Chile Set to Exhume President Allende's Body

Last Friday, Chilean judge Mario Carroza ordered the exhumation of the late President Allende's body decades after his death during the bloody 1973 coup that resulted in General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. The disinterment, which is scheduled to take place some time late next month, will be done in an attempt to put to rest any questions surrounding the death of the president.

Autopsies performed hours after the death of President Allende stated that the president died from a self-inflicted gun shot would through the chin with a AK- 47 assault rifle. But questions still trouble many human rights groups and political officials. They wonder if his death was really due to suicide or if he met his untimely end by General Pinochet's military forces. The autopsy will continue the investigation announced in January by a Chilean prosecutor into the death of Allende's death and more that 725 additional human rights complaints against General Pinochet’s military dictatorship.

Allende's family has long accepted the theory that their relative committed suicide and never disputed it. Although, recently the family made a formal request to have the body exhumed for autopsy. Allende's daughter Isabel Allende, who is also a Socialist member of Parliament, told CNN-Chile, “It’s not that the family has changed their minds, or that we have doubts that we didn’t have before, but we support a criminal investigation that has never happened. We think it is extremely important for the country and the world that we legally establish the causes and circumstances of his death, which occurred under extreme violence.” At the time of his death the family was never allowed to see the body, a closed casket funeral was 75 miles out of Santiago; his current resting place.

It will be very interesting to see the results that experts at the Legal Medical Service report in regards to the official's death. This exhumation will bring clarity to one of Chile's major historical events. It seems to be another step in Chile's effort to open politics to the public, giving their citizens access to more information.