Pinochet leaves hospital after operation

Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet has left a hospital two days after undergoing surgery to replace his seven-year-old pacemaker.

Santiago Military Hospital spokesman Luis Felipe Brieba said doctors allowed the 87-year old “to complete his recuperation at home because his new pacemaker is working properly”.

Pinochet, who suffers from mild dementia, arthritis and diabetes and has had several mild strokes since 1998, has lived largely in seclusion for the last three years, but he was seen in public last month when he holidayed in southern Chile with his wife and family.