SANTIAGO DE CHILE—The arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London on October 17 has been hailed as signalling the end of impunity for the perpetrators of state terrorism. Before it actually means that, Pinuchet would have to be brought to trial, a development which is by no means certain. Little attention, though, has been paid to the implications for Chilean politics, where it could precipitate the end of the “consensus politics” that has prevailed since the restoration of electoral democracy. The Chilean government seemed to glimpse that possibility back in May last year, when it referred to the court proceedings initiated by Spanish judges Baltasar Garzón and Manuel Garcia Castellón as “a political trial against Chile’s transition to democracy.”
The cornerstone of “consensus politics” is the impunity granted to the military from prosecution for the atrocities they committed while in power from 1973 to 1990. Though with clear differences in nuance, “consensus politics” has been practiced by all members of the ruling Concertación coalition, even the left-of-center Socialist PartyParty for Democracy (PS-PPD) grouping. Even before the Pinocher incident, the unity of the Concertación had come under great strain as a result of the reluctance of the leading partners, the Christian Democrats, to accept that the next presidential candidate of the coalition should be any other than a Christian Democrat. Though paying lip service to “unity,” the Christian Democrat leadership has stuck to this position in the teeth of evidence that the most likely winner for the Coiieertación would be former public works minister Ricardo Lagos, a Socialist.
Pinochet’s arrest has exacerbated the differences between the Christian Democrats and the PS-PPD. While the Christian Democratic leadership, including President Eduardo Frei, has backed Pinochet’s claims of diplomatic immunity, the Socialist leadership called a press conference to declare their “great satisfaction” with the general’s arrest and to refute the government’s argument that Pinochet enjoyed immunity. “A diplomatic passport is not a sort of stain remover that erases history and suppresses the crimes and human rights’ violations that took place in Chile,” said Camito Escalona, secretarygeneral of the PS. The two Socialist parties urged President Eduardo Frei to stand back and remain uninvolved in what they described as a “strictly judicial” matter.
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