US embassy cable - 05SANTIAGO2402

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 002402 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA 
STATE FORL/WHA, DRL, S/P 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, PHUM, PREL, KJUS, CI, PINOCHET 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION -PINOCHET 
 
 
On November 24, center-left "Diario Siete" (circ. 23,000) 
ran an editorial entitled, "The Inmate."  Quotes: 
 
"Unlike other dictators, Pinochet has lived long enough 
to see the collective trial of his regime....  We must 
recall that Pinochet could do what he did because there 
was a power structure that allowed him to do so....  The 
entrepreneurial sector served Pinochet's interests and 
did not have too many problems with the methods the 
general applied.  Pinochet helped its interests and it 
chose to look the other way as many fellow citizens died 
in secret prisons or when there was enough evidence that 
the general and his family had a unique way of exacting 
retribution for services rendered.  Entrepreneurs deemed 
it necessary to say that Pinochet never knew about all 
this, because if he did not know, neither did they.  Not 
even Pinochet's worst opponents imagined the general 
would surpass everything said of him....  It is 
praiseworthy that the judges are doing their job today, 
because in addition to producing justice they are helping 
Chilean society strengthen its moral regeneration 
process." 
 
KELLY