Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, could well be standing trial soon in Santiago, perhaps even on charges brought against him by the Chilean government itself. That was the message of Jose Miguel Insulza, the Chilean Foreign Minister who arrived in London on Friday to seek the general's repatriation.
Mr Insulza maintained that Gen Pinochet had no immunity from prosecution in his homeland. Government charges would be in addition to the seven private prosecutions that have been lodged against him since he quit the command of the army in March. At the same time the Chilean government would not object to his being tried by a tribunal established by the United Nations, Mr Insulza said. "You can always go to the Security Council of the UN and form a special tribunal for Chile," he said.
Mr Insulza complained that Chile was being regarded by the international community as a litmus test.
Who, he said, was calling for the prosecution of the former communist leaders in Eastern European countries? "Some of these countries are now preparing for entry into the European Union without ever putting any one of their former dictators on trial. Chileans are tired of their country being a guinea pig for human rights," he announced sharply.
At the Chilean embassy in London, the poster of the Communist poet, Pablo Neruda, looked over the shoulder of Mr Insulza - in case anyone were to think that the minister had any sympathy with the old torturer. Mr Insulza, like Mario Artaza, the Chilean ambassador in London, was himself condemned to years of exile by Gen Pinochet. He was visiting London not for Gen Pinochet's sake but, Mr Insulza said, because the large majority of Chileans thought that it was up to Chileans themselves to deal with the general and that any other method was an infringement of Chile's sovereignty.
In what Pinochet's supporters will see as a massive snub to the general, the Foreign Minister, who leaves Britain for Spain today, has not troubled to visit the general in hospital. "I was the first to argue that Pinochet should retire from public life," remarked Mr Insulza. He said he saw some parallels between the arrest last week in Argentina of Admiral Emilio Massera, the foremost officer responsible for torture of Argentine political prisoners, their ejection live from aircraft over the sea, and Gen Pinochet's case.
Mr Insulza, a sparky and humorous member of the centre-left Party for Democracy, dealt swiftly with the question that has been aired repeatedly by the extreme right in Chile. Because the wife of Lord Hoffman, the South African born judge who was one of the three law lords who found against Gen Pinochet on Wednesday, worked for Amnesty International in London should he not have stepped down from the case? "We didn't know and anyway we don't investigate the private lives of the judges," he said dismissively.
Meanwhile, the general himself has fallen into something of a depression since the House of Lords found against him on Wednesday.
According to those close to him at the Grovelands Priory Hospital in North London, where he is kept under armed police guard, he has fallen more than usually taciturn and pensive.
It also emerged from Chilean sources that he was warned in Chile of the dangers he might run in travelling to England. "He chose to ignore them because he feels he has done nothing wrong and is desperate to go down in history as a legitimate ruler," said one senior Chilean figure.
He could have easily evaded arrest since the British authorities initially rejected the Spanish application filed on Tuesday, October 13th, to detain him for questioning in London as it contained no specific charges against him. Thereupon, the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, who was preparing to travel to London to interrogate him, cancelled his trip and submitted an application for his extradition.