Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Moves to Finish Transition LADB Staff

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4-7-2000 Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Moves to Finish Transition LADB Staff

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This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiSur by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 53927 ISSN: 1060-4189 Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Moves to Finish Transition by LADB Staff Category/Department: Chile Published: 2000-04-07

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos is moving ahead with efforts to remove the "authoritarian enclaves" from the Constitution and complete the transition to democracy. At the same time, Chile's Congress passed a constitutional amendment on March 25 that could protect former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) from prosecution even if the courts strip him of the immunity he now enjoys as a senator for life.

On April 4, Lagos announced that he had asked Senate president Andres Zaldivar to put together a bicameral working group to reform the Constitution. Lagos wants to end the designated Senate seats and modify the makeup of the Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, in which the armed forces have a majority, and the Tribunal Constitucional, which functions almost as a co-legislative body. Lagos also wants presidential authority restored to fire military chiefs.

The president is asking the working group to examine the present electoral system, which allows the opposition, with one-third of the electorate, the same representation as the majority (see NotiSur, 1997-12-19).

And Lagos said he would send bills to Congress to establish automatic voter registration, remove the legal obligation to vote, limit campaign spending, and allow Chileans outside the country to vote. But opposition politicians quickly tied constitutional reform to Pinochet's future. Pablo Longueira, president of the ultraright Union Democrata Independiente (UDI), said the reforms Lagos wants "are tied as much to a dignified retirement for Pinochet as to human rights."

Deputy Alberto Cardemil, president of the other right- wing opposition party, Renovacion Nacional, said if Pinochet's immunity is removed, it would impede completing the transition process. "If Gen. Pinochet's immunity is removed, obviously we will be in a stage of confrontation and polarization, which makes progress tremendously difficult," said Cardemil.

The "dignified retirement" concept arose in a UDI meeting to which Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza and former Defense Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma were invited. Longueira said that, to finish the transition to democracy, the country would need "a dignified retirement from public life for Pinochet, a solution to human rights problems, and the constitutional reforms." His statement was taken as an offer to support political reforms and modify the Constitution in exchange for closing the legal proceedings against Pinochet.

Lagos said that "fundamental for the retirement of any person and for social peace is that institutions function. The more we let the judiciary do its job, the better, and the more dignified will be the retirement." The Partido Socialista (PS) said it would not support any agreement to give Pinochet a dignified retirement before the courts rule on the motion to remove his immunity. If dignified retirement means not trying Pinochet "then we don't support it," said PS president

Ricardo Nunez. "You cannot finish the transition by sweeping under the carpet everything that divides us. Most Chileans do not want to finish the transition in a hypocritical way. They want us to close the still-open chapters clearly and transparently." Congress gives Pinochet additional immunity Meanwhile, in a joint session on March 25, Congress voted 113-27 with three abstentions to support a constitutional amendment, which, for the first time in Chile's history, grants a salary and immunity to former presidents. The reform creates the status of "past president" and requires senators for life to resign their Senate seats to obtain the new title.

The "Dignity of the former President of the Republic" amendment will also give former heads of state a salary equal to that of senators, about US$6,000 a month. Legislators from the PS opposed the legislation, while their Partida Democracia Cristiana (PDC) allies in the Concertacion approved it, as did the right-wing opposition.

The PS said the bill was written so Pinochet could resign and still have immunity, since the bill prevents the arrest, trial, or conviction of a former president without the Appeals Court's prior authorization. Politically, legislators from the Concertacion coalition and the right supported the bill to facilitate Pinochet's withdrawal from public life where he has been a source of polarization.

But legally, the new measure "could become an obstacle to justice in the Pinochet case," said lawyer Hector Salazar of the Fondo de Asistencia Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (FASIC). Viviana Diaz, president of the Agrupacion de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (AFDD), criticized the passage of the measure.

