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November 28, 2004
"Don't Reopen the Wounds", Recommend the Wound-Inflicters
Chile acknowledges torture was official policy used to crush left-wing dissidents, and moves to compensate victims:
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos has announced compensation payments to thousands of victims, saying illegal imprisonment and torture were a state policy during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. ..."How can we explain such horror?" Lagos asked. "I do not have an answer."
Pinochet's right-wing dictatorship fiercely suppressed leftists, dissidents and others perceived as opponents, imprisoning, exiling, torturing and killing thousands. Many of them simply disappeared.
It's the least that should be done but the damage to Chile is done. No compensation, acknowledgement or apology can make that whole.
I do have two questions. Will any newspaper reporting on this topic even mention the central role played by the U.S. government and U.S. corporations in instigating and supporting Pinochet's coup and the subsequent regime of torture and terror? And will anyone refer to torture by Pinochet's regime as "abuse"-- as they do when the same acts are committed by U.S. troops?
And here's the comical quote. Pinochet's spokesman objected to the report because it would "reopen wounds in our society."
... retired Gen. Guillermo Garin, the former dictator's spokesman, said the report would "reopen wounds in our society."
Ok, first you shoot the victim. Then you torture them for a while. Then you dump the body from a helicopter. If anyone asks you what happened, you answer "don't reopen the wounds"? Such concern. Such sensitivity.
Posted by zeynep at November 28, 2004 10:09 PM
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Comments
Oh yeah, I'm sure the families of the victims would have to have some sort of extremely belated recognition of the unlawfulness of the murders of their loved ones. They'd be most concerned of course that Pinochet not be unduly stressed or disturbed in his old age. Don't want to re-open old scabs. What a fucker. You see, young bastards become "wiser and more reflective" and then cease to be fuckers. That's how it works. Cough cough.
Posted by: Toddini at December 3, 2004 01:55 AM