Noose tightens on Pinochet

This afternoon, Viviana Diaz will pin to her sweater the faded black-and-white photograph of her father, Victor, and set out for the yearly march to the general cemetery in Santiago, Chile. It's the world's other September 11.

Thirty-one years ago today, General Augusto Pinochet took power in a bloody coup. An estimated 3200 Chileans were killed, or "disappeared" after being detained by the military in a campaign to root out Pinochet's opposition.

Victor Diaz Lopez was a leader in the Communist Party in Chile when he was detained in 1976. His remains have never been found.

Viviana was 25 years old and had to halt her university studies in German to search for her father.

Today, she is the Secretary-General of the Association of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared and has devoted more than half her life to searching for answers.

It's a full-time pursuit, in which she has been financially supported by her family.

Like the thousands of others who've been waiting 31 years for justice, she feels they are closer than ever.

A formal interrogation of Pinochet is to take place any day now. Although it has been 14 years since the end of his military rule, he is still seen as untouchable in Chile.

In 1998, a Spanish judge bucked the diplomatic system, using international law barring crimes against humanity to argue for Pinochet's extradition from London to face charges in Spain.

The former dictator spent more than a year under house arrest in London, until he was deemed too ill and returned to Chile for judgment.

But three years ago, Chilean courts declared Pinochet mentally unfit to stand trial. It was a huge defeat for human rights advocates and all attempts to try him since have failed. What to do with him, and others responsible for rights abuses, has been a sensitive subject in Chile, especially for the Socialist government of Ricardo Lagos, which has to walk a fine line between seeking justice for the families of the dead and upsetting the institutional right.

Human rights lawyer Nelson Caucoto is another stalwart in the series of legal battles against Pinochet. His quest to find answers for survivors of the coup began when he was a law student in 1976.

He is leading another high-profile case before Chile's Supreme Court involving a general amnesty decreed by Pinochet in 1978. It still protects the military and police officers who did his bidding. Only a handful of military officers have been jailed for what the courts have labelled permanent kidnappings, not covered by the amnesty because they are considered ongoing crimes.

But the amnesty has shielded officials suspected of murder or torture.

Just last week, Argentina's Supreme Court made a historic ruling rejecting its own amnesty in a case involving a Chilean general murdered there. The court declared that crimes against humanity can never be prescribed - a decision that should bolster Caucoto's appeal in neighbouring Chile.

An estimated 500 people could face prosecution if Chile's appeal is successful, says Caucoto.

But like many others, he knows Pinochet is the biggest fish to fry. He had all but lost hope a few months ago.

"The Pinochet issue has been pretty much sealed in legal terms. In fact, Pinochet doesn't even interest me anymore," Caucoto said in May. "For the Chilean justice system, Pinochet is still an untouchable at this moment."

On May 28, an unexpected decision by the Santiago Court of Appeals stripped Pinochet of his legal immunity. Many suspected the Supreme Court would overturn that decision. But on August 26, the Supreme Court ratified it, meaning the 88-year-old will face questioning.

"Personally, I always believed Pinochet would be tried," says Diaz. "Many times when I said this, people laughed at me. Even judges said 'who are you?' We were a helpless cry in the desert. But Pinochet was detained in London and he is now facing justice again. And the case is Operation Condor, where there is more proof than anywhere of Pinochet's involvement. So we have more hope than ever."

Pinochet's interrogation was to happen last Monday. But his lawyers have managed to buy him time, arguing that the interrogating judge, Juan Guzman, is biased against him.


Juan Subercaseaux, one of the prosecutors, says he's not worried because these delays will help them ensure the interrogation is done with the proper controls. They have presented a request to have Pinochet take anti-doping tests before questioning.

Pinochet's mental fitness was the trump card in the last case to reach the Supreme Court in 2000-01.

But Judge Guzman has ordered that any new psychiatric tests be done by impartial university psychiatrists.

Observers say Pinochet has been his own worst enemy here - too proud to show himself as a senile old man. He gave a television interview in the United States, and has travelled and been seen around Santiago, buying books and personal items.

Meanwhile, the families of the dead and disappeared are notably reserved.

There's a cautious optimism, says Victoria Saavedra, who lost her brother in 1975.

"The first time Pinochet was stripped of his immunity, we had great hope. We thought we'd get justice. But it wasn't so. That's why this time, we don't want to have any illusions."

There's a definite scepticism here that Pinochet will manage to slip through the hands of justice yet again.

But with the crescendo of legal actions, it's clear that facing justice is closer than ever for this ageing untouchable.