April 23, 1999
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pinochet Aides Fear Leaving Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- The arrest of Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Britain was hailed by many as the start of a new era in the protection of human rights.
But for dozens of ranking military officers and civilian officials who served under Pinochet, it was a clear warning not to venture beyond Chile’s boundaries and risk their former boss’s fate.
Rodolfo Stange, a retired police general and member of the junta that at one time ruled with Pinochet, said travel abroad is out of the question for him now. "It is obvious that there is a risk, as they want to continue to attack those of us who served in the military government," said Stange, who is now a senator. "What has happened to Gen. Pinochet is a slap in the face of our nation," he said. Gen. Humberto Gordon, who directed Pinochet’s feared secret police, said he is content to remain at home: "I am pretty happy ... in our beautiful Chile," he said.
Pinochet was arrested in October on a warrant issued by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is seeking his extradition to try him for human rights abuses during his 1973-90 regime. According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons during Pinochet’s rule.
Garzon issued similar warrants against 37 former high-ranking aides to Pinochet, both military and civilian.
Critics call Pinochet’s arrest in London a violation of Chilean sovereignty, but most subjects are taking the warrants seriously and avoiding travel. Some can’t travel anyway: two former chiefs of the secret police are serving prison terms for the 1976 assassination in Washington of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier.
Retired Gen. Jorge Ballerino, one of Pinochet’s closest aides, canceled a trip to Poland this week to participate in a seminar on democratic transition in Spain, Chile and Poland.
In a letter to the organizers, Ballerino noted that the "historic distortion of events in Chile is very strong not only in Britain, but throughout Europe." "If this has happened to Gen. Pinochet, who has nothing to do with the crimes he is accused of, it could also happen to us because we were members of his government," Ballerino wrote.
Two other former Pinochet cabinet members who were to travel with him—Pablo Baraona and Gonzalo Garcia—also are staying home. Retired Gen. Luis Cortes, who heads the Pinochet Foundation, the most ardent group of supporters of the general, said "it is incredible that because of a Spanish judge so many important Chileans can’t even go to Tacna," referring to the Peruvian city just across Chile’s northern border.
Stange suggested that some of those targeted by Garzon’s legal proceedings may attempt "some kind of a collective challenge" to his warrants, "so this situation will finally explode, one way or the other."
In addition to the 37 names on Garzon’s list, he said anti-Pinochet groups have "planted some 300 names on the Internet" urging their arrest should they travel abroad. Many on that list are also staying in Chile, Stange said.