El Cóndor Pasa

The death of Manuel Contreras, the Chilean master henchman for Augusto Pinochet, reminds us of how terrible that regime was, not only for Chile, but also for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which took part in Operation Condor, a state terrorism secret alliance that claimed thousands of lives. In Chile, for example, close to 38,000 people were imprisoned and tortured, and more than 3,200 were killed or disappeared during Pinochet's reign of terror led by Contreras.

We are also reminded of the complicity, active or passive, of the U.S. government through all this process. The 526 year-sentence imposed on Contreras was not nearly enough for him to pay for his crimes against humanity. Especially, given the fact that part of the 20 years he served he spent at a rather comfortable institution. The Americans didn't do too much to punish two of his aides in the U.S. either.

Birds of a feather.

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