Chile braces for clashes as Pinochet gets military, not state funeral
By Timothy George,WNS America Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON - Chile is bracing for clashes between supporters and opponents of the late former dictator Augusto Pinochet as his ex-comrades prepared to bid him farewell in a military ceremony. Untried for the 3,000 people killed or missing during his 1973-1990 dictatorship, Pinochet remains a polarising figure even in death. President Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured along with her mother and father during the military regime, denied the late dictator a state funeral and refused to decree three days of mourning, as is customary. Pinochet died on Sunday, one week after a heart attack and two weeks after his 91st birthday. News of his death led to rioting that left 43 police officers injured and 99 people arrested.
The army has not said if Pinochet's funeral on Tuesday will be a private or public affair, but they said they expect a crush of sympathisers outside the Military School in Santiago, where his open casket has been on public display at the school chapel. Thousands of mourners streamed by the casket all day on Monday and into the night, often standing in line for hours to get inside. "He was the best president Chile ever had," said an old woman under a parasol who came to see late leader Tuesday. In the casket Pinochet was dressed in an army uniform with the insignias of a Captain General of the Chilean army - a rank that only he and Bernardo O'Higgins, the man who led Chile to independence from Spain in 1818, have been granted.
The ceremony is set to start at 11 a.m. (1400 GMT) at the Military School, led by the head of the Chilean army, General Oscar Izurieta. The government will be represented by Defence Minister Vivianne Blanlot. After the ceremony Pinochet's remains are scheduled to be flown by helicopter to a cemetery for cremation, and his ashes handed over to his wife and five children. Thousands of friends and relatives of those killed or missing during the Pinochet years marched in silence in different locations Monday to make sure the dictatorship's macabre legacy was remembered.
posted by wnsworld @ 6:30 PM
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