Who is this ridiculous woman who bounces from country to country wearing her Mervyns's kakis and her JC Penny handbag? Is she a bird? Is she a plane? No, it's the nutty daughter of that infamous ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, the man who just six years ago was still the most influential man in Chile. This last week has been very tiring for her, as well as for the press and television, which have filled the front pages and news reports with nothing but Lucia. The Lucia extravaganza has raged for an entire week, but finally she's back home, comfortable in her cozy house in smog-filled Santiago. After fleeing justice and embarrassing herself and the entire republic of Chile, Lucia's bail was granted this Monday, costing her six thousand dollars.
Meet Judge Carlos Cerda. He's the Chilean judge investigating Augusto Pinochet in the Riggs case, where the ex-dictator is charged with hoarding millions of dollars in illegitimate bank accounts across the United States, opened with a variety of falsified passports. It's been over a year since this case exploded on the international scene, and a lot of time and paper has been wasted on microscopically picking out and examining every centimeter of detail and following every capillary trail in the hopes of not having to ever pronounce the 90-year old "cacho" of a dictator guilty of anything. The intricate role played by every single member of the Pinochet family, right down to the family dog's nutritionist, must be documented and the media must report and repeat those all too familiar and embarrassing "court appearances", "house detentions", "immunity hearings", in order to give the impression that justice is slowly unfolding. Reality, however, indicates that Carlos Cerda might well belong to that highly prestigious club of Chilean judges who've made a career out of processing Pinochet, but who lack the courage to actually convict him of anything. As Fernando Paulsen put it on Tolerancia Cero this past Sunday, "it's easy to process, convicting is where you actually need balls!"Chasing Lucia Pinochet halfway across the universe and wasting a weeks worth of press on her lame existence is part of this extravaganza of half-baked justice where consumers of Pinochet family disgrace confuse the juicy, fallen from grace type of images with real justice.
Before judge Carlos Cerda could notify Lucia of the charges she faces, along with the other members of the family (Lucia faces charges of tax evasion bordering a million dollars as well as passport falsification while the others face relatively minor tax evasion charges), Lucia decided to take a trip to Mendoza (Argentina) with her son Rodrigo. A perfect time to take a road trip over the Andes mountains wouldn't you say? Judge Cerda had taken all the steps to ensure that this legal formality would go over smoothly, even ensuring the Pinochets that they would be released immediately with no fuss and little noise. But when Lucia suddenly remembered that she had to present herself to the judge, as her family did on Monday, she did what any normal Chilean citizen would do....she traveled to the United States to do some shopping! Arriving in Washington, Lucia Pinochet was shocked to learn that her visa had been revoked. What nerve! She probably thought she would receive the same open arms welcome she had grown so used to in the years when her daddy was Washington's favorite mass-murdering dictator. Prevented from entering the country by international police, who were presumably acting on the arrest order issued by Judge Cerda on Monday after realizing that Lucia had fled the country, she then switched forms and decided to apply for.....political asylum? Claiming political persecution? What on earth was she thinking? She then spent two days as a common prisoner at the Arlington Prison, waiting for an audience with an immigration official. She was treated just like a regular inmate, forced to wear prison uniform and confined to a small prison cell. It's understandable that many can consider this a form of justice. After all, as a Pinochet, she did get a small taste (a very small taste) of what it must've been like for so many of her daddy's "terrorist enemies" in and around the countless concentration camps throughout Chile during the dictatorship.
But here's the interesting part. After suddenly deciding that political asylum wasn't her thing after all, she got back on a plane and returned to Chile, first class. This is somebody who a minute ago was seeking political asylum! Imagine if a Cuban balsero suddenly decided to return to Havana after applying for political asylum in the US. Would Fidel Castro be waiting at the airport with open arms, saying "I'm glad you changed your mind son"? Well that's pretty much what happened to Lucia. Judge Carlos Cerda actually went to the airport to greet her; he physically got on the plane and assured her that there would be no political persecution and that she would receive fair treatment. She spent the weekend in custody, and was then released on bail! This is somebody who just days before had fled from justice and had wanted to live in a foreign country! Doesn't that classify as a flight risk?
Many think that rather than a random act of desperation, Lucia's craziness represents a calculated legal defense strategy designed to confuse and delay the Riggs case against her father. It might've complicated things had it turned out differently, but in any case, all this media attention has created a certain amount of sympathy for the Pinochets. Many of the usual Pinochet apologists have come out of their dark caves to defend the family. Perhaps it was a calculated move, perhaps Lucia Pinochet is insane, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that the real guilty one, the one who is responsible for all of this, still manages to elude justice, or as they say here in Chile, still manages to "pasar piola". Pinochet has been charged with almost every crime imaginable, he's been under house arrest, he's been over house arrest, he's been stripped of a thousand and one layers of immunity, some of his immunity has been put back together again, but he's never actually been convicted of anything and he's never had to appear in court. Why is that?Maybe it has something to do with something that's very Chilean. Why take a stand and try to solve a problem, when doing so might cause a few inconveniences and rock the boat a little? If time itself will take care of the problem on its own, then why do anything? Pinochet, it seems, is going to die with a clean record.
And there´s another interesting little factoid involving our warrior judge Carlos Cerda. This coming March, the constitutional senate commission will vote on who will become the newest member of the Chilean Supreme Court. Thanks to President Lagos, Cerda´s name appears on a very short list of candidates; he could follow in the footsteps of judge Sergio Muñoz, who had to abandon all his cases, including the Riggs case, in order to integrate the high court. Will Carlos Cerda have enough time to convict Pinochet, or will the case switch hands and be delayed yet again?Anthony Rauld
