Like Hell - In Fact, Just Like It

The Christian Science Monitor is too diplomatic.

Controversial legacy of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet

"Controversial"? No, no, what we shouldn't have is controversy.

The date - December 10, the UN's International Human Rights Day - could not have been more symbolic for the passing of a man who best symbolized the international struggle to end impunity for human rights abusers in Latin America.

"It's no consolation to anyone that Pinochet has been subjected to a long legal battle, given that it has never resulted in a condemnation. That's what his victims will lament most about his death," says Sergio Laurenti, executive director of the Chilean wing of Amnesty International.

Picture this conversation:

God: Augusto! Nice ta meetcha.
Pinochet: Um...I thought you'd at least make me take a number.
God: Dude! Thanks to your killing spree, we had to hire developers. I'll never hear the end of that. Condo associations have regulations you just wouldn't believe!
Pinochet: So...what should we talk about?
God: Oh, I've got nothing much on my mind, but I can't say the same about 3,200 of your closest friends!
Pinochet: Uh oh.

Yes, uh oh indeed:

Pinochet imposed a curfew and ordered mass arrests in an effort to root out opposition. Declaring himself president in 1974, he eliminated Congress, political parties, freedom of speech, habeas corpus, and trade unions. At least 27,000 people were tortured while in detention, and an estimated 3,200 Chileans were killed or disappeared during his 17-year-rule.

Political scientists say that, although many dictators elsewhere in Latin America were responsible for more deaths, Pinochet is the most notorious because of what he embodies.

"He overthrew Latin America's first democratically elected Marxist leader, who himself was a symbol," says Robert Funk, a political science professor at Santiago's Diego Portales University

Case closed, right? Pinochet = Villain. Hang onto your barstool:

Pinochet still boasts a decidedly committed following who remember him as a savior.

Not so much with the boasting anymore. Pray continue!

According to opinion polls, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of the population was still professing their support for Pinochet and his military regime as recently as one year ago, says Claudio Fuentes, director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, an independent think tank based in Santiago.

Others say there's an element of nostalgia involved. "But more important, what there is in Chile, as there is in the rest of Latin America, is a fetish for authority," says Mr. Funk. "That respect that we see for Pinochet now is in many ways the support for someone who had a strong hand and made things run in a more orderly fashion."

That seems familiar. Wait, wait. I'll get this one...ah!

President slips to all-time low in the Zogby Poll as key demographic groups jump ship

Poor Augusto! He's going to be dead a whole lot longer than he was the beloved Bad Daddy.