Pinochet justifies 1973 Chile coup in posthumous letter

In a posthumous letter to Chileans made public today, General Augusto Pinochet wished he had not needed to stage the bloody 1973 coup in which he took power, describing his destiny as one of banishment and unimagined loneliness.

The former dictator, who died on December 10 of heart failure at the age of 91, insisted the military takeover avoided civil war and a Marxist dictatorship, and that his 1973-90 regime never had "an institutional plan" to abuse human rights.