Eduardo Contreras: titan of justice for Chileans
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IF THERE are over 150 of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s military personnel now languishing in prison, it is largely due to the ceaseless and determined work of Chile’s foremost human rights lawyer, Eduardo Contreras, who has just died in Santiago aged 84.
My companero Ricardo and I have been friends with Eduardo since we first met in his native city, Chillan, in 1969. Then a young lawyer, Eduardo had already been elected a municipal councillor representing the Communist Party of Chile.
It was the year before the historic victory of Socialist Salvador Allende, who was elected Chile’s president in September 1970, leading an alliance of socialist and progressive parties called Popular Unity (PU).
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