Pinochet 'serious but stable' after heart attack
Augusto Pinochet led a bloody coup to overthrow the socialist government in 1973
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Sunday, 03, Dec 2006 07:17
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet may need a second operation after suffering a heart attack earlier today, doctors at the hospital where he is being treated have said.
The 91-year-old is currently under house arrest after more than 3,000 people died or "disappeared" during his 17-year tenure as president that ended in 1990, but he is too ill to stand trial.
Officials at his military hospital in Santiago operated on the general after he suffered an acute heart attack and had fluid in his lungs.
"His condition is serious but stable," a statement said.
General Pinochet led a bloody coup in 1973 to overthrow then-president Salvador Allende, with an estimated 28,000 people being tortured while the junta was in power.
As a former head of state he enjoys legal immunity in the South American country but there is constitutional scope for this protection to be negated.
Last week General Pinochet accepted "political responsibility" for his brutal rule, but insisted he had acted in Chileans' best interests.
"Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancour toward anybody, that I love my country above all else," a statement read by his wife Lucia said, which marked his 91st birthday.