Chile's Lagos to discuss Pinochet house-arrest order with military

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) -- Chile's President Ricardo Lagos will meet Tuesday with the heads of the armed forces to discuss the house arrest of Augusto Pinochet on charges of kidnap and murder during the former dictator's 1973-1990 rule.

The order against Pinochet, the military's father figure, has raised concern within the Chilean military, which still wields enormous power in the South American nation of 15 million people.

"The president has called a meeting with the commanders-in-chief for tomorrow (Tuesday)," Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters Monday.

Lagos returns to Chile Tuesday from Mexico where he attended the swearing in of President Vicente Fox. Lagos will meet the four heads of the armed forces in the presidential palace La Moneda as soon as he gets back, Insulza said.

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Pinochet, 85, who has just recovered from pneumonia, had been regarded as largely untouchable in Chile, which he ruled with an iron fist after ousting socialist President Salvador Allende in a bloody coup.

That status was rocked Friday when a crusading judge, Juan Guzman, ordered Pinochet placed under house arrest for allegedly planning and organizing the deaths and/or disappearances of 77 leftists and unionists.

They were victims of a so-called Death Caravan, a military squad that flew around Chile in a helicopter in the weeks after Pinochet's September 11, 1973, coup.

Pinochet heard of his arrest in his rural residence in Bucalemu, 80 miles west of Santiago. The white-haired grandfather has made no comment on the order.

Ricardo Izurieta and Jorge Arancibia, the commanders-in- chief of the army and navy respectively, have said the court's investigation of Pinochet was causing critical tensions in the country.

"When people have problems they have to be talked through. When people are hurt, it has to be talked over," Insulza said, referring to Lagos' scheduled meeting with the heads of the army, navy, air and police forces.

Pinochet's lawyers presented a court motion Saturday to block Judge Guzman's order on grounds of irregularities -- including not questioning Pinochet and not waiting for the outcome of pending medical tests on his psychological state.

A Chilean appeals court will study that motion later this week, court sources said.

Guzman, who has investigated the deaths of people believed killed by the military during Pinochet's dictatorship, is now probing more than 180 lawsuits against Pinochet.

More than 3,000 people died or disappeared under Pinochet's authoritarian regime in which witch hunts of leftists were common. Tens of thousands of Chileans fled the country.

Guzman's order, however, caught Chile by surprise because Pinochet was first expected to undergo psychological exams, legally required in Chile for anyone over 70 who faces a trial.

A date for the tests has not been disclosed. Pinochet would avoid trial if he is mentally ill.

Pinochet returned to Chile from Britain in March after spending 503 days under house arrest near London.

He was detained in Britain in October 1998 at the request of a Spanish judge who wanted to try him on charges of torture. He escaped extradition to Madrid after Britain ruled he was too old and sick to be tried.

Pinochet has a heart pacemaker and his doctors say he suffered at least two strokes while he was in Britain. His followers suggest he has sustained irreversible brain damage.

Argentina also has requested Pinochet's extradition for his suspected role in the 1974 car-bomb murder of Chile's former army chief, Carlos Prats, who opposed Pinochet's coup.

Last month, an Argentine federal court sentenced former Chilean intelligence officer Enrique Arancibia to life in prison for planting the bomb that killed Prats and his wife in a quiet Buenos Aires suburb.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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