97 arrests as Chile remembers Pinochet victims

[Judi Lynn]

97 arrests as Chile remembers Pinochet victims
The Associated Press Published: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 1:50 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 1:50 p.m.

The daughters of Chile's assassinated former army chief, Gen. Carlos Prats, have sued the Chilean government for $15 million dollars, their lawyer said Wednesday.

The lawsuit also targets Manuel Contreras, the jailed former spy chief of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, as well as other high-ranking members of the 1973-1990 dictatorship.

The suit was filed on March 3 and confirmed Wednesday by Luciano Fouilloux, who is representing Sofia, Angelica and Celicia Prats Cuthbert.

Prats was President Salvador Allende's army commander, and sought refuge with his wife Sofia in Argentina after Pinochet deposed Allende in 1973. Chilean agents set off a bomb under their car in Buenos Aires in 1974, killing them both.

More:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110330/API/1103301615

http://upload.wikimedia.org.nyud.net:8090/wikipedia/en/3/37/Pin8Prats.jpg

General Carlos Prats, wearing the helmet, speaking with US-backed Pinochet.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_LW5P9KE87rc/TDfhuQM880I/AAAAAAAAAKs/NSezyoHQhmw/s1600/Automovil_general_chileno_Carlos_Prats_explosion.jpg

Carlos Prats' car, bombed as he and his wife, Sofia drove
through the streets in Argentina, where they had sought haven.



Younger Carlos Prats, wife, Sofia.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Wikipedia entry on US support of Pinochet, and Chilean state terrorism:

Michael Stohl and George A. Lopez have accused the United States of supporting and committing State Terrorism in the period 1970-1973, during the overthrow of the socialist elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende. Stohl wrote, "In addition to nonterroristic strategies...the United States embarked on a program to create economic and political chaos in Chile...After the failure to prevent Allende from taking office, efforts shifted to obtaining his removal." Money authorized for the CIA to destabilize Chilean society, included, "financing and assisting opposition groups and right-wing terrorist paramilitary groups such as Patria y Libertad ("Fatherland and Liberty")." Project FUBELT was the codename for the secret CIA operations to undermine Salvador Allende's government and promote a military coup in Chile. In September 1973 the Allende government was overthrown in a violent military coup in which the United States is claimed to have been "intimately involved." <96>

Professor Gareau, wrote on the subject: "Washington's training of thousands of military personnel from Chile who later committed state terrorism again makes Washington eligible for the charge of accessory before the fact to state terrorism. The CIA's close relationship during the height of the terror to Contreras, Chile's chief terrorist (with the possible exception of Pinochet himself), lays Washington open to the charge of accessory during the fact." Gareau argued that the fuller extent involved the U.S. taking charge of coordinating counterinsurgency efforts between all Latin American countries. He wrote, "Washington's service as the overall coordinator of state terrorism in Latin America demonstrates the enthusiasm with which Washington played its role as an accomplice to state terrorism in the region. It was not a reluctant player. Rather it not only trained Latin American governments in terrorism and financed the means to commit terrorism; it also encouraged them to apply the lessons learned to put down what it called "the communist threat." Its enthusiasm extended to coordinating efforts to apprehend those wanted by terrorist states who had fled to other countries in the region....The evidence available leads to the conclusion that Washington's influence over the decision to commit these acts was considerable."<97> "Given that they knew about the terrorism of this regime, what did the elites in Washington during the Nixon and Ford administrations do about it? The elites in Washington reacted by increasing U.S. military assistance and sales to the state terrorists, by covering up their terrorism, by urging U.S. diplomats to do so also, and by assuring the terrorists of their support, thereby becoming accessories to state terrorism before, during, and after the fact." <98>

Thomas Wright charged that Chile was an example of State Terrorism of a very open kind that did not attempt a facade of civilian governance, and that had a "September 11th effect" through the hemisphere. Wright, argued that "unlike their Brazilian counterparts, they did not embrace state terrorism as a last recourse; they launched a wave of terrorism on the day of the coup. In contrast to the Brazilians and Uruguayans, the Chileans were very public about their objectives and their methods; there was nothing subtle about rounding up thousands of prisoners, the extensive use of torture, executions following sham court-marshal, and shootings in cold blood. After the initial wave of open terrorism, the Chilean armed forces constructed a sophisticated apparatus for the secret application of state terrorism that lasted until the dictatorship's end...The impact of the Chilean coup reached far beyond the country's borders. Through their aid in the overthrow of Allende and their support of the Pinochet dictatorship, President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, sent a clear signal to all of Latin America that anti-revolutionary regimes employing repression, even state terrorism, could count on the support of the United States. The U.S. government in effect, gave a green light to Latin America's right wing and its armed forces to eradicate the left and use repression to erase the advances that workers — and in some countries, campesinos — had made through decades of struggle. This "September 11 effect" was soon felt around the hemisphere." <99>

Prof. Gareau concluded, "The message for the populations of Latin American nations and particularly the Left opposition was clear: the United States would not permit the continuation of a Socialist government, even if it came to power in a democratic election and continued to uphold the basic democratic structure of that society."<98>
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_state_terrorism

Attempted a search on "decapitated" people, as I had never heard the Chilean police decapitated 3 "communists" until seeing this article. The word "decapitated" does appear in this Wiki article. If you'd like to know how it was used, please do a word search for "decapitated" on the page. It's truly too graphic to post.