The news of his death, confirmed by the family in the night, shook the closing of the presidential campaign in Chile.
Lucía Hiriart, widow of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, died Thursday afternoon at the age of 98 at the residence where he lived in the company of all his children and grandchildren, his family confirmed.
In a brief statement to the press, his youngest son Marco Antonio Pinochet reported that: “We regret to communicate the sensitive death of our beloved mother, Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet”, the former dictator who ruled Chile with an iron fist between 1973 and 1990, leaving more than 3,200 dead and missing.
Lucía Hiriart died “today, accompanied by all her children and grandchildren. He fell asleep in the peace of the man, added the statement, read before a group of journalists who were waiting on the outskirts of the department where he lived and died.
His son also confirmed that “Their funerals will be held privately.”
Immediately after the death was known in the media, motorists began to honk the horns of their vehicles, as a way of celebrating an event that had been expected for years.
Hundreds of people gathered in the central Plaza Italia in Santiago, also celebrating the death of the ex-dictator’s widow.
Strong woman of the regime
Considered the strong woman of the military regime, Hiriart Rodríguez He had several comings and goings to the Military Hospital in Santiago in recent months. On December 10, when her husband’s death was 15 years old, she turned 98, according to the birth certificate that AFP had access to.
In the biography written by the journalist Alejandra Matus, he assures that Hiriart was registered in the civil registry a year after his birth, therefore, according to his version, he was actually 99 years old.
Pinochet, who died at the age of 91 of a heart attack, managed to avoid the hand of justice, which was persecuting him for the human rights violations attributed to his regime and the embezzlement of public funds after discovering a dozen bank accounts registered under pseudonyms in the defunct Riggs Bank in the United States.
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The death occurs three days after the presidential ballot in which the leftist Gabriel Boric and the far-right José Antonio Kast are measured, who vindicates the Pinochet dictatorship.
“Lucía Hiriart dies in impunity despite the deep pain and division she caused our country. My respects to the victims of the dictatorship of which he was a part. I do not celebrate impunity or death, we work for justice and a dignified life, without falling into provocations or violence, “said Gabriel Boric, in a Twitter message, which he later repeated in his massive campaign closing ceremony.
Kast for his part stated: “People are going to try to bring this to a campaign event. More than condolences to the family and always mourning someone’s death, I don’t want to make a political statement about this, ”stating that he has no plans to go to the funeral because he did not know the family. (I)
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