Chile: disappearance of Lucía Hiriart, widow of General Pinochet

Lucía Hiriart, after a mass marking the first anniversary of Pinochet's death in Santiago, December 10, 2007. AP - Roberto Candia

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet, widow of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, died this Thursday, December 16 at her home in Santiago, at the age of 98.

His death comes just three days before the country's most important presidential election since the return to democracy in 1990.

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With our correspondent in Santiago,

The announcement of his death was greeted with horn concerts and a rally in downtown Santiago.

"

 ", headlines a left-wing media online.

On social networks, we can measure the animosity of many Chileans towards the widow of the dictator: "

" write some, determined to celebrate the news.

But she "did 

 ", others add.

Coming from a bourgeois family, Lucía Hiriart married Augusto Pinochet when he was only a simple soldier.

In his memoirs, he writes that she pushed him to participate in the

against Socialist President Salvador Allende.

In the space of 17 years, the dictatorship has left almost 3,200

.

Over 40,000 people have been arrested or tortured.

►Grand Report: The "no" to Pinochet, or how the dictatorship fell through the ballot box

After the return to democracy, the couple is also accused of embezzlement.

We discover several million dollars in secret accounts of the former dictator abroad.

Lucía Hiriart, she is accused of having sold for her own benefit a hundred buildings and land that had been donated by the regime to the foundation she headed.

Ms. Hiriart's death comes as Chile is in the process of drafting a new

, which could replace the current text inherited from the dictatorship.

But also in the midst of the

election, with Sunday's election, the outcome of which is particularly uncertain.

Former left-wing student leader Gabriel Boric will be opposed to far-right candidate José Antonio Kast, a historic defender of the Pinochet regime.

Dictator Augusto Pinochet died in 2006, never having been tried for the crimes of the dictatorship or for corruption cases that concerned him.

►RFI Savoirs: Pinochet's Chili

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