Asunto: Gen. Augusto Pinochet
Fecha: Lunes 19 de Octubre de 1998 01:41 PM
Santiago, October 19, 1998
Dear Friends:
In view of the critical situation which nowadays lives my country,
as
a
consequence of the illness and detention in a London hospital of
former
President and today's Senator Augusto Pinochet, I would like to
send
a
statement to all my friends abroad. Similar statements are being
prepared
by other friends and colleagues, who want to express to the world
the
reality which we are living in Chile and the general disappointment
towards
the coward decision of the British authorities in connection to its
former
ally. As a universal language I will use English, so please excuse
my
German and Spanish-speaking friends and relatives of not writing in
your
own languages.
A few weeks ago, many of you received as an anectodic note, a
photograph
of
General Pinochet, whom we friendly call "Pinocho". Unfortunately,
this
time
there is no possible joke for us in this regard.
Most of you have heard the two versions of the Chilean reality. One
expressed by the European left wing, by the international press,
and
by
the
Chilean exiles; and the other one the reality that most of the
Chileans
lived durig the desastrous period in which the communists and the
socialists (both self proclaimed "marxist" parties) ruled this
country,
between 1970 and 1973. They arrived to power thanks to a failure in
the
constitution, which allowed a candidate with only 36% of vote to
become
President. This ultra left coalition drove the country into a
destructive
crisis, the constitution was surpassed, and the government was
preparing
the destruction of the Chilean Western-style democratic society. We
were
close to a communist "coup d'Etat", similar to that of
Czechoslovakia
in
1948. We were close to finish like today's Cuba, completely
destroyed
and
with eternal tyrane.
Our armed forces, formed under the Prussian discipline, thanks to
military
advisors sent at the end of the XIXth Century by Chancellor
Bismarck,
respected at the beginning and for a long time the "constitutional"
government, until they discovered that the Civil War was almost
ready
to
start, due to the armed and paramilitar groups formed by the
communist-socialist government, and financed by Cuba's Fidel Castro
(who
had many thosand armed men in our country) and by the now
disappeared
Soviet Union. In August 1973 the parliament officially decleared
that
the
goverment had completely violated the constitution. Same did the
Supreme
Court, when it denounced that judiciary decisions were nort
respected
by
the Allende-regime. As a conclusion, Allende's regime was illegal.
At
this
moment the economy was completely distroyed, and all the farms and
factories were seized by communist armed groups. This, together to
the
popular call for the intervention of the Army, decided the four
branches
of
our Armed Forces to overthrow the communist government, in a fast
and
almost blodless coup. Of course there were around 3.000 dead, but
for
a
while we were on a real civil war.
Even though its goverment was longer than we had initially thought,
our
soldiers drew a new constitution, respected an election calender,
and
left
peacefully the goverment in 1990, leaving a reconstructed country.
Unfortunately this situation was not accepted in Europe and in
other
countries, due to the unreal versions of the international press,
which
never wanted to acknowledge the real life in Chile during the
military
regime.
At the present moment general Pinochet is retired from the army,
and
is
a
member of the Senate, in his condition as former President of the
Republic.
Of course he has backers and detractors, but he lives normally,
peacefully,
without being disturbed, as a parliamentary. He often goes to
England,
and
in his last trip he had an emergency intervention, which forced to
remain
longer than expected in a hospital. For us England was a safe place
for
him, because you must remember that in 1982 we were close allies of
Britain
during the Falkland war, because we knew that in case of Argentine
victory
we were immediately going to be attacked by the crazy Argentine
junta.
THis
help to Britain granted us the backing of the "Iron Lady" Mrs.
Thatcher,
and we suposed today´s British regime would have kept the same
recognition
towards its fomer ally. But the labour party forgot what we did for
England, and instead of protecting its ally, betrayed him and
arrested
him
when he was very weak after a difficult opperation. Now his health
is
very
bad, due to the shock caused by the intervention of British
authorities,
who even for a few hours forbid medical personel to assist the old
gentleman.
Our ¡¡¡¡¡center-left!!!!!! governement has reacted furious to the
behaviour
of some Spanish judges, who wanting to imitate fiscal Kenneth
Starr,
want
to become famous judging a man that nor even Chile is interested in
judging. Spain -land of most of the ancestors of Chileans- has no
right
to
doubt of our democratic system and of our instututions, and cannot
trial
our nationals. As president Frei said yesterday on TV, the Spanish
democratic institutions derive from the Franco regime and from a
horrible
civil war with one million casualties. Franco reinstalled the
monarchy
and
this monarchy opened the gates of the democracy, and even the
comunists
and
republicans were forced to respect and recognise this new system.
Same
has
happened in Chile. Also, our government has stressed that General
Pinochet
has a diplomatic passport and is a member of the upper house of the
Chilean
parliament, so no foreign authority has the right to arrest him
against
the
will of his own government and he cannot be judged abroad. Also,
there
is
no genocide to be blamed of. We had reaction against communist
infiltration
in the early days of the military regime and fight against
terrorism,
but
that is all.
So, we, Chileans, reject the behaviour of the Spanish judges and of
the
British government. Yesterday, thousands of us demonstrated before
the
British Embassy, asking the immediate release of General Pinochet.
We
were
mainly peaceful demonstrators, with wives, old people and even
Children.
I
attendended personally with my wife Marcela, and with my aunt
Martita
(my
father's sister), and I met many of my friends. Maybe you have seen
the
images on TV. The police knew that we were of no danger for the
Embassy,
as
we were almost entirely educated citizens, but in order to please
the
leftist political parties, the Ministry of the Interior sent
against
us
water-spreading vehicles, with crying bombs. There was no danger
for
us,
and there were no casualties nor injured, because Police knew with
whom
they were dealing and that we were all civilized people. But it
happened
to
us yesterday, and it is important for the world to know that a
majority
of
Chileans is against the ilegal arrest of General Pinochet, not only
from
the right, but also from the center and many from center-left. Even
though
some of the parties and sectors of the coalition government are
clearely
against Pinochet, the Christian Democrats, the main party, and in
this
country a center-left party, is in favour of the immediate release.
If a man is respected in his own country, even by his former
detractors,
no
State nor government is entitled to arrest him nor to judge him
against
the
will of his own country, in violation of his status as an ex
President
of
the Republic, as a today Member of Parliament, and as a holder of
a
diplomatic passport. We will not accept that. No government may
forget
that
we have a constitutional and democratic government in Chile, not
from
the
right but from center-left, which will defend its sovereignity and
the
right of Chilean by themselves to judge and analyze its own
history.
I thank you for your patience reading this long and maybe boring
letter,
but we Chileans want to stress our truth, for the whole world. If
you
consider that this letter may be of interest to other people,
please
do
not
hesitate to re-send it, to your friends, relatives and colleagues,
all
over
the world.
Your Friend,
Juan Alberto Díaz Wiechers
alessanb@ctcreuna.cl
Email: verduyn@hotmail.com
