Pinochet died on a hot Sunday afternoon. There was little left for the southern summer and that December 10, 2006 the streets of Santiago exploded; more happy than sad. In Plaza Italia, a place of sports celebrations – now a symbol of the social revolt – bottles of champagne were uncorked. Nearby, at the Military Hospital, where the former dictator had died at the age of 91, those nostalgic for him cried, showed photos of the general and attacked foreign journalists.
After uncovering that, as a result of corruption, the former dictator had million-dollar accounts in the US bank Riggs, his figure had lost steam among those who had supported him during the dictatorship (1973-1990). At that time, there were already dozens of judicial processes open and there were no doubts about the thousands of murders and human rights violations committed by the military; however, for his supporters it was worse to know that he was a thief than a murderer.
In fact, the two main right-wing leaders of the time, Joaquín Lavín and Sebastián Piñera, did not attend the military funeral that was held on December 12 in the courtyard of the Military School of Santiago, under a scorching sun. It seemed that on that day Pinochetism was beginning to die out, but current events in Chile deny it.
There were riots in the streets, but there were no major clashes between the two sides. In the end, the controversial decision of the socialist president Michelle Bachelet to organize a funeral with military honors limited to the grounds of the Military School, as former commander-in-chief of the army, would be correct. It was not a state funeral and Defense Minister Vivianne Blanlot withdrew from the funeral before paying homage.
Days later, in a meeting with foreign correspondents, Bachelet – detained, tortured and exiled – responded to this journalist’s questioning about the military funeral given to Pinochet, pragmatically reflecting on the security crisis that would have been left in the hands of supporters of the dictatorship the organization of funerals. Forty thousand people filed past the coffin of the former dictator in the funeral chapel.
The man who on September 11, 1973 ordered the bombing of the La Moneda palace, which caused the suicide of President Allende and ended the first democratically elected Marxist government in the world, died on trial, but without being tried.
Bachelet also did not decree official mourning for Pinochet, something that President Gabriel Boric did do this week – not without controversy – with Guillermo Teillier, general secretary of the Communist Party (PC) during the transition, who died on August 29. During the dictatorship, Teillier was in charge of the PC’s military and liaison with its armed wing, the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR). And, therefore, who in 1986 gave this group the order to commit the attack against Pinochet’s car in Cajón del Maipo. The general saved his life, but five of his escorts died in the ambush.
