Date:13/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/13/stories/2006121303791002.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Pinochet's death

General Augusto Pinochet's death marks the end of an era when military coups sponsored and abetted by the United States spread veritable chaos in South and Latin America. Chile's current socialist President Michelle Bachelet was one of the innumerable persons hounded by the Pinochet regime. The military dictator had powerful allies even when out of power, the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, being one of them.

All his acts of oppression could not drown out the music of Victor Jara or the poetry of Pablo Neruda. South America is witness to the testament of people's power.

Sarah Anjum Mirza,
Hyderabad