Augusto Pinochet

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The Remains Were Obliterated. Chile Will Search for Them

50 years after Pinochet's coup, the Chilean government will look for the missing

(Newser) - September will bring with it the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought down Chile's democratically elected government and established Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in its stead—and ahead of that anniversary, Chile on Wednesday is set to move forward with its plan to find the remains of those...

Radio Caller Confesses to 18 Murders

'The first time [I killed someone] I cried…The second time I liked it'

(Newser) - Listeners in Chile got a major shock last week when a 62-year-old bus driver named Guillermo Reyes called into a popular radio program to talk about his love life and ended up confessing to at least 18 murders, the Daily Beast reports. Reyes, going by the fake name "Alberto,...

Chile Owes Exile Damages After Torture Under Pinochet: Court

Leopoldo Garcia Lucero ruling is first of its kind for international court

(Newser) - A Chilean man exiled in 1975 has won court-ordered compensation from the state over torture he suffered under Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights; ruling in the case of Leopoldo Garcia Lucero, 80, marks the Costa Rica-based institution's first decision on a living survivor of Pinochet'...

Pablo Neruda to Be Exhumed
 Pablo Neruda to Be Exhumed 

Pablo Neruda to Be Exhumed

Judge orders autopsy to see if he was poisoned

(Newser) - Pablo Neruda is about to get the Yasser Arafat treatment . Neruda chauffeur Manuel Araya has been claiming for years that agents of Augusto Pinochet poisoned the acclaimed poet while he was being treated for cancer. Next month, authorities will dig up his corpse to see if that's true. Judge...

Allende Grandkid Wins Chile Mayor Race

Maya Fernandez Allende sweeps to victory in leftist wave

(Newser) - The granddaughter of Chile's late socialist leader Salvador Allende has won her first major political election. The victory of Maya Fernandez Allende, who will now be mayor in Nunoa, came as leftist parties regained lost ground in municipal elections across the nation. Allende, a veterinarian, grew up in Cuba...

Spain's Rogue Judge Now in Crosshairs Himself

Lawyer: Baltasar Garzon charges 'witchhunt' for conservative targets

(Newser) - A crusading Spanish judge who used his country's universal jurisdiction laws to indict Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and Osama bin Laden in 2003, and who probed the US for abuses at Guantanamo Bay , now finds himself under investigation for an array of accusations, reports the AP . On Tuesday, Judge...

Chile Exhumes Allende to Settle Suicide Mystery

Country hopes to lay past to rest with Allende investigation

(Newser) - "Placed at a historical crossroads, I will pay with my life for the loyalty of the people," vowed Chilean President Salvador Allende as forces loyal to army chief Augusto Pinochet closed in on the presidential palace in a 1973 coup. Allende was found dead from gunshot wounds hours...

Chile Opens Inquiry Into Salvadore Allende's Death

Inquiry will examine whether Pinochet's troops killed him in '73 coup

(Newser) - Authorities in Chile are launching an investigation into the death of former President Salvador Allende in 1973. His body was found in the presidential palace after it was stormed by the forces of Augusto Pinochet, who launched the military coup that toppled the socialist Allende. The investigation will try to...

Worst-Dressed World Leaders
 Worst-Dressed 
 World Leaders 

Worst-Dressed World Leaders

Time lampoons the decadent, inept or just plain weird fashion decisions of the powerful

(Newser) - Not all world leaders are world fashion leaders. Time pokes fun at the most inept:
  1. Kim Jong-Il. He mainly wears khaki suits that call attention to his paunch and “Kanye West-sized” sunglasses.
  2. Vladimir Putin. Not a bad dresser—when he wears clothes. Unfortunately, he's often snapped shirtless to keep
...

Spanish Judge to Investigate Torture at Gitmo

Declassified memos show there were abuses, Garzon says

(Newser) - A Spanish judge has launched a probe into allegations of torture at the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, AFP reports. Baltasar Garzon initiated the investigation after reading statements by Spanish citizen Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed and three other prisoners about their treatment there. Garzon also said that the memos recently declassified...

Madonna 'Offends God,' Says Cardinal at Dictator Mass

Cardinal condemns Material Girl for provoking 'lustful enthusiasm'

(Newser) - Madonna's stage performance is a "stain" on humanity and an "offense to God," declared a controversial Chilean cardinal who enjoyed close ties to the late military dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Cardinal Jorge Medina condemned Madonna from the pulpit during a mass for Pinochet, Reuters reports. The singer...

Teens' Public Orgies Rattle Chilean Mores

Sexcapades reflect consumer-driven, apolitical youth culture

(Newser) - Can 100 teenagers performing oral sex on one another in a public park not be a political statement? That's one of the questions the sight of horny, apolitical, bisexual Chilean teenagers are prompting among their appalled, mostly Catholic compatriots, Newsweek reports from a country still haunted by General Pinochet's repressive...

Warrants May Shed Light on South American Dirty War

Governments colluded to murder adversaries

(Newser) - An Italian judge has issued arrest warrants for nearly 150 people in Latin America accused of helping their governments hunt down and kill leftist opponents in the 1970s. The warrants could shed new light on the so-called Operation Condor, an extraordinary scheme in which South American governments cooperated with each...

Warrants Served for Pinochet Family, Staff

Indicted helped Chilean dictator to launder $27M into US accounts

(Newser) - Arrest warrants for embezzlement were issued today in Chile for associates of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, including his widow and five children, the BBC reports. The warrants allege that the accused helped Pinochet hide $27 million of state money in US bank accounts. The former dictator died in 2006 while...

Bloody Riots Rock Santiago
Bloody Riots Rock Santiago

Bloody Riots Rock Santiago

Thousands battle riot police in Chile capital

(Newser) - Riots erupted in Santiago, Chile, yesterday in what the Guardian calls a "middle class revolt" against the government of president Michele Bachelet. Burning barricades brought the capital almost to a standstill, riot troops used water cannon and tear gas, and protesters hurled stones. Protesters' demands include greater wage equality...

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