Judge arrests Pinochet. Clinton is next. Death Squads. Chile. Colombia. Drug War.

Death Squad generalissimo Augusto Pinochet gets his just reward today for overthrowing an elected government in 1973, and murdering and torturing thousands in Chile. Clinton will get his just reward soon. For consciously funding and training Colombian Drug-War, Death Squads. We will NEVER forget. Murder is murder is murder. And complicity to murder. The Death Squads are just another arm of the powers-that-be worldwide. Here in the USA the powers-that-be fund and control their Republicrat one-party dictatorship.

Wherever they are, Death Squads are usually just the armed lobbyists of a corporate-controlled government gone mad. Drugs are just the latest "crime" used by these true criminals and mass-murderers to justify their power. "Commies" and "drug-fiends" and union organizers and land reformers. Any reason or "crime" will do. Even democracy has not impeded the death squads. Only constant vigilance can keep their bloodlust in check. How many people has Bush executed today?

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*Drug War, Death Squad LINKS worldwide. Revised. Huge LINKS list. Lists in alphabetical and chronological order.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/squads.htm  and
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/squads.htm

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Chile Judge Orders Arrest, Trial of Pinochet

By Tiffany Woods

12/01/00

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A Chilean judge on Friday ordered Gen. Augusto Pinochet placed under house arrest and tried on charges of kidnapping and homicide during his 1973-1990 rule, making it possible for the former dictator to be put on trial for the first time, a court order said.

A Chilean judge ordered the arrest and trial of Gen. Augusto Pinochet December 1, 2000 for alleged kidnapping during his 1973-1990 dictatorship. According to an official report, 3,197 people died or disappeared in political violence during Pinochet's rule. He is seen greeting supporters on his 85th birthday outside his house in Santiago, November 25. Photo by Claudia Daut

A date has not been disclosed for a possible trial. Pinochet's legal team has said it will file a motion on Saturday to block his arrest.

Judge Juan Guzman ordered the arrest for allegedly planning and organizing the deaths and/or disappearances of 77 leftists and union leaders, human rights lawyer Jose Galiano said.

The 77 were alleged to be victims of the "Death Caravan," a military squad in a helicopter that landed in selected towns in Chile, particularly in the north, in the initial days after Pinochet's Sept. 11, 1973, coup.

Court sources said Pinochet, 85, had not yet been told of the arrest warrant when it was announced. The Pinochet Foundation said he was in Bucalemu, 80 miles (130 km) west of Santiago.

"This disappoints me. Without even questioning him, Pinochet is being put on trial," said Pinochet advisor Fernando Barros.

Human rights lawyer Eduardo Contreras cried victory. "I can't hide the emotion I feel upon seeing an unbiased judge apply the law. Chileans are not afraid to judge a dictator," he said.

The government reiterated its stance that the country's justice system must work independently. "The most important thing is that Chileans are equal under the law. We must let the courts do their job," said government spokesman Claudio Huepe.

For years, opponents have wanted to try Pinochet, but the nation's courts refused to open cases against him. It was not until January 1998, when the Communist Party filed a lawsuit against him, that crusader Guzman decided to investigate.

Guzman, who has traveled the country digging up unidentified corpses believed to be killed by the military during the dictatorship, is now examining more than 180 lawsuits against Pinochet and some of his colleagues.

According to an official report, 3,197 people died or disappeared and are presumed dead in political violence during Pinochet's 17-year rule, including 90 security personnel.

Guzman's latest order caught Chile by surprise because Pinochet was first expected to undergo psychological exams, legally required in Chile for anyone over 70 who faces a trial. A date for the tests has not been disclosed. Pinochet could escape trial if they show he is mad or demented.

Guzman's order came on the same day that Vicente Fox took over as president in Mexico, ending 71 years of one-party rule.

And it came amid dramatic change in other Latin American nations including neighboring Peru, which is awaiting a new presidential election after Congress declared Alberto Fujimori "morally unfit" to govern after a corruption scandal.

And in Argentina, courts are probing human rights abuses for possible links to Pinochet. Argentina has requested the extradition of Pinochet, who just recovered from pneumonia, for his suspected role in the 1974 car-bomb murder of Chile's former army chief, Carlos Prats, who opposed Pinochet's coup.

Last month, an Argentine federal court sentenced former Chilean intelligence officer Enrique Arancibia to life in prison for planting the bomb that killed Prats and his wife.

Also in November, Chilean Judge Sergio Munoz charged army Gen. Hernan Ramirez with alleged involvement in the 1982 homicide of a union leader during Pinochet's rule.

In October 1998, police detained him in Britain at the request of a Spanish judge who wanted to try him on charges of torture. He spent 503 days in custody before being allowed to return home after Britain ruled he was too old and sick to undergo trial in Spain.

Spain and Britain hailed Guzman's decision.

"It is a positive step for universal justice and the citizens of Chile to affirm their independence and their ability to apply the law to the biggest criminal in the history of Chile," said Joan Garces, a Spanish lawyer.

London-based Amnesty International said: "For years there have been layers of impunity in Chile. At long last they are being peeled away."

"This arrest is a great victory for Pinochet's thousands of victims," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division. "It does credit to Chilean democracy and to its legal system."

--- end of December 1, 2000 Reuters article ---

*U.S. Rightist Republican-led (GOP) Drug War. GOP fascists lead, Democrat flunkies follow. Huge LINKS list! Amnesty 2000. Revised edition. GOP's holy war. Drug war leaders: rabid right, hate radio, hate television, NRA (National Rifle Association), religious right, (snortin') George Bush the hypocrite, etc.. 
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/gop.htm 

*Greens and the Drug War. Worldwide. LINKS. Green Party candidates, positions, platforms, etc.. Concerning the Drug War, cannabis, marijuana, harm reduction, etc.. Ralph Nader info, links.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/greens.htm and 
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/greens.htm and 
*9-00. MAP/DrugNews SEARCH SHORTCUT for many press articles about RALPH NADER's September 8, 2000 press conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he called for legalizing cannabis/marijuana, and for harm reduction drug reform. Ralph Nader "called for the legalization of marijuana as part of an overhaul of the nation's 'self-defeating and antiquated drug laws.' ... Legalizing marijuana, Nader said, would allow the government to regulate and potentially tax its use like tobacco products." -Albuquerque Journal, September 8, 2000.
http://www.mapinc.org/find?BK=nader+johnson+santa&YY1=1997