Thatcher expresses grief at dictator’s death

FORMER British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was last night said to be “greatly saddened” by the death of General Augusto Pinochet, the one-time ruthless right-wing dictator of Chile.

The former British Prime Minister remained a firm and loyal supporter of Pinochet, especially in the last stormy years of his life when a series of legal attempts were made in Chile to charge him with alleged crimes relating to the disappearance of thousands of dissidents during his years of power.

Lady Thatcher always maintained that Pinochet had offered the British invaluable help during the Falklands conflict of 1982.

And when he came to Britain on a private visit in 1998, she had tea with him and expressed her opposition to attempts by the Spanish Government to extradite him to Madrid to face charges concerning the disappearance of Spanish citizens in Chile during his presidency.

That procedure was foiled, when the then British Home Secretary Jack Straw said he should not be extradited because of his state of health, creating a huge political storm among Labour MPs.

A spokesman for Lady Thatcher said she would not be issuing a formal statement on his death, but said she would be sending her “deepest condolences” to his widow and family.

Human rights group Amnesty International said Pinochet’s death should be a wake-up call for the authorities in Chile and governments everywhere, reminding them of the importance of speedy justice for human rights crimes, something Pinochet himself has escaped.

Venezuela’s vice-president said Pinochet’s death means the former Chilean dictator has managed to escape justice for crimes committed during his rule.

“I respect death and the dead and there will be another time for judgment. The only thing that I can say is that death seals Pinochet’s impunity,” Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel said in a statement.

Hugo Gutierrez, a human rights lawyer involved in several lawsuits against Pinochet, said more should have been done to bring the former leader to justice.

“This criminal has departed without ever being sentenced for all the acts he was responsible for during his dictatorship,” he said.

Lorena Pizarro, president of an association of relatives of the dictatorship’s victims, called Pinochet genocidal and said it was ironic he had died “on December 10, the international day of human rights.”