A 'fit' General gets bricks and bouquets

SANTIAGO (CHILE), MARCH. 4. Gen. Augusto Pinochet received a muted hero's welcome from the Chilean military high command as he returned home on Friday from his long exile and house arrest in London to salutes, brassy martial music and a low flying air force helicopter entourage.

But the rest of Chilean society displayed its lingering divisions, as thousands of detractors and supporters took to the streets of Santiago in competing demonstrations that vented the political hatreds of the past. After a 16-month legal tug-of-war, Britain dropped extradition proceedings against the 84-year-old former dictator on Thursday, saying he was too ill to face charges for human rights violations during his 17-year rule of Chile.

Relatives of people who disappeared under Gen. Pinochet's regime cried again for their lost loved ones in candle-lit vigils. Thousands of others rallied to hail the man they say saved Chile from civil war and the clutches of communism. And while no serious violence and few arrests were reported, it was hardly a day of reconciliation. Parts of Santiago looked as if they were under siege, with police on patrol in armoured trucks mounted with water canon.

Gen. Pinochet spent his first day back in Chile in Santiago's Military Hospital, where he underwent medical tests while sharpshooters were stationed on the building's roof. Local newspaper and television reports suggested on Friday that he may spend much of the next several days in the hospital or in seclusion in army facilities or his Santiago residence. He is expected to keep a low profile at least through the March 11 Presidential inauguration of Mr. Ricardo Lagos, the first Socialist party member to hold the Presidency since Gen. Pinochet's overthrow of Salvador Allende in a violent 1973 coup.

``It would be improper to organize this as if it were a party,'' the Interior Minister, Mr. Raul Troncoso told reporters, straining to explain the ambiguities surrounding his Government's attitude toward Gen. Pinochet's return. Chile's uneasy, decade- long transition to civilian democracy was on display even before the Chilean air force aircraft that brought Gen. Pinochet home touched the ground on Friday morning. The military ordered journalists removed from the arrival area, until the President, Mr. Eduardo Frei personally intervened by calling Gen. Ricardo Izurieta, chief commander of the army, to complain that Chile's democratic image would be sullied by the spectacle.

There were no speeches at the arrival ceremony, which was open only to 450 family members, friends and former senior officials who served in Gen. Pinochet's Cabinet. The politicians who attended went to pains to say they had come as personal friends and not as representatives of their political parties.

Television commentators expressed surprise that Gen. Pinochet looked as fit as he did in his pressed blue suit, white shirt and violet tie as he walked to a helicopter with the help of a cane. The General had been released by the British Home Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw on the grounds that he was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial. ``Pinochet is in perfect shape as anyone can see,'' complained Ms. Mireya Garcia, secretary- general of the Family Members of the Disappeared, as she and 1,500 other human rights activists marched outside the La Moneda presidential palace. ``All humanity should feel cheated by this sham.'' Still, as a fleet of helicopters escorted Gen. Pinochet to the hospital, flying low through the smoggy skies, traffic halted as pedestrians and drivers sought to witness the historic arrival. - New York Times

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Section  : International
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