Blue acrid vapour hung in the air in central Santiago last month as Molotov cocktails and rocks were exchanged for tear gas canisters and water cannons. Scenes reminiscent of the days of Gen Augusto Pinochet were captured on film as angry demonstrators clashed for several hours with the carabinero police on the streets of Santiago.
Ninety-two people were arrested as several thousand protesters gathered to condemn Gen Pinochet's proposed move to a lifetime seat in the senate. An attempt to deliver to the former dictator a symbolic oneway ticket to Spain, where courts are now investigating human rights abuses that occurred during his 17-year military regime, sparked the brutal reaction from the security forces.
Earlier, 1,400 guests had gathered at Santiago's Casa Piedra to celebrate the general 82nd birthday. Attending the dinner were former Pinochet government officials, retired army generals and many of Chile's most important political and business leaders. The celebrations this year had special resonance as it was Pinochet's last birthday in uniform. The army commander-in-chief and former military dictator will take his seat as a lifetime senator when he retires from the army next March.
This position was created in the general's 1980 constitution, along with the non-elected post of "designated senator". In his speech to the assembled guests, Gen Pinochet defended the 1973 military coup and again warned against any effort to dishonour the record of Chile's armed services. "They [detractors of the military] should know that we are perfectly aware of those who have destructive ambitions and what it is they want to do. Anything that affects any single member of the army affects the whole army."
The political divisions which have plagued Chilean society were exacerbated by the military coup on the morning of September 11th, 1973 and continue to the present. Failure by the transitional governments of Patricio Aylwin and Eduardo Frei to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations committed during the military regime has increased those divisions.
Although metropolitan region governor German Quintanas accused the police of responsibility for much of the recent street violence it is unlikely that any action will be taken. Since 1990, designated senators have succeeded in giving the right-wing opposition parties the edge in voting down reforms to the 1980 constitution. These imposed legislators continue to uphold the 1978 amnesty law, which shields military personnel and their civilian agents from prosecution for human rights atrocities.
Within the last month, Admiral Jorge Matinez Busch has resigned as commander-in-chief of the navy. He was quickly followed by the army vice commander-in-chief, Guillermo Garin, and the police chief, Fernando Cordero Rusque. They will join Pinochet as designated senators. Government sources have also expressed fears that the former dictator will make a bid to become senate president.
They also fear political activism by him could induce the military to involve itself in political affairs. In an unprecedented move, all of Chile's ambassadors to European Union countries have expressed their concern to Foreign Relations Minister Jose Miquel Insulza regarding the possible formation of a "military enclave" within the senate.
Gen Pinochet's powerful position as commander-in-chief of the army has stifled any moves that would directly implicate him in any of the human rights abuses that occurred during his dictatorship. Continuing investigations in Argentina and Spain, however, could succeed in moving the "smoking gun" nearer to him.
In Madrid, the High Court has been investigating the deaths of Spanish citizens in Chile, including that of UN diplomat Carmelo Soria, following the coup. Judge Manuel Garcia Castellon has now been authorised by United States attorney general Janet Reno to travel to Washington to study Justice Department files that could shed light on many of these crimes.
Among the key files which Judge Garcia will study are those relating to the investigation, trial and conviction by courts in the United States in 1977 of civilians and military involved in the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington. He also expects to question protected witnesses who testified against the Pinochet regime in the Letelier trial, including Michael Townley, a US citizen with links to the CIA who was a member of Pinochet's secret police (DINA). Gen Pinochet will, however, take comfort from this month's elections, with the hard right opposition Independent Democratic Union (UDI) increasing its representation in the senate at the expense of its more moderate alliance partner Renovacion Nacional (RN). The larger Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in the Concertacion government fell five percentage points to 23, just below the 23.7 per cent polled by its partners in government, the Socialist Party (PS) and the Party for Democracy (PPD). This will considerably increase the chances of the leftwing Ricardo Lagos being the agreed government candidate for the presidential election in 1999. The Concertacion coalition and the opposition maintained a similar balance of power in the senate and the elections did nothing to facilitate the administration's laborious efforts to push the necessary reforms to the 1980 constitution.
Political analysts worry that the drop in support for the centre parties, and their continued infighting, will work to strengthen hard-line parties of the left and right, leading to polarisation and eventually political instability. The presence of a military bloc within the senate will add to this instability.