By Roger Burbach
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
This book tells the epic story of the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998, and the events surrounding it. It begins with Pinochet's violent military coup against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. It probes the sociopathic, paranoid and authoritarian tendencies that led him to murder thousands of people in Chile while authorizing acts of international terrorism in Argentina, Italy and Washington D.C. In response to his brutal reign, a human rights movement was forged that played a critical role in finally ousting the dictator in 1990. But even out of office, his power was such that he suppressed all efforts to prosecute him, until his detention in London. The book describes the clash between the politicians who sought to cover up and wash their hands of Pinochet, and the judges, lawyers and human rights organizations. And it discusses the implications of the affair for an international regime of justice.
COMMENTS ABOUT THE BOOK:
'As a witness to the military coup that overthrew the democratic socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973 and a visitor to Chile at critical moments over the past thirty years, Burbach relates the story of the heroic resistance to the brutal regime of Augusto Pinochet. Based on extensive interviews in Chile, England and Spain, the Pinochet Affair examines the socio-pathological tendencies of General Pinochet and provides vivid portraits of many of the leading human rights activists, lawyers and judges who succeeded in apprehending Pinochet in London in 1998 and stripped him of his parliamentary immunity in Chile, making the dictator one of the most ignominious figures of contemporary history.'
'This riveting book recounts the first historic September 11 in 1973 when Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile and launched a seventeen year reign of state and international terrorism with U.S. backing. The dramatic consequences of this coup are still shaking our world today and enable us to understand why Washington is so fanatically opposed to the International Criminal Court.'
'The Pinochet Affair portrays one of the most vile dictatorships of the twentieth century and the efforts of a brave and determined human rights movement to bring Augusto Pinochet to justice. Thanks to this movement, Pinochet will die despised and live in infamy. This book, on the other hand, will stand as a classic.'
Hardback - ISBN 1 84277 434 4 $61.95
Paperback - ISBN 1 84277 435 2 $22.95
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Roger Burbach is Director of Research and Publication at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) in Berkeley, California. A historian by training, he was for a number of years a staff member and writer with NACLA, the North American Congress on Latin America. During the 1990s he was Visiting Scholar in Peace and Conflict Studies, and subsequently at the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice (London, Zed Books, 2003), Globalization and Postmodern Politics: Zapatistas versus High Tech Robber Barons (London, Pluto Press, 2001) and Globalize This! The Battle against the World Trade Organization (Monroe, ME, Common Courage Press, 2000) (edited with Kevin Danaher). He co-authored with Orlando Núñez Fire in the Americas (London, Verso Books, 1987).
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