SANTIAGO: It had been 18 months since Gen. Augusto Pinochet reluctantly stepped down from the presidency and Chileans were just beginning to unearth brutal secrets of his 1973-90 dictatorship.
In a bleak corner of Santiago's sprawling General Cemetery known as Patio 29, workers were digging up the unmarked graves of more than 100 people who had been secretly buried in the weeks following his 1973 coup.
Tearful relatives of the ''disappeared'' gathered to watch the digging, hoping to find evidence of their loved ones.
But the former dictator was unmoved. A powerful, feared figure in Chile for years after the return of democracy, Pinochet left his army headquarters surrounded by his usual squad of bodyguards and was asked by reporters what he thought of the discovery that some of the coffins held two bodies each.
''A good cemetery space-saving measure,'' the general replied with a grin.
The quip caused an uproar. Reprimanded by his civilian successor, Patricio Alwyin, the general acknowledged that his words were ''probably unfortunate''.
It was the closest to an apology that Pinochet's victims would ever get.
For many Chileans, the remark was emblematic of Pinochet's lack of repentance, his disregard for those he considered his enemies.
According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons in the 17 years after Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of Marxist president Salvador Allende. More than 30,000 were tortured, many more illegally imprisoned, scores of thousands forced into exile.
A devout Catholic, Pinochet often said he believed he acted on a God-given mission to fight communism. In a 2003 interview with a Miami-based Spanish-language television station, he said he saw no reason to ask forgiveness for human rights violations committed during his right-wing dictatorship.
''They are the ones, the Marxists, who should ask me for forgiveness,'' he said, recalling a 1986 attempt on his life in which five of his bodyguards were killed.
''I never ordered anyone to be killed,'' he said. ''I harbour no hatred or rancour. I am good, I consider myself an angel.''
Allende himself picked Pinochet to lead Chile's military, convinced he was a loyalist who would back the constitutional government. Pinochet had won Allende's confidence by donning a helmet, grabbing a submachine gun and leading loyal troops to put down a small rebellion by soldiers in Santiago. He also helped quell a crippling truckers strike marked by daily riots in late 1972.
Records from that era indicate the CIA supported the strike as a way of undermining Chile's economy and Allende's Marxist government, which Washington feared was being used by Fidel Castro's Cuba to spread communism throughout the region.
At an April 1973 reception at the East German Embassy, Pinochet spoke out in defence of what he called Chile's right to follow its own political path. Then, 19 days after Allende promoted him to Army Commander, Pinochet sent warplanes, tanks and troops against the presidential palace.
''Unconditional surrender, unconditional surrender,'' Pinochet ordered an officer who told him Allende was offering to negotiate. In the same recording of that day's military radio traffic, Pinochet said that all Allende would be offered was an airplane to take him and his family out of the country.
''And then the plane goes down,'' Pinochet is heard saying with a laugh.
As air force jets bombed the presidential palace, Allende committed suicide with a submachine gun Castro had given him.—AP