"It is inconceivable that the parliament is extending the immunity for Pinochet to impede his legal prosecution," said Diaz. "It is an embarrassment for the country." On March 29, Lagos said he would modify the law to prevent it from providing double immunity for Pinochet. In a TV interview, the president said that he doesn't share the thinking behind the bill, but he will respect it since it is a decision by Congress.

However, he added, he will use his presidential power to amend the bill "a posteriori." "I am going to send a bill to interpret the issue, the supposed double immunity, so that it is very clear that here there is no double immunity," said Lagos. Pinochet faces 81 criminal complaints in Chile related to human rights abuses during his reign, and Judge Juan Guzman has requested that the Santiago Court of Appeals lift his immunity so he can stand trial. That hearing is scheduled to begin April 12. Eduardo Frei becomes senator for life Despite having opposed the provision for lifetime senators as one of the "authoritarian enclaves" left over from the dictatorship, on March 21 former President Eduardo Frei (1994-2000) became a lifetime senator, saying he took the post to reform the Constitution and improve the democratic system.

Before taking the oath, Frei said he would actively use his Senate position "to reform the Constitution, to improve democracy." By entering the Senate, Frei will ensure the Concertacion a

parliamentary majority for the first time. Although the coalition has governed since 1990, it has been thwarted in carrying out its agenda by the designated and lifetime Senators. With Frei in the Senate, the governing coalition will have 24 votes, while the rightist opposition will have 21 seats, including two designates and Pinochet.

The Concertacion's majority will still not enable it to approve constitutional amendments or laws relating to the armed forces, which require a two-thirds and three-fifths majority, respectively. The right criticized Frei's decision to take the position, accusing him of lacking ethical principles. "For years, Frei has called for the abolition of designated and lifetime Senators, and now he is becoming one of them, when nothing makes that necessary," said the UDI statement.

But Frei said he sent several bills to Congress to eliminate the positions, all of which were blocked by the right. "What would be absolutely ethical would be to change the Constitution," said Frei. More charges filed against the general Meanwhile, in addition to the 81 criminal complaints against Pinochet in Chilean courts, the US Justice Department has reopened a grand jury investigation into the 1976 car- bombing that killed former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and his aide Ronni Moffitt in Washington, DC. US investigators are in Santiago where they have subpoenaed more than 40 witnesses in the case. Although six people were convicted in connection with the bombing, the US government never went after Pinochet for ordering the murder.

US Justice Department officials have said that if the evidence shows Pinochet ordered the bombing, it would have to decide whether a foreign leader could be indicted in the US, and if charges are brought against Pinochet, it would have to seek his extradition from Chile. State Department lawyers, however, have argued that indicting Pinochet could set a dangerous precedent, possibly exposing former US presidents to criminal charges in foreign countries.

The Letelier family has also asked that the state reopen the case, citing new evidence that ties Pinochet to the killing. A 1995 investigation carried out in Chile by Judge Adolfo Banados led to the trial and conviction of former DINA secret police head Manuel Contreras and second in command Pedro Espinoza, charged as "intellectual authors" of the crime and sentenced to seven- and six-year prison sentences, respectively (see NotiSur, 1995-06-02).

In Argentina, Federal Judge Maroa Servini de Cubria has informed Pinochet that he should name legal counsel to represent him in the investigation of the murder of Carlos Prats, former head of the Chilean army (see NotiSur, 1996-01- 26). Prats and his wife, Sofia Cuthbert, were assassinated in Argentina Sept. 30, 1974. [Sources: Inter Press Service, 03/20/00, 03/23/00; CNN, 03/20/00, 03/25/00; Reuters, 03/21/00, 03/22/00, 03/25/00; Associated Press, 03/23/00, 03/25/00; El Nuevo Herald (Miami), 03/18/00, 03/26/00, 03/31/00; Notimex, 03/16/00, 03/20/00, 04/04/00; Spanish news service EFE, 03/20/00, 03/21/00, 03/24/00, 03/29/00, 04/04/00; El Mercurio (Chile), La Tercera (Chile), 04/04/00]

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