Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Writs and demos hound Kissinger

the independent | 14.04.2002 19:28

The Chilean judge prosecuting Augusto Pinochet for crimes committed during his 17-year dictatorship, is seeking to extradite Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, to Chile.

The threat will overshadow a visit to London next week by Mr Kissinger, who will find himself hounded by an alliance of human rights campaigners and anti-capitalist demonstrators over his alleged connivance at General Pinochet's 1973 coup in Chile, as well as his part in the Vietnam war and America's secret bombing of Cambodia.

Mr Kissinger's planned speech to the Institute of Directors at the Royal Albert Hall on 24 April will be met by a mass protest – and preceded by 10 days of "Kissinger-bashing", beginning with a "Get Kissinger" press conference launched by Labour MP, Jeremy Corbyn, at the Houses of Parliament.

On 4 July last year Juan Guzmán, the Chilean judge, submitted some 30 questions to Mr Kissinger about his relationship with Gen Pinochet; the questionnaire was passed on by the US State Department, but he has not so far chosen to reply, and is not expected to do so. Nor is Washington likely to hand over to an international criminal tribunal a man who served as secretary of state to two presidents.

Any application for his extradition, however, would increase the embarrassment and pressure on Mr Kissinger, who last year quit France in a hurry rather than submit to a summons to appear before A judge Roger Le Loire, who was looking into the disappearance of five French citizens in Chile during the Pinochet years.

Mr Guzmán told The Independent on Sunday he would be pressing for Mr Kissinger's replies this month and if they did not come, extradition proceedings would follow. Such action would mirror the move by the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, which led to the arrest of Gen Pinochet in London in September 1998. "I have been in touch with the US embassy here in Santiago, and they say they have no idea why replies have not been sent to my questions," said Mr Guzmán.

Guy Taylor, of the anti-capitalist movement Globalise Resistance, said there would be a "direct action blockade" when Mr Kissinger appeared at the Albert Hall. "We are calling on the Home Secretary not to allow him into the country," he said. "He presided over one of the most brutal eras of US foreign policy in history."

Mr Kissinger is still threatened by a $4.9m civil action from Joyce Horman for the death of her husband, Charles Horman, during Pinochet's 1973 coup, which formed the basis of the film Missing. He is also being sued in Washington by members of the family of the former Chilean army commander, General René Schneider. Schneider was assassinated in Chile in 1970 in what was seen as a plot, aided by the CIA, to prevent the election of the Socialist President Salvador Allende.

the independent
- Homepage: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=284708

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech