Chilean ex–dictator Pinochet dies at 91

Former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who polarized Chile during his violent 1973–1990 military rule and spent his old age fighting human rights, fraud and corruption charges, died Sunday, December 10. He was 91.

Pinochet, who was diabetic and had been in frail health for years, had been in hospital for a week, recovering from an angioplasty procedure after a heart attack.

"He died surrounded by his family," Juan Ignacio Vergara, a doctor at the military hospital where he died, told reporters. Vergara said Pinochet's health had suddenly deteriorated on Sunday.

In a sign of how much Pinochet still divided his country – which has become a model of political stability during the last 16 years of democracy – some Chileans danced in the street at the news, while others wept outside the hospital.

Pinochet grabbed power in a U.S.–supported 1973 coup after airforce planes bombed the government palace and elected socialist President Salvador Allende killed himself shortly afterward.

More than 3,000 people died in political violence under Pinochet's rule, many at the hands of repressive secret police. Some 28,000 people were tortured in secret detention centers and hundreds of thousands of Chileans went into exile.

Car horns blared as detractors of the deceased former dictator danced and and cheered in Plaza Italia, a major intersection near the city center where Chileans usually congregate to celebrate sporting victories.

"I'm going to celebrate with my family the death of the tyrant. I even have a bottle of Brazilian cane alcohol we've been saving for 25 years to celebrate this day," said Santiago Cavieres, a 75–year–old lawyer.

"I was in the National Stadium (a sports stadium used as a concentration camp in 1973) and from there they sent me to the Chacabuco concentration camp, where I was for eight months... Everyone there was tortured," he said.

Despite Pinochet's human rights record, many Chileans loved him and said he saved Chile from Marxism. Supporters say his economic reforms put Chile on track to become Latin America's model economy.

Over a thousand weeping supporters gathered outside the military hospital on Sunday, singing in broken voices the national anthem and praises to their deceased general.

"He made mistakes like every human being, but he did a lot for this country," said Adriana Malter, a grandmother and shopkeeper, outside the military hospital. "This country is the way it is thanks to him."

Dozens of police stood by outside the hospital, in case of violence.

One of Pinochet's most important allies from the 1980s, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher reacted through a spokesperson, who said, "Lady Thatcher was greatly saddened to hear the news of Mr Pinochet's death and sends her deep condolences to his widow and his family."

While Pinochet's Cold War anti–Communist stance won him support from Thatcher and from former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, at home he sowed hatred and polarization.

Guillermo Tellier, president of Chile's small Communist Party said, "he died with a dirty conscience."

Pinochet's body was moved on Sunday evening to a military chapel for viewing and given full state honors.

Pinochet was accused of dozens of human rights violations but a lengthy effort to bring him to trial in Chile failed as his defense lawyers successfully argued that he was too ill to face charges.

He was under house arrest, in one of the rights cases against him, for his 91st birthday in November, and at the time he issued a statement suggesting he realized his death could be near.

"Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancor toward anybody, that I love my country above all else," he said in a statement read by his wife.

In the statement, he accepted "political responsibility" for acts committed during his rule.