The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice.

• Author: Eichensehr, Kristen
• Position: Book review

The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice, by Roger Burbach

Publisher: Zed Books (2004)

Price: $22.50

While most accounts of the prosecution of Augusto Pinochet focus on the undoubtedly dramatic progression of Pinochet's case in the British courts, Roger Burbach takes a different tack, construing The Pinochet Affair to include the pre- and post-history surrounding the British proceedings. Burbach draws on his personal familiarity with Chile since the 1970s--he fled the country during Pinochet's coup overthrowing Salvador Allende--and interviews with prominent figures in the Chilean human rights movement, judiciary, and political sphere. He constructs a picture of Augusto Pinochet as calculating his ascent to power, developing the necessary personality to order atrocities in pursuit of power, and using various tactics to avoid prosecution in Chile after his detention in London. Burbach tells a lucid story beginning with Pinochet's early years and continuing through Pinochet's recent evasion of Chilean courts. Burbach's access to key players in Chile provides especially good insight into the Chilean attempts to prosecute Pinochet since his return from London.

Burbach trumpets the Spanish and British judicial actions against Pinochet as a triumph of the human rights movement. He argues that the Pinochet affair more firmly ensconced the idea of universal jurisdiction in international law and that it inspired campaigns by human rights organizations to bring other human rights violators, such as Uganda's Idi Amin and Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner, to justice. He praises the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a "critical event in the advance of human rights law" (1) and touts the attempted Belgian prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But he condemns the NATO intervention to protect human rights in Kosovo.

An important issue about the book is the author's apparent lack of objectivity. Readers should be aware that Burbach allows his political views to pervade his analysis. In the preface and introduction his reverential attitude toward Salvador Allende becomes apparent and appears to compromise his objectivity. Burbach also does not hide his current political views, particularly his opposition to Tony Blair and George W. Bush. The "state terrorism" referred to in the title extends, in the author's opinion, to include current United States' policies. Notwithstanding the author's political views, the book...