From the article: "Some Chileans say the general saved their country from communism while others regard him as a murderer who escaped justice and should have been tried for human rights abuses."
3000 dead, 28,000 tortured. The price was probably worth it to get rid of that socialist Allende and his bizarre idea to make sure mothers had enough milk for their babies.
That was sarcastic. The news coverage on this has been very "fair and balanced". NPR even quoted an expert saying that, in spite of the violence, Pinochet made some real contributions to Chile's economy. (And Mussolini made the trains run on time.)
They then went on to say that Allende's socialist economic policies were "disastrous". There was no analysis of this statement in light that the CIA (and this is proven in documentation) was working very hard, along with US trade unions, including the teamsters, to destabalize Chile's economy.
All that said, Pinochet is an interesting character. He was very loyal to the democratic government and trusted by Allende. What made him change is a subject of speculation, but once he did change, he was ruthless. He was powerful enough before this that had he let Allende remain in office but acted as a counterweight, the dirty war there could have been avoided. It didn't have to go the way it went.
Read the transcipts of the Chilean Truth Commision (including testimony about how the Chilean miliary taught dogs how to rape women) and you won't shed much of a tear for the beloved jefe, however.
