Pinochet Escapes Justice, Dies at 91

On September 11, 1973 (the day I came into this world), a CIA-sponsored coup ousted Chile’s elected leader, Salvador Allende, and installed Augusto Pinochet as dictator. Pinochet’s reign of terror lasted until 1990. Under his regime, some 3,000 people were murdered, many of the victims number among Latin America’s “disappeared”—their bodies never found. Pinochet never stood trial for his crimes, using his failing health as an excuse.

Just as the wheels of justice were finally starting to turn, Pinochet’s health yet again took a turn for the worse. Today he’s dead, at age 91. The families of the victims will not see justice in this life. So ends another chapter in the disastrous history of US intervention in Latin America.