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Note: The following letter was sent to the RH Jack Straw MP, who was the Home Secretary at the time, regarding the Spanish request for the extradition of Capitán General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. A copy of it was also forwarded to the RH Alan Johnson MP for Hull West. Jack Straw, MP Friday 27 November, 1998 Dear Mr Straw Pinochet The year was early 1973. Prosser, one of the leaders of a fascist group in Valparaíso, whom I knew socially, invited me to meet his parents. They did not know I was a supporter of the left, as we kept our mouths shut. What I still remember of them, and this visit, a quarter of a century later, is how bitter they felt because of issues such as universal primary and secondary education for all children, regardless of social class. They clearly refused to accept any social advancement. In their view, the populace, “los rotos”, no longer knew their place in a highly patriarchal society. I had to drastically re-write my political and ideological map of that sector of Chilean society. These people were, still are, locked in another century, an anachronistic era of a semi-feudal social structure in a capitalist economic order. My family on my father side were latifundium owners, as such, I had the non-written right to have any woman, of any age, I wanted, at my family’s “fundo”. Needless to say that this was one “right” too far for me. No wonder that so many people of my parents’ and my own generation moved to the left pf the political spectrum! This is the sector that General Pinochet represents. He has failed to show any regret because he has none, because people like him still believe that they have the right to do whatever they like, and be totally unaccountable to anybody for their actions. Returning the general back to Chile would not help at all the development of democracy in the country. It will merely reinforce the grip that this anachronistic social sector has on the country. The 1987 political arrangement in Chile was forced upon the nation at gun point. This also explains why the institutions of the so-called Chilean democracy have not only been incapable of trying Pinochet and his acolytes for the blatant human rights abuses of his regime, but which have also rewarded him with a senator-ship for life. This is a political system which has senators appointed for life and which is still conditional to the wishes and whims not only of the military, but particularly of Pinochet, albeit within a “constitutional” framework. To call this arrangement a full democracy really is to stretch this concept just too far. I consider this an extremely important historical occasion for Chile to grasp, giving the possibility of leaving the ten years of transition since the departure of Pinochet as head of state, giving the opportunity to finally kick off the military back to the barracks once for all, regaining a proper democracy. These are the reasons why I do not think that it would politically benefit the Chilean democracy to have the general back. We are living in a different world now, Chile included. The Law Lords have ruled, courageously, on issues of principle and international law. I believe that there are no reasons of political expediency that should lead to the Law Lords’ ruling being challenged because of the reasons outlined above. The general’s extradition to Spain should proceed. It is about time that issues of principle prevail. I am a Chilean, a former political prisoner. As such, I was tortured by Pinochet’s acolytes; I am still surprised that I survived it all. I was tried in a court martial in Valparaíso in 1974-75, I never knew what the charges were, I was not even present during the proceedings! The general will have a fair trial in Spain. To those who mention his physical condition, yes, he is a frail 83 year old mass murderer and torturer. An 85 year old man shared a prison cell with me in 1974. He also had been tortured. Yours sincerely Pablo Luis González cc Alan Johnson MP
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