news for Chile's future:

But officers serving in the country's modernized armed forces refused to side with Iturriaga, proclaiming their loyalty to the elected government and calling his trial and sentence fair. The military and defense leadership uniformly condemned Iturriaga's flight and urged the fugitive to turn himself in.

Maybe he can become Manuel Contreras' cellmate!

Enjoy Hell, Osvaldo Romo

One of Augusto Pinochet's most vicious underlings, Osvaldo Romo, died Wednesday while serving time in prison for the murder of three dissidents. He was 70.

Not content to merely torture, Romo believed in killing all of those DINA, Pinochet's secret police force, had arrested. What the article doesn't say about Romo is that he switched sides. He had been involved with the Popular Socialist Union, which had been a member of Allende's Popular Union coalition.

One wonders what he ever believed in to switch sides and with such viciousness. On the other hand, perhaps he was merely the rankest of opportunists.

Just a Little More on Pinochet

I really don't want to address this subject too much more, but I did want to call your attention to these two mentions of Pinochet's passing in The Economist here and here.

Also, it appears that Pinochet's grandson has been booted from the Army for criticizing the judges investigating his grandfather and praising the coup. Ten years ago, hell five yeasr ago that wouldn't have happened. That's progress.

Pinochet Roundup - And Some Mythbusting

Marc Cooper has thoughts here and here that you should not miss. Tomas Dinges (just added to the blogroll) e-mailed about these two posts regarding events in Chile. Marc tips me to this post by a blogger in Chile who embedded himself with some  pro-Pinochet marchers.

Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings takes down the moral obtuseness of Red State's response to Pinochet's death. Dave Noon takes a look at the wingnut praise for Pinochet, including this nonsensical bit by an obviously butt stupid Harvard physics professor. Scott Lemieux catches Mark Steyn breaking wind bloviating with his typical blissful ignorance and shows that he puts the ass in bombastic.

Now for some mythbusting.

Myth #1:

Pinochet left power gracefully after losing the 1988 plebiscite.

Fact:

In 2003 in an interview on Chilean television, General Matthei, the commander of the air force at the time of the plebiscite, pointed out that when confronted with the results of the plebiscite and that the “no” (on eight more years of Pinochet) vote was winning, Pinochet told the other commanders (navy, caribineros and the air force) that he wanted to send the troops on the streets. They all told him that they would not support him and he backed down.

Earlier that evening, when Matthei arrived at La Moneda, the presidential palace, the press raced towards him because the official government account of the election showed results that were not in keeping with what independent observers and the “no” coalition was showing. Matthei responded that it appears that the “no” vote had won and said “We are calm.”

A few months after the plebiscite, Pinochet, in addressing a women's group commented that there had been another plebiscite once and the people chose Barabbas. Jesus, if I recall correctly, never had people murdered on his orders.

Myth #2:

Pinochet's amnesty was negotiated as part of his retirement.

Fact:

Pinochet's amnesty was written in April 1978 by his cousin, Justice Minister at the time, Monica Madariaga and approved by the other leaders of the armed forces. No one else had any input into it.

Myth #3:

Continued rule by Allende would have been worse.

Fact:

The above sentence was written in the subjunctive case. Anyone who says it is offering an opinion and we all know the old saying about opinions.

But, if in three years in power, Allende did not systematize torture, abolish Congress and political parties, ban opposition media, put the military in charge of universities, burn books, send his secret police around the world to kill his political enemies, all of which Pinochet's regime did, what empirical evidence is there to prove this? It's not a matter of whitewashing Allende as a commenter accused me of in the prior post, it's a matter of making an informed judgment based on the available facts.

I'm sure that there will be more myths to bust in the days to come.

Wanted: A Strong Wooden Stake and Several Garlic Bulbs

Those are some of the tools that are necessary to ensure that a vampire is really dead. As one has died today and his truly vile regime was responsible for the deaths of thousands, the torture of many more thousands, international acts of terrorism over three continents and in his final years, the revelation of illegal enrichment, possibly through the violation of an arms embargo against Croatia during the Balkan War, clearly we must be certain that he is dead. News reports indicate as much:

Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, the brutal dictator who repressed and reshaped Chile for nearly two decades and became a notorious symbol of human rights abuse and corruption, died today at the Military Hospital of Santiago. He was 91.

The Times also gives a rather facile listing of key dates in Pinochet's career. I'll take the liberty of adding a few in  a career filled with many abonimable acts:

• September 1974: Has DINA, his secret police organization plant a bomb in the car of General Carlos Prats, his predecessor in Buenos Aires. The bomb kills General Prats and his wife, Sofia. Debris from the explosion is found on the ninth floor of a building across the street.
• October 1975: Has DINA, through Italian fascist terrorist Stefano Della Chiae, attempt to murder Christian Democrat politician and regime opponent, Bernardo Leighton in Rome Italy. Leighton and his wife survive, but live in constant pain for the rest of their lives.
• September 1976: Has DINA blow up the car of Orlando Letelier in Washington, DC, killing Letelier and his American assistant, Ronni Moffitt.
• November 1978: The bodies of fifteen men who were "disappeared" are found in an abandoned limestone mine in Lonquen.
• June 1990: The bodies of 19 men who disappeared in the 1970's are discovered in a mass grave in Pisagua.
• September 1991: The bodies of 127 victims of Pinochet's regime are found buried secretly, two to a grave in some cases. Pinochet responds to television reporters by praising the economy of burying two to a grave.

I could go on and on, but that would be overkill. There is a delicious coincidence that Pinochet breathed his last on Human Rights Day. While I'm sorry to see him cheat the metaphorical hangman, I 'm glad that his last years were spent defending himself against criminal charges. It will also be good to see Chile to continue to move away both politically and socially from his era.

As for Satan, in dealing with Pinochet he probably doesn't know what he's in for.

UPDATE: As expected, Marc Cooper has the big picture covered.

Colonia Dignidad Members Indicted

It's also been a bad week for Pinochet's and Manuel Contreras' old friends at Colonia Dignidad:

 

Two members of a secretive German colony in Chile were indicted on abuse allegations Wednesday in connection with the alleged torture of eight children.

Judge Jorge Zepeda accused German citizens Paul Schaefer, 83, and Gisela Gruhlke of giving electrical shocks and drugs to eight children in an effort to suppress their sexuality.

[...]

Colony leaders were accused here and abroad of human rights violations, including allowing their facilities to be used as a torture and execution center by the former dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Zepeda has led several raids of the colony's farm in a so far unsuccessful search for victims of the Pinochet dictatorship who disappeared after being arrested and taken there.

The company this man kept.

Unhappy Birthday to You

Today is Augusto Pinochet's 90th birthday, but alas, he must spend it under house arrest. Why, you may ask?  Here's one reason:

Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted and placed under house arrest Wednesday -- not for torturing and killing his opponents, as human-rights advocates have long sought but on tax evasion charges.

The indictment may mean that the former army commander, who led a bloody coup in 1973 and ruled Chile until 1990, will finally face the hand of justice on charges that he failed to pay $2.4 million in taxes from millions of dollars that he stashed in secret foreign bank accounts.

''It's the most solid charge against Pinochet, more so than any of the human-rights cases,'' said Guillermo Holtzmann, a professor at the University of Chile.

Two days short of his 90th birthday, enfeebled by a variety of health maladies, Pinochet was placed under house arrest by Judge Carlos Cerda. The former leader can post a $22,000 bond to regain the right to travel freely.

Pinochet made bail on this charge after the bail was essentially halved, but the bad news for him just kept a comin':

Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted on human rights charges Thursday and placed under house arrest, hours after he made bail on unrelated corruption charges filed only a day earlier.

In a widely expected decision, Judge Victor Montiglio charged Pinochet in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of six dissidents in the early years of his 1973-90 dictatorship, his office said.

Montiglio sent a court secretary to Pinochet's Santiago mansion to inform the general of the charges, which will force him to spend his 90th birthday Friday under arrest. The judge did not grant Pinochet bail.

I'm hoping for a trifecta, but this will do for now.

Meanwhile, Pinochet's right hand man, Manuel Contreras met his former boss face to face on the orders of Judge Montiglio. It appears that the judge is deeply concerned about the discrepancies between Pinochet's account of things and Contreras' account. Contreras states that what he did as head of Pinochet's secret police, DINA was done under Pinochet's orders. Pinochet claims that he did not have direct influence over DINA  despite one of his most famous quotes: "Not a leaf moves in Chile without my knowing."

Apparently things are not quite so good between Pinochet and Contreras, who used to have breakfast together every morning in La Moneda:

When asked about the Dina by the judge overseeing the case, Victor Montiglio, Gen Pinochet said he did not remember anything about it.

He also accused Contreras of having been plotting to take over the country and said he sacked him because he was creating problems.

Contreras' lawyer said the claims were unfounded, blaming them on Gen Pinochet's old age or his wish to "put the blame on someone who is already down and cannot respond", according to La Tercera newspaper.

As for Pinochet, he is as presumptuous and arrogant as always:

Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet told a judge he doesn't believe there were excesses during his 17-year rule, and if there were God would pardon him, a human rights lawyer said on Wednesday.

"Everything I did, all my actions, all of the problems I had I dedicate to God and to Chile, because I kept Chile from becoming Communist," Pinochet told a judge regarding the 1973 military coup that launched him to power, according to Hernan Quezada.

What part of thous shalt not kill does he not understand? In any event, if one expects forgiveness from God, one must acknowledge one's sins. So far Pinochet hasn't.

Unhappy birthday, mi general. Espero que usted tenga muchos más cumpleaños infelices!

Marc Cooper has more here.