Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet has undergone hospital treatment after he suffered a mild stroke yesterday.
The 89-year-old former ruler "looked normal, fully conscious" as he left Santiago Military Hospital, said his spokesman. Pinochet has suffered at least two other mild strokes in the past.
Pinochet was brought to the hospital from Los Boldos, his country residence about 85 miles southwest of Santiago.
Pinochet has been admitted several times to the same hospital in recent years for a variety of reasons, ranging from mild strokes to broken bones resulting from accidents at home. He also suffers from diabetes and has a pacemaker, according to his doctors.
Pinochet lives in near-seclusion and, on the rare occasions he's seen in public, he walks with a cane and the help of bodyguards.
Courts have cited his health in twice blocking his trial on charges related to human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship.
But Pinochet's opponents have repeatedly claimed he and his associates exaggerate his health problems to escape trial.
AP