SANTIAGO - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is still seriously ill following a heart attack but is improving, doctors said today.
"The risk of death is diminishing," Dr. Juan Ignacio Vergara of Santiago's military hospital, told reporters. "But it still exists because of all the complications that mightarise."
Pinochet, 91, the best known of the strongmen who dominated South American politics in the 1970s and 1980s, was rushed to hospital early on Monday for an angioplasty to reopen his arteries.
He has been in hospital since then while Chileans wait for news of a man who, almost 17 years after he relinquished power, still provokes strong reactions.
Some regard him as the man who saved them from Communism by ousting leftist President Salvador Allende in a 1973 coup, while others view him as a murderer who should be put on trial for human rights abuses.
Around 3,000 people died in political violence during Pinochet's 17-year rule and around 28,000 were tortured. Many more fled into exile.
Pinochet, who as a former president enjoys immunity, has been charged with crimes in at least five separate cases, but, despite concerted efforts, he has never been convicted or sentenced. His defence lawyers have successfully argued he is too ill to stand trial.
In recent years, Pinochet has lived in an exclusive suburb of Santiago.
He marked his birthday last month by issuing a statement accepting "political responsibility" for acts committed during his rule but said he acted with Chile's interests at heart.
"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," he said.
