Pinochet crimes unearthed
By Dara Mac Neil
In Chile, evidence continues to emerge of war crimes committed by
the regime of General Augusto Pinochet during his 17 years of
military rule.
In late November, investigators unearthed a mass grave containing
58 corpses in Antofagasta, north of the Chilean capital Santiago.
The corpses are currently being examined by a medical team, but
human rights organisations have no doubt but that the murders
were the work of Pinochet's military. The site was known to have
been used as an internment/concentration camp for political
opponents during Pinochet's rule.
As part of the 1990 deal which saw Pinochet step down (but retain
control of the armed forces for a time) and an elected government
assume power, a general amnesty was decreed for all crimes
committed during his 17 years in power. In effect, the amnesty
applied almost wholly to Pinochet and his executioners. In
addition, the amnesty has had the effect of disguising the true
extent of the barbarity perpetrated by Pinochet's terror state
during those years, as it tended to discourage investigation.
Pinochet came to power in 1973, on the back of a CIA-engineered
and supported coup d'état, which toppled the government of
Salvador Allende, the world's first elected Marxist head of
state.
other massacre in Colombia
Yet again, the victims of the latest massacre in Colombia were
unarmed civilians. Yet again, their murderers were right wing
paramilitaries with links to the country's so-called security
forces.
On Sunday 30 November a band of 50 armed men entered the village
of Dabeiba, in the northeast of the country. By the time they had
left, 40 civilians lay dead and 22 houses had been burnt to the
ground. The death toll may well have been higher, had not a
further 300 people managed to escape the village and flee into
surrounding mountains.
Following this latest example of state terror, the Organisation
of American States (OAS) has announced it is to send a team of
investigators to Colombia to study the ongoing (and intensifying)
campaign conducted by state-backed paramilitaries against the
civilian population.
Puerto Rican hunger strike
In Washington, a Puerto Rican lawyer embarked on a hunger strike
at the beginning of the month, in order to force US authorities
to concede that he is a citizen, not of the United States, but of
Puerto Rico. The island has been under US control since 1898.
The campaign of lawyer Alberto Lozada Colon is part of the wider
independence movement on the island. Since 1994, some 21 Puerto
Ricans have renounced their US citizenship and declared
themselves citizens of their own country.
Authorities, both the colonial administration in San Juan and
those residing in Washington, have attempted to ignore the
campaign by simply refusing to accept the citizenship
renunciations.
As a result, Lozada Colon has taken his protest to Washington. He
is demanding that his claim to Puerto Rican citizenship be
formally recognised by officialdom. Lozada Colon wants US
Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, to officially recognise
and certify his Puerto Rican citizenship. His claim is being
heard by a tribunal in Washington. In 1996, the lawyer formally
renounced his US citizenship in the US embassy in the Dominican
Republic.
Meanwhile the rule of Mexican President, Ernesto Zedillo is
three years old this month. Specially chosen to further the
economic reform (destruction) programme initiated by his
predecessor Carlos Salinas (currently a resident of Dublin), the
`success' of Zedillo's rule can be summed up with just one
statistic: There are currently 14 separate armed insurgency
movements operating in the country. Three years ago there were
none. Remarkable.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)