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5. No One Writes to the General: Post-Transitional Justice in Chile
- Penn State University Press
- Chapter
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It is tempting to read the dramatic Pinochet arrest of late 1998 as a bolt from the blue, an external and wholly unexpected lightning strike bringing a dormant domestic accountability debate back to life. Although the unexpectedness of events in Spain and London is beyond question, it will be argued here, however, that the undoubted post-1998 transformation of the Chilean accountability scene was in train even before those external events. This is shown by tracing interactions between domestic claim-makers and national courts over the period. In particular, it is argued that activity in the judicial , rather than political, sphere has been the main motor of accountability progress1 in Chile since 1998. This chapter therefore examines the principal features of Chile’s post-transitional accountability trajectory. The first section is chronologically organized, identifying accountability “milestones” in each of the four presidential periods from transition to the present. The second section analyzes the dynamics of accountability change thematically, dealing in turn with accountability actors, legal strategies, and judicial receptivity. Chile’s post-transitional era has to date comprised four completed presidential periods: Patricio Aylwin (1990–94), Eduardo Frei (1994–2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006), and Michelle Bachelet (2006–10).2 All have 1. Defined here as movement toward adequate judicial processing of HRV cases. “Adequate” processing , perhaps inescapably subjective, is defined as resolution of HRV complaints within the regular judicial system. This should include, where relevant, trials that seem to conform to generally accepted standards of rigor and fairness, with no perceptible pattern of “standard” judicial outcomes irrespective of evidentiary strength. It is a moot point whether the application of nationally valid amnesty laws falls within this definition. In this model, the role of other branches of state is to promote and facilitate, or at a minimum not to obstruct, judicial processing and claim-makers’ access to it. 2. Bachelet’s term ended in March 2010. She was replaced by right-wing candidate Sebastian Piñera. 5 no one writes to the general: post-transitional justice in chile 78 post-transitional justice represented the seventeen-party, center-left Concertación coalition.3 An apparent official desire to avoid excessive protagonism over accountability was a constant throughout the four administrations, additionally and deliberately constrained by built-in legislative overrepresentation of the political right.4 Wilde (1999) describes a resultant culture of cautious, elite-led politics, with governments aiming to “manage” rather than confront controversial issues, including the human rights legacy of the dictatorship. Although each Concertación president aspired to close the transition, none really wanted to grasp the nettle of outstanding accountability claims, on the one hand, and the very real residual influence of Pinochetismo, on the other. Nonetheless, says Wilde, official attempts to downplay the accountability issue have been frustrated by periodic “irruptions” in the form of specific incidents, cases, or turning points such as significant anniversaries. These shifts have largely not been the result of executive initiatives. Rather, says Wilde, they have been catalyzed by private groups or by state actors—particularly the courts and the military—operating outside or even in defiance of the authority of the elected government of the day (481–86). Accountability Milestones patricio aylwin (1990–1994) In March 1990, Christian Democrat5 Patricio Aylwin took office as Chile’s first democratically elected president in seventeen years. The human rights issue, central for the democratic opposition in the last years of the regime, was not quickly or easily forgotten. Long before the official truth commission reported, grisly discoveries like that of a mass grave in Pisagua in the northern desert, or mass anonymous burials in Santiago’s General Cemetery, 3. Formed for the 1988 plebiscite, the Concertación has retained the presidency plus a majority of elected parliamentary seats ever since. 4. The 1980 Constitution bequeathed a binominal electoral system and (now abolished) unelected senator posts. See Portales (2000). Cavallo (1998) describes a specific set of behindclosed -doors deals and concessions over human rights that many believe were struck in the first few months of transition. 5. Aylwin’s party forms part of the Concertación, which can select its presidential candidate from any of its member parties: subsequent president Eduardo Frei was also a Christian Democrat, while Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet were Socialist Party candidates. [107.23.157.16] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 20:48 GMT) no one writes to the general: post-transitional justice in chile 79 countered the effects of clandestine military operations to remove all traces of the disappeared...