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The Chilean army needs a root and branch reform
CARMEN HERTZ speaks to Hugo Guzman about the context of the resignation the army’s comander-in-chief general Ricardo Martinez and the institution’s vast network of corruption, fraud and embezzlement
Chilean Army Chief General Ricardo Martinez hands in his resignation, Carmen Hertz
[Carmen Hertz pic: Rodrigo Fernandez/Creative Commons]
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THE head of Chile’s armed forces General Ricardo Martinez resigned on March 2 over corruption allegations. Three of his four predecessors in the post, the same held by General Pinochet when he overthrew elected president Salvador Allende, are caught up in the corruption scandal.
LET US look at some facts. All the commanders-in-chief of Chile’s armed forces from Augusto Pinochet until now, including Ricardo Martinez, have been prosecuted or indicted for crimes of embezzlement. Pinochet has also been prosecuted for crimes against humanity, and two commanders-in-chief — supporters of Salvador Allende — were assassinated on Pinochet’s orders: general Rene Schneider in 1970 in Santiago and general Carlos Prats in 1974 in Buenos Aires.
The status quo of military impunity undermines Chile’s democratic institutions, it is an affront to society as a whole and a discredits the army, which enjoys unprecedented institutional autonomy, discretion and arbitrariness in the conduct of its affairs.
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