Truth as a Healer in Chile

As former dictator Augusto Pinochet prepares to swear himself into a seat in the Senate, Chile again approaches a deep divide. The issue is front and center for President Eduardo Frei, who has made an impassioned appeal for calm and unity. Frei is concerned that leftist attempts to deny Pinochet a Senate seat--his reward for withdrawing the military from government--could unleash the old political furies and destabilize the fragile democracy.

That may well be the case. But those who survived the 17-year dictatorship, and relatives of those who did not, have every right to be outraged by the prospect of Pinochet becoming a senator for life, even though it was part of the political deal that saw him renounce the presidency in 1990.

In 1973, Pinochet led a CIA-backed military coup that overthrew the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende. The subsequent crackdown on Allende’s followers was brutal. It is estimated that more than 3,000 Chileans were killed by soldiers and death squads in a reign of terror. Then Pinochet granted the military amnesty for its misdeeds as a precondition to his agreement on a transition to democracy. The old dictator’s support in Congress has prevented efforts to change the law and do away with his and others’ unelected seats in the Senate.

President Frei should understand that now only the truth about what happened during the 17 years of fratricide can lead to reconciliation and national unity. He should strongly support Chileans who demand a forum like South Africa’s truth commission, which has encouraged healing through revelation of government misdeeds.