Lions and Tigers and Dictators, O My!

Over the weekend, I met a friend of Felipe's who's mother is an English teacher at a private high school here in Santiago. Apparently the mother, Cecilia, loves to have native English speakers come talk to her classes, so we arranged for me to go talk to them today. She sent a taxi to the house to pick me up this morning. The high school is located in a rather swanky part of town, and as we were driving by some rather nice homes the taxi driver asked me if I knew who Fujimori was. Yes, I replied, I'm familiar with who he is. Well, the driver replied, there's his house. He pointed down the street and there, at the end of a cul-de-sac was parked a green Carabineros truck. Apparently Fujimori fled to Chile a few months ago, and now the Peruvian government is in the process of extraditing him back to Peru, where they hope to try him and then execute him. And today, I drove by his home.

Oh, and remember that little ol' Augusto Pinochet? You know...the military general who organized and led a bloody and violent coup overthrow of the previously democratically elected president in 1973, then proceeded to rule for 17 years tourturing and murdering his country's citizens? Yeah, that Augusto Pinochet. Don't worry, because he's getting just what he deserves...he lives here, in Santiago, rich and happy. Well, he's here in Santiago when he's not at one of his many other vacation homes, of course.

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? My host dad told me that when he and his wife were married, it was required that you get a permit to hold a small gathering to celebrate. They went through all of the legal process and were holding their legal wedding party right here in Santiago when the Carabineros showed up. Apperently the Carabineros checked all of their documents and let them continue. After leaving this wedding celebration, however, they drove to another wedding party being held a few streets away and KILLED PEOPLE. To this day, the location of some people who were at that gathering is still unknown.

That's not even an unusual story. There are plenty of people living here in Chile who were directly affected by Pinochet's dictatorship, and no one seems even a little bit alarmed that he's still living a peaceful, happy life right down the street.

I just don't get it.