Military confronts its past

Santiago, Chile

The Chilean army issued a surprise statement last week accepting responsibility for human rights violations during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. By the government’s tally, 3,190 Chileans were killed for their politics and thousands more tortured or forced into exile under Pinochet, who led a 1973 coup and held power until 1990. Pinochet and subsequent military leaders blamed the atrocities on renegade officers who exceeded their orders as they policed leftist dissidents. The current army commander, Gen. Juan Emilio Cheyre, said it was time to admit the military’s guilt. President Ricardo Lagos called the move “a historic step” that would help integrate the army “into today’s democratic Chile.”

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