Pinochet fighting for life, but shows improvement

Former dictator Augusto Pinochet was today fighting for his life at a Chilean military hospital after suffering a heart attack, but doctors said he was improving after an emergency angioplasty to restore blood flow to his heart.

The heart attack, which a close associate, retired general Luis Cortes, described today as Pinochet’s “most serious health condition so far”, came one week after Pinochet took “full political responsibility” for the actions of his 1973-to-1990 dictatorship, which carried out thousands of political killings, widespread torture and illegal detentions.