CHILE:Thousands of mourners queued for hours yesterday to pay their last respects to the former Chilean general Augusto Pinochet, who died of a heart attack on Sunday.
Pinochet, who ruled Chile as military dictator from 1973-1990, was placed in an open coffin, wearing a blue Chilean army uniform and surrounded by a military honour guard as a stream of admirers slowly passed by, some weeping.
The Chilean government allowed the army to hold a Mass for the former dictator but refused to sanction a state funeral and recognise Pinochet as a head of state, given his role in the 1973 military coup that overthrew the then elected president, Salvador Allende.
The interior minister, Belisario Velasco, noted that Pinochet had ordered the presidential palace, known as La Moneda, to be bombed by the air force on the day of the coup. "I didn't see the flag [ put] at half-mast at La Moneda by Gen Pinochet, the flag was shot down not put at half-mast . . . That's why the government has decided that Gen Pinochet does not have the necessary requirements to give him a funeral as a head of state."
Mr Velasco said Pinochet would be remembered as a "a classic right-wing dictator who badly violated human rights and who became rich".
Pinochet's body will remain on view to the public until today, when a formal Mass will be held. Following the Mass, he will be cremated and his ashes delivered to his family.
Earlier plans to have Pinochet buried in a family crypt in Santiago were abandoned after rumours that the tomb would be desecrated.
An estimated 3,000 Chileans died during the 1973-1990 military regime and the country's current president, Michelle Bachelet, was among the thousands taken prisoner and tortured. In a brief statement, she described the Pinochet regime as "a painful, dramatic and complex period that our country lived". Opponents of Pinochet were largely invisible yesterday but the centre of Santiago was riddled with piles of rubble, burnt tyres and smashed store fronts after a celebratory parade on Sunday afternoon by antiPinochet marchers turned into a six-hour riot. An estimated 30 police were injured and dozens of businesses - particularly banks - were vandalised.
Ms Bachelet condemned the violence and sought to embrace Chilean unity. "I have the profound conviction and the will to overcome adversity, these bitter and unjust moments," said Ms Bachelet, who conspicuously dressed in black.
Pinochet supporters describe Ms Bachelet as a cowardly communist, while the general's foes vowed yesterday that not a single street would be named after him.
The mood yesterday was calmer. Pinochet supporters sang the national anthem and chanted while waiting to enter the military training academy where a series of religious ceremonies were held throughout the day as his family called for a state funeral. "He deserves it. He gave everything for this country and pulled it out of a tremendous chaos," said Pinochet's son, Marco Antonio. He added that he was pained to see thousands celebrate the death of his father.
To his supporters, Pinochet remains a heroic figure of nationalistic pride. To his opponents, he will be remembered as a deceitful and brutal leader who regularly ordered the murder of his own colleagues in the armed forces.
"At the end he was surrounded by lawyers who tried to defend the indefensible," said Isabel Allende, the niece of the former president Allende, who died during the 1973 coup. "I would have preferred for the courts to have finished their work, I wish that there had been a conviction and a sentence." - (Guardian service)