The Pinochet Affair

This book tells the epic story of the events that surrounded the dramatic arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998. Beginning his narrative with the violent military coup that Pinochet led on september 11 1973, Roger Burbach discusses what led the dictator to murder thousands of his own people and to authorize acts of international terrorism in Argentina, Italy and Washington DC. He describes the global clash that ultimately took place in Spain, Britain and Chile to bring him to justice, and the impact the Pinochet afair has had around the world as the global human rights community seeks to establish an international regime of justice.

'... provides vivid portraits of many of the leading human rights activists, lawyers and judges who succeeded in ... making the dictator one of the most ignominious figures of contemporary history.' - Isabel Allende

Key points

* The extraordinary and dramatic story of how General Pinochet of Chile came to justice
* Explains the wider significance for international human rights law and the principle of universal jurisdiction
* A modern political history of Chile and the role played by the US in its affairs

Introduction: The First September 11 That Shook the World

1. The Dictator's Prelude: Allende, Chile and the Coup
   The Chilean Road to Socialism
   The Imperial Adversary
   A Thousand Days of Drama
   The Battle of La Moneda
2. The Formation of a Dictator
   The Neighborhood Bully
   Pinochet's Infatuation with Strongmen and Authoritarianism
   A Sociopath in Constitutional Drag
   Deceit, Treachery and the "Crucial Day"
3. Quest for Absolute Power
   Pinochet's "Total War"
   DINA and the Consolidation of State Terrorism
   Eliminating Military Adversaries
4. Globalization of the Chilean Human Rights Movement
   The Arduous Birth of the Chilean Human Rights Movement
   Internationalizing the Human Rights Struggle
   The United States: Dictators and Double Standards
   U.S. Assault Against the Left
5. The Bitter Transition, 1990-1998
   Protected Democracy
   Justice Vs. Impunity
   Judicial Change
   The Eve of Pinochet's Departure
6. The Entrapment of a Dictator
   Judge Baltesar Garzón Takes Center Stage In Spain
   Pinochet and the Iron Lady on the London Stage
   "We Lost Our General"
   The "Londonazo" in Chile
7. Five Hundred Days in the British Docket
   The House of Lords Vs. the General
   The General's "Rent-a-Mob" in London
   Back to the Spanish Stage
   The Autumn of the Patriarch in London
   The Betrayal of the Politicians
8. Pinochet's Return and the Reckoning in Chile
   Juan Guzman: The Judge Who Trapped Pinochet
   Lagos' Betrayal
   Pinochet: Hiding Under the Military's Skirts
   The Indictment of the Dictator
   The Hounded Dictator in His Liar
9. Conclusion: State Terrorism Versus the Globalization of Justice
   State Terrorism and the United States
   The End of the Cold War and Human Rights
   The Pinochet Affair and Advances in Human Rights

Roger Burbach is a historian and director of research and publications at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) in Berkeley, California. He is the author of numerous books, including Globalization and Postmodern Politics: Zapatistas versus High Tech Robber Barons (London, Pluto Press, 2001).

See also State Terrorism and september 11, 1973 & 2001 The Guardian, 11 September 2003