Chilean judge rules ex-president was assassinated in 1982; 6 charged with murder, cover-up

[Judi Lynn]

Chilean judge rules ex-president was assassinated in 1982; 6 charged with murder, cover-up
EVA VERGARA
Associated Press Writer
4:46 p.m. EST, December 7, 2009

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Chilean judge ruled Monday that former President Eduardo Frei Montalva was assassinated nearly 30 years ago and his killing covered up by people linked to the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Six people were charged in the case.

Frei, who preceded Salvador Allende as Chile's president and later became a leading critic of the military dictatorship, died in 1982.An autopsy report blamed septic shock after stomach hernia surgery, but a new autopsy this year by University of Chile pathologists identified two chemicals in his body that attack the digestive system — one that is used in mustard gas and another found in rat poison.

"He was injected with toxic substances, which produced other complications that deteriorated his immune system," Judge Alejandro Madrid told reporters Monday. "That was the cause of death."At the time of his death, Frei, 71, was investigating human rights violations by the dictatorship of Pinochet, who toppled Allende in a 1973 coup.

"This goes to show that though it may take a while, justice in Chile always prevails," President Michelle Bachelet said of the judge's ruling.

Madrid filed murder charges against one of Frei's doctors who was involved in the surgery, Frei's driver and a civilian army employee. A second doctor was charged as an accomplice, and two Catholic University pathologists who conducted the initial autopsy were accused of covering up the killing.

More:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-chile-frei,0,7441643.story

[Judi Lynn]

1. Ex-president murder probe shakes Chile

Ex-president murder probe shakes Chile
Erik Lopez and Simon Gardner
SANTIAGO
Mon Dec 7, 2009 5:22pm EST

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A Chilean judge on Monday charged figures from Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship with the murder of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva, which could boost support for Frei Montalva's son in Sunday's presidential vote.

World

There had long been suspicions in Chile that the country's former military intelligence service poisoned Frei Montalva in 1982, though officials at the time said he had died from an infection after a hernia operation.

The judiciary said Judge Alejandro Madrid had ordered three people arrested and charged with the murder of Frei Montalva, who ruled Chile from 1964 to 1970. They were his driver, a junta doctor and an ex-member of Pinochet's secret police.

The judge ordered three others to face trial, one as an accomplice to murder and two with covering up the alleged crime.

"This shows that justice takes time, but it does finally arrive as it has in this case," President Michelle Bachelet, who was herself tortured during the dictatorship, told reporters. "This is good for our society."

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B64DJ20091207?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[AlphaCentauri]

2. Right wingers are so evil to commit murder every minute they can n/t

[rabs]

3. A final conversation with Eduardo Frei

Thought I would share an email I received tonight from a person dear to me and who knew and was a friend of President Frei. She last spoke to Frei at a meeting of the Club of Rome in 1981 in Caracas. Frei was a member of the Club of Rome and was one of the dignitaries at the conference. A year later he was dead.

Translation is mine. (MA is the person who knew him)
---------------------------


MA -- Tal vez fue un jueves en la tarde cuando el ex Presidente Frei y yo caminamos con la máxima lentitud y conversamos con la mayor rapidez el Parque Carabobo, regresando desde el Teatro Teresa Carreño hasta el Hotel Caracas Hilton, donde se hospedaba.

Perhaps it was a Thursday afternoon when former President Frei and I strolled with maximum slowness and more rapid conversation in the Carabobo Park, returning from the Teresa Carreño Theater to the Hotel Caracas Hilton where he was staying.

MA -- No fue esa la única vez que conversamos sin testigos, pero sí fue la última vez. Ya casi al despedirnos le dije:

It was not the only time we had spoken without witnesses, but it was the last time. As we were saying goodbye, I said to him:

MA -- Don Eduardo, no se vaya aun a Chile, quédese este fin de semana.

don Eduardo, don't go yet to Chile, stay here this weekend.

Frei -- No chiquilla! ya hice lo que tenía que hacer aquí…

No, little one! I have done what I had to do here ...

MA -- "Hay muchos compatriotas que les gustaría saludarlo y escucharlo. En Chile aun hace frío, disfrute un poco de Caracas… agregué sabiendo que mis argumentos eran muy débiles y su respuesta parecía confirmarlos:

"There are many compatriots who would like to see and listen to you. In Chile it is cold, enjoy Caracas a little I added, knowing that my arguments were very weak and his reply appeared to confirm them.

Frei -- “Hecho de menos la comida de Maruja…” dijo con una ancha sonrisa pero al verme la cara de incredulidad me explicó: Tengo una hernia al hiato que me hace eructar involuntariamente. Es muy desagradable, especialmente en eventos públicos. Debo operarme luego y estar bien para cuando integre la Comisión Brandt.

"I miss Maruja's (Frei's wife) cooking he said with a broad smile, but upon seeing my look of disbelief, he explained. "I have a hiatal hernia that makes me burp involuntarily. It's very disagreeable, especially during public events. I have to be operated soon and be well for when I become a member of the Brandt Commission."

MA -- ¿Pretende operarse en Chile?

Do you plan to be operated in Chile?

Frei -- Si, es una operación casi insignificante.

Yes, it's an almost insignificant operation.

MA -- Don Eduardo, con mucho aprecio y respeto, no se opere en Chile.

don Eduardo, with much esteem and respect, do not (be) operated on in Chile.


MA -- Su reacción no fue de enojo porque raras veces parecía enojado pero sí de malestar. “¿Tu también desconfías de nuestros médicos?”, me respondió seriamente.

His reaction was not one of anger, because it was rare that he appeared angry, but one of irritation.

Frei -- "You too are distrustful of our doctors?" he responded seriously.

MA -- No señor, no son preocupaciones médicas, son políticas. Usted es la cabeza visible de la oposición.

No sir, (my) concerns are not medical, they are political. You are the visible head of the opposition.

Frei -– Pamplinas! (o algo así) no soy tan importante y me entusiasma formar parte de la Comisión Brandt.

Nonsense! (or something similar), I am not so important, and it excites me to be part of the Brandt Commission.

MA -- Don Eduardo, si es tan simple opérese en Estados Unidos… o aquí, o en Buenos Aires, le sugerí ya desanimada.

don Eduardo, if it is so simple (have the) operation in the United States, or here (Caracas) or in Buenos Aires.

Frei -- No creo que los militares se atrevan a asesinarme…

I don't think the military would dare to assassinate me.



MA -- Nos dimos un largo abrazo o mejor dicho, me abrazó y casi desaparecí del escenario y se despidió… “Chiquilla, espero verte en Chile otra vez”.

We gave each other a long hug, or better said, he hugged me and I almost disappeared (in his arms) and he said goodbye saying "Little one, I hope to see you in Chile again."

MA -- Eduardo Frei Montalva ya no era Presidente cuando fue asesinado pero representaba el espolón de libertad y humanismo que requería Chile en su largo reguero de sangre. El Humanismo no se impone a través de la mira de una metralleta.

Eduardo Frei Montalva was no longer president when he was assassinated but he represented a link to freedom and humanism that Chile needed in its long bloodbath. Humanism cannot be imposed through the sights of a machinegun.

[Judi Lynn]

4. The conversation she had with Frei must have echoed so often for your friend.

Sounds exactly as if her fears about being that vulnerable in an operation in Chile at that time were accurate. When she remembered how basically sound he was in Carabobo, she would have known instantly he couldn't have been infirm enough to slip away very easily in or right after surgery.

Thanks for sharing that account of the meeting which shortly preceded that fatal event. It undoubtedly hit her hard. The frustration and anger must have been horrendous, and she must have felt so helpless, knowing what a powerful machine was able to do that and not get caught at the time.

Hope the new developements will help give her a sense that now someone is trying to do something about it, and late-coming justice may be partially achieved, at least. Hope they can uncover many other names connected to that murder of someone Pinochet hated.

The Brandt Commission was a large undertaking. They were extremely selective about the people they sought for it, of course. He must have been looking forward. I read it sought to bring together the leaders of the north who needed the natural resources of southern countries, and the leaders of southern countries who needed northern resources for developement.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Chile's poisonous past

Chile's poisonous past
A judge's ruling that President Eduardo Frei Montalva was murdered in 1982 is a reminder of the abuses during the country's Pinochet years.
December 10, 2009

Chile has developed a strong democracy in the 20 years since the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet ended, and yet the blue-eyed strongman who died in 2006 continues to cast a pall over the country's current events in a stark demonstration of how difficult it is for a nation to recover from tyranny.

This week, the 1982 death of former Christian Democratic President Eduardo Frei Montalva was back in the news when a Chilean judge ruled that he had been poisoned by Pinochet henchmen and charged six people with the killing and subsequent coverup. Frei preceded Socialist President Salvador Allende and supported the coup against him led by Pinochet, but later became a leading critic of the dictatorship, which has been blamed for the killing or disappearance of about 3,000 people. Frei's death was initially attributed to septic shock, but an autopsy this year found chemicals used to make mustard gas and rat poison in his body. Four doctors and two members of Pinochet's secret police were accused of the crime. "This shows that justice takes time, but it does finally arrive," said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, herself a victim of the torture common in Pinochet's prisons.

The killing is a specter in the presidential election that will be held Sunday. Frei's son, Sen. Eduardo Frei, who already served as president from 1994 to 2000, is again a leading candidate. He is likely to face a runoff against Harvard-trained economist and conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera, who polls say could wrest power from the center-left coalition that Frei represents and that has ruled since the end of the dictatorship. Some conservatives accused the left of trying to capitalize on the Frei Montalva case to sway the election; Pinochet's legacy of abuse remains a powerful emotional issue on both sides of Chilean politics.

Meanwhile, Pinera came under fire for promising a group of retired military officers that he would try to expedite litigation of human rights cases dating from the Pinochet era. Frei accused him of making "obscure promises of immunity," and Pinera shot back that Frei seemed consumed with hatred and "wedded to the past."

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-chile10-2009dec10,0,6753736.story

[Judi Lynn]

6. Not too late for justice in Chile

Not too late for justice in Chile
December 14, 2009

THE BELATED investigation of a 1982 murder in Chile ought to serve as a reminder that there can be no statute of limitations on fascist thuggery, and that it’s never too late to pursue justice. So there was both legal and political value to the announcement this week by Chilean judge Alejandro Madrid that a seven-year inquiry into the death of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalvo found that he had been poisoned at the behest of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet’s secret police.

Six men are under arrest for the murder, including doctors who performed an autopsy on the former president to remove organs containing traces of the thallium and mustard gas used to poison him. Frei’s was but one of many political assassinations perpetrated by Pinochet’s secret police. For Americans, the most notorious was the 1976 car bombing in Washington, D.C., that killed Chile’s former ambassador to the United States and an American co-worker.

Those old crimes can teach crucial lessons to Americans as well as Chileans. As Chileans voted in yesterday’s presidential election - in which Senator Eduardo Frei, son of the murdered former president, was a candidate - they had reason to remember Pinochet’s 17-year reign of terror. And Americans accustomed to hearing that Chile’s free-market experiments under Pinochet provide a model worth emulating need to be reminded of that regime’s criminality - and of US collusion in Pinochet’s destruction of Chilean democracy.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/12/14/not_too_late_for_justice_in_chile/