CHILEAN President Gabriel Boric has promised to push for the repeal of a dictatorship-era amnesty law that rules out most investigations of crimes against humanity committed under General Augusto Pinochet.

In a speech on Wednesday commemorating the 51st anniversary of Gen Pinochet’s bloody US-backed military coup against the elected left-wing government of Salvador Allende, Mr Boric said: “We renew our commitment to democracy and human rights, always, in our country and everywhere in the world.

“Today’s date is a day that moves us, that invites us to remember and also to act.”

Mr Boric pledged to speed up the passage of a Bill that would revoke the amnesty that has shielded most military officers from prosecution for the torture and killing of thousands of opponents and critics during the first five years of the dictatorship, 1973-78.

Pinochet died in 2006, having never been held legally accountable for the human rights abuses committed by his regime, which was responsible for the killing of more than 3,000 people and the torture of thousands of others.

Past efforts to overturn the amnesty have been blocked by right-wing parties in parliament, where Mr Boric’s coalition currently lacks a majority.