The General’s Slow Retreat: Chile after Pinochet

Images

Figure 1. General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990 and remained commander of the Chilean army until 1998. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 2. Young campaigners for a “no” vote against Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite. Chilean voters were asked to cast “yes” or “no” ballots on a measure to prolong Pinochet’s rule for another eight years. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 3. The junta, which served as Pinochet’s legislature. From the left: the army’s representative, General Humberto Gordon; air force commander General Fernando Matthei; navy commander Admiral José Toribio Merino; and carabinero commander General Rodolfo Stange. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 4. Patricio Aylwin addresses supporters after winning the 1989 presidential election. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 5. Patricio Aylwin, a Christian Democrat who presided over the first postPinochet government from 1990 to 1994. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 6. A protestor holds a picture of Orlando Letelier, a Chilean exile who lived in Washington, D.C., and was killed by a car bomb set by the Pinochet regime’s secret police in 1976. Also killed was Letelier’s American colleague, Ronni Moffitt. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 7. Olga Weisfeiler, the sister of missing Pennsylvania State professor Boris Weisfeiler, and Ambassador Craig Kelly at a 2006 press conference at the U.S. embassy in Santiago. The two background photos show Weisfeiler at the time of disappearance and how he might look now. Photo courtesy of the U.S. embassy in Santiago. Figure 8. Barbed wire at the entrance to Colonia Dignidad, renamed Villa Baviera, a former detention site under the military regime. Photo by Anna Weisfeiler. Figure 9. The passports show some of the identities Pinochet used to open bank accounts abroad. A U.S. Senate investigation found he used at least ten different aliases. Prepared by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Figure 10. The Black Book of Chilean Justice, by Alejandra Matus, was a critical exposé of the state of the Chilean judiciary. When it was published in 1999, a Chilean court issued an injunction against the author, who was forced to seek temporary asylum in the United States. Photo by Mary Helen Spooner. Figure 12. Michelle Bachelet receives the presidential sash from Ricardo Lagos; senate president Eduardo Frei looks on. Photo courtesy of the Chilean government. Figure 11. Ricardo Lagos, a Socialist and economist who was briefly imprisoned under Pinochet, was Chile’s president from 2000 to 2006. Photo by Marcelo Montecino. Figure 13. Michelle Bachelet and her mother, Angela Jeria, visit Villa Grimaldi, a former detention center where they were both imprisoned during the military regime. The site is now a peace park and museum. Photo courtesy of the Chilean government. Figure 14. Michelle Bachelet stands before a memorial to those killed during the Pinochet regime. Photo courtesy of the Chilean government. Figure 15. Michelle Bachelet signs the charter creating the Institute for Human Rights. Photo courtesy of the Chilean government. ...